Having previously worked as a GIS consultant, my research interests now include spatial databases and approaches for handling large quantities of spatial data. Additionally, I am currently conducting research into the integration of 3D GIS and spatial databases, examining issues relating to topology and performance. I am also involved in a number of Spatial Data Infrastructures projects (http:// projectsecoa.eu), seeking to identify the most suitable mechanisms to share data amongst academic staff in an interdisciplinary, multi-national context. As part of this, I am investigating approaches to building usable systems to facilitate data discovery and evaluation, as well as to ensure metadata capture and maintenance processes are integrated into data manipulation tasks.