Julia was an enthusiastic investor in both the Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind Coops when they began. She has been part of the group assessing applications to the Westmill Solar Community Grants Scheme since 2020.

A DPhil from the University of Oxford led to a career in research for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. She then headed the grants department in a major new charitable foundation, funding healthcare, medical research and training. She has worked for many grant-makers as a freelancer, including the Community Fund, the Big Lottery Fund, and the Royal Society.

She has been active in many community, environmental and conservation issues in Oxfordshire and nationally, volunteering for organisations from Local Agenda 21 in Oxford to BBOWT. But climate change is now the focus of her activities, as a Greenpeace volunteer and as part of Fossil Free Oxfordshire’s divestment campaign.