Vivien Dent is a chartered geologist with an MSc in hydrogeology from the University of East Anglia. She has more than 25 years of experience, having started her career at Soil Mechanics in 1997, before moving to STATS, which was later acquired by RSK in 2008. Early in her career, she gained valuable experience undertaking ground investigation projects across a variety of sites, quickly progressing to team leader. After the birth of her children, she returned to work as an associate technical director, supporting RSK’s geoscience teams in a more technical role. In 2017, Dent set up and led RSK’s Cambridge geoscience team, growing it from two to seven geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineers. In 2022, she moved to the Environment Agency as a technical specialist in the multifunctional green growth and delivery team. She has been an active member of the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS) since 2015, chairing the Contaminated Land Working Group for four years before taking on the role of chair in 2023. Dent also set up the AGS Sustainability Working Group and has been instrumental in delivering equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives within the association.