Research Interests

Research Experience and Expertise

• Freshwater acidification and ecology.
• Monitoring the impacts of acidification on the aquatic environment.
• Monitoring the impacts of grazing experiments on the aquatic environment.
• Ecological surveys of freshwaters, especially aquatic macrophytes and bryophytes.
• Bathymetric and sedimentological surveys.
• Sediment coring using ie Glew, Livingstone, Mackereth, Renberg, Jenkins and Russian corers.
• Amphibian surveys.
• Remote sensing calibration/validation.
• The use of spheroidal carbonaceous particles for geochronological dating of lake sediments.
• Statistical analysis and interpretation of environmental data sets.
• Research microscopy.
• Photography.

Professional Profile

• Co-ordinator, scientist, database manager and webmaster for the United Kingdom Acid Waters Monitoring Network (UKAWMN).
• Co-ordinator of UKAWMN inputs to the Environmental Change Network.
• Co-ordinator of ENSIS inputs to the UK Acid Deposition Monitoring Network.
• Experienced aquatic macrophyte surveyor for the UKAWMN, CCW contracts, CLAM2, Laidon Grazing Experiment, Natural England and various Environment Agency projects.
• Participant in various projects funded by bodies such as the EU, UN, Environment Agency, Natural England, Countryside Council for Wales, SEPA, SNIFFER, JNCC, DEFRA and NERC. These covered research topics such as acidification of mountain lakes, upland catchment nitrogen dynamics, lake ecology, pollution of lake sediments and measuring and modelling environmental change.
• Lecturer and demonstrator for MSc and taught short courses run by the ECRC.
• Experience in database design and management, desk top publishing, web page design, UNIX and various Microsoft OS system administration, mapping using GIS, computer user support.
• Species licences: CCW License for surveying Luronium natans (Floating Water Plantain), CCW License for surveying Truturus cristatus (Great Crested Newt), EN License for surveying Truturus cristatus (Great Crested Newt), SNH License for surveying Truturus cristatus (Great Crested Newt).
• Fieldwork experience throughout the UK and Ireland, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, Tunisia, Botswana, South Africa and as a consultant for the IAEA to Pakistan.
• RYA Powerboat Level 2 certified.
• First Aid at Work and Mountain First Aid trained.
• Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Member of the British Ecological Society, the Botanical Society of the British Isles, the Freshwater Biological Association, the British Herpetological Society and the Society for Conservation Biology.