Experts Directory: life and environmental sciences

We have geographers and geologists, environmentalists and chemists looking for answers some of the key questions affecting our daily lives

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Dr Mark Anderson

? Geology
? Structural geology
? Oil
? Tectonics
? Geology fieldwork

Professor Chris Balch

? Planning
? Town planning
? Regeneration
? City transformation
? Urbanism
? Development
? Neighbourhood planning

Dr Jane Beal

? Biochemistry
? Microbiology
? Gut health
? Prebiotics
? Probiotics
? Fermented feeds

Dr Richard Billington

? Biochemistry
? Pharmacology
? Cancer biology
? Inverterbrate biology
? Dragonflies
? Birds

Dr David Bilton

? Entomology
? Beetles
? Freshwater ecology
? Biodiversity
? Invertebrates
? Fauna - UK
? Conservation

Dr David Bilton is a member of the Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre

Actually, most species are rare in terms of their distribution, so we can turn the thing on its head and say that it’s those species that are really widespread that are the fascinating ones

Professor Rod Blackshaw

? Integrated pest management
? Soil biology
? Soil health
? Farmland biodiversity
? Entomology

Dr Will Blake

? Catchment science and management
? Soil erosion
? River pollution
? Environmental radioactivity

Dr Sarah Boulton

? Geology
? Geomorphology
? Tectonics

Dr Stephen Burchett

? Crops
? Canopies
? Invertebrates
? Oak decline
? Criobiology
? Plant drought

Dr Sarah Collins

? Animal behaviour
? Animal communication
? Mate choice (birds and humans)
? Acoustic communication
? Bird vocalisations

Will Blake, Professor of Catchment Science

As we experience climate change, so the risk of fire increases – and as we have seen in recent years, this is not just an Australian or Mediterranean issue -

Read about Professor Will Blake's research

Dr Sean Comber

? Estuarine chemistry
? Environmental Impact Assessment
? Biogeochemistry
? Chemicals sources
? Aquatic chemistry
? Chemical fate

Dr Arjan Dijkstra

? Igneous petrology
? Magma
? Igneous geochemistry
? The Earth's mantle
? Electron microscopy
? Meteorites

Dr Maria Donkin

? Science communication
? Citizen science
? Plant science
? Marine microalgae
? Photosynthesis
? UVB
? VOCs

Dr John Eddison

? Animal behaviour
? Animal welfare
? Zoos
? Farm livestock
? Human injury by livestock
? Animal stress

Dr Hywel Evans

? Analytical chemistry
? Atomic spectrometry
? Mass spectrometry
? Isotope dilution analysis
? Speciation

David Gilvear, Professor of River Science

Floodplains are a landscape feature constructed over many millennia, and what we have to accept is that traditional approaches and recent innovations such as natural flood management, can reduce the risk but they will not alleviate inundation entirely

Dr Mark Fitzsimons

? Biogeochemistry
? Marine pollution
? Freshwater pollution
? Eutrophication
? Emerging contaminants
? Nutrients

Dr Andrew Foey

? Immunology

Dr Miguel Franco

? Ecology
? Population dynamics
? Evolutionary ecology
? Conservation biology
? Endangered species

Dr Ralph Fyfe

? Environmental change
? Archaeology
? Climate change
? Mapping

Professor David Gilvear

? Flooding
? Fluvial geomorphology
? Catchment science and management
? River restoration
? River management
? Wetland hydrology

Awadhesh Jha, Professor of Genetic Toxicology & Ecotoxicology

The combined effect of contaminants has been a burning issue for both scientific and regulatory communities, and assessing their potential human impact is crucial to ensure we have measures in place to protect both our health, and that of our environment

Dr Karen Gresty

? Teaching and learning

Dr Stephen Grimes

? Palaeoclimatology
? Biomineralisation
? Stable isotope geochemistry

Professor Richard Handy

? Nanotechnology
? Nanomaterials
? Environmental safety
? Food safety
? Clinical safety
? Whole animal biology
? Wildlife pathology

Dr Mick Hanley

? Ecosystem services
? Biofuels
? Climate change
? Pollination biology
? Conservation biology
? Plant ecology

Professor Malcolm Hart

? Earth sciences
? Micropalaeontology
? Biostratigraphy
? Marine geology
? Geological conservation
? Ocean acidification

Dr Roy Lowry, Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry

One of my favourite experiments is where I produce a two-storey sheet of flame from a single packet of Angel Delight. It demonstrates that you can have all the fuel in the world, but if you don’t have air then you won’t get the reaction

Dr David Harwood

? Forensic science
? Science (chemistry) education
? FTIR spectroscopy
? Liquid crystals

Professor Tom Hutchinson

? Pollution
? Ecotoxicology
? Health
? Water quality
? Risk assessment
? Chemicals

Professor Awadhesh Jha

? Ecotoxicity
? Environmental monitoring
? Environmental toxicology
? Molecular toxicology
? Environmental radioactivity
? Genetics
? Cancer genetics

Dr Mairi Knight

? Molecular ecology
? Evolutionary ecology
? Conservation genetics
? Genetic testing/barcoding

Dr Victor Kuri

? Food quality
? Food science
? Food nutrition
? Food safety
? Sustainable food
? Food perception

Steven Rowland, Professor of Organic Geochemistry

When people talk about pollution they are usually referring to individual chemicals. But organic chemicals often exist as complex combinations – and the work we’ve been leading is breaking down these mixtures and identifying their components

Find our more about Professor Steve Rowland

Dr Roy Lowry

? Chemistry
? Pyrotechnics
? Fireworks
? Popular science
? Energy (gas, electricity, batteries)
? Electrochemistry

Dr John Maskall

? Environmental science pedagogy
? Curriculum development
? Technology enhanced learning
? Blended learning

Professor Anne Mather

? Tectonic geomorphology
? Desert geomorphology
? Fluvial geomorphology
? Fluvial sedimentology

Dr Roy Moate

? Respiratory tract cilia
? Electron microscopy and manufacturing problems
? Materials microstructure and performance

Dr John Moody

? Biochemistry
? Enzymology
? Oxidative stress
? Carbon monoxide toxicity
? Oxygen toxicity

Professor Antony Morris

? Palaeomagnetism
? Geology-ophiolite
? Tectonics
? Geophysics
? Geodynamics

Jon Shaw, Professor of Transport Geography

Very soon, policy makers will be faced with difficult – and potentially expensive – decisions regarding the long term resilience of our region’s main rail network, but even then it will be decades before any chosen solution is put in place

Dr Rob Parkinson

? Soil management

Dr Gregory Price

? Palaeontology
? Isotope geochemistry
? Climate change
? Environmental geochemistry

Dr Sanzidur Rahman

? Agricultural economics and development
? Applied microeconomics
? Developing economies
? Econometrics
? Panel data analysis
? Time-series analysis

Dr Paul Ramsay

? Biodiversity
? Conservation genetics
? Tropical ecosystems
? Community ecology

Dr John Rieuwerts

? Environmental pollution
? Air pollution
? Soil contamination
? Toxic elements
? Biogeochemistry

Professor Steve Rowland

? Organic chemistry
? Chemistry

Professor Jon Shaw

? Geography
? Transport
? Sustainable transport
? Public transport
? Transport policy

Dr Paul Simpson

? Public space
? Urban culture
? Street performance/busking
? Music
? Surveillance/CCTV
? Cycling

Stephen Sterling, Professor of Sustainability Education, on being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy

It is very heartening indeed to get this personal recognition. But I also see it as an acknowledgement of the importance of the work to bring educational thinking and practice to bear on the issues that will increasingly affect the lives of our graduates

Mr Peter Smithers

? Insects

Professor Stephen Sterling

? Sustainability education
? Institutional change towards sustainability
? Transformative learning
? Systems thinking

Professor Iain Stewart

? Geoscience and the public
? Geohazards
? Natural disasters
? Plate tectonics
? Geoarchaeology

Dr Stephen Thompson

? Nervous systems
? Chronic pain
? Biomedical science

Dr Andrew Turner

? Marine chemistry
? Estuarine chemistry
? Organic pollutants
? Environmental Impact Assessment
? Wind turbines
? Mine waste

Iain Stewart, Professor of Geoscience Communication

Given our past obsession with oil and gas, getting beyond petroleum will not be easy. Like any addiction, the carbon fix will be hard to kick. But what is on the horizon is clear – quite simply, the demise of the petroleum age

Professor Iain Stewart is Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute

Mr Ian Whitehead

? Farm succession
? Entry to and exit from farming
? Rural planning
? Local food
? Seasonal food

Dr Richard Yarwood

? Rural/countryside
? Policing and crime
? Military
? Citizenship
? Livestock
? Geography

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