Professional summary

Research Interests

  • Development of new approaches for flux measurements of trace gases and aerosols
  • The use of odour as chemical signalling in animals and humans
  • Error quantification and QA/QC treatment of eddy covariance data
  • Quantification of aerosol composition and emission factors through the use of factor analysis
  • The use of the high resolution Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-AMS) for flux measurements of sub-micron aerosol chemical components
  • The use of PTR-TOF for speciated VOC flux measurements

Research Grants

  • Equine Grass Sickness Foundation (Co-I)- Can the profile of volatile organic compounds in gastrointestinal samples aid diagnosis of EGS?
  • Innovate UK (Co-I) - £75 k-  DETECT: A non-invasive and automated real-time disease detection tool for cattle
  • NERC Discovery (Co-I) - £599 k VOCDep - Dry deposition processes of volatile organic compounds
  • NERC APHH Programme (Co-I) £450 k - DelhiFlux 
  • NERC Discovery (CEH PI) £162 k - DOMINO - "Degradation of Odour signals by air pollution: chemical Mechanisms, plume dynamics and INsect-Orientation behaviour"
  • Royal Society (PI) £15 k - MORF- A grant to develop a disjunct eddy covariance system to measure OH reactivity fluxes.
  • NERC RP (Co-I) £157 k - AIRPoll-Beijing - Measuring particle number and chemically resolved sub micron aerosol fluxes above China's capital city Beijing in 2016 and 2017.

 


 

Brief CV

2017 to date  Atmospheric Scientist (Band 5), Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange & Effects group, CEH, Edinburgh

2011 to 2017: Atmospheric Physicist/Chemist (Band 6), Reactive gases and Aerosols group, CEH, Edinburgh.

2010-2011: Post Doctoral Research Associate, Amherst College & Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA. Working with PTR-TOF in isoprene oxidation chamber studies and developing software to allow for VOC flux measurements.

2008-2010: Post Doctoral Research Associate, Lancaster Environment Centre, UK. Working on the OP3 project, leading above-canopy flux measurements of VOCs from a South-East Asian tropical rainforest.

2004-2008: PhD in Environmental Science, Thesis: "Development and application of disjunct eddy covariance techniques for the measurement and interpretation of fluxes of volatile organic compounds from urban and rural canopies", Lancaster University/CEH.

2001-2004: BSc (Hons) Environmental Science, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University.


Latest News:

 

13/11/2023 - Funding success!

Early detection of cattle disease would help cut costs for farmers

21/09/2023 - New article in The Conversation

How air pollution is making life tougher for bugs

01/11/2023 - New paper out in Environmental Pollution

How is ozone disrupting pollinators ability to find food?

Mapping the effects of ozone pollution and mixing on floral odour plumes and their impact on plant-pollinator interactions

 

16/12/2022 - New paper

Evaluation of isoprene light response curves for bryophyte-dominated ecosystems and implications for atmospheric composition

Auchencorth Moss

01/02/2022 - New paper

Passive breath monitoring of livestock: using factor analysis to deconvolve the cattle shed

Passive Breath Monitoring

08/01/2022 - New paper

Seasonality of isoprene emissions and oxidation products above the remote Amazon - Environmental Science: Atmospheres (RSC Publishing)

Amazon Tree

08/12/2020 Decoding the social volatilome

Our latest paper, led by Prof. Craig Roberts at the University of Stirling, is now available at Phil Trans B. We explore how online mass spectrometery in combination with multivariate statistical techniques might hold the key to decoding the social volatilome...

 

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18/03/2018 Domino wind tunnel measurements complete

The DOMINO team have completed their investigation into the dynamics of floral odour plumes and their interaction with ozone and NOx. It was a challenging three weeks in the wind tunnel but the early results suggest all the hard work was worth it! The next stage will see the CEH team head out into the field to investigate the real-world effects of air pollution on pollinators with our colleagues from the University of Reading.

 

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Publications