Professional summary

Research Interests

My scientific expertise focuses on understanding the processes and environmental controls on carbon and nitrogen cycling, storage and release from a wide variety of terrestrial environments including peatland, grassland, heathland and forest. 

formerly led CEH's Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions (BAI) Science Area, seeking to understand and quantify the interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere. This knowedge is used to inform habitat management and policy on air pollution and climate change. To achieve this, scientists use data from long-term field sites, laboratory and field experiments, and modelling of greenhouse gases, reactive air pollutants, water and energy.

My research focuses on the biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems, in particular the influences of chronic, low-level air pollution and climate change on natural and human ecosystems. I have a special interest in cross-disciplinary research, and over my career I have developed joint projects with colleagues in volcanology, isotope geochemistry, waste management technology, palaeoclimatology, ecohydrology and microbial ecology.

Brief CV

UKCEH Fellow

2017-18 Senior research scientist in the Emissions, Sources, Sinks and Solutions Group

2013-2017 Science Area Lead, Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions, CEH

2005-2013 Professor of Environmental Science, Manchester Metropolitan University

2004-2005 Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Villanova University, USA

2003-2005 Senior Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University

1994-2003 Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University

Qualifications

PhD

Publications