Academic staff in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences 

Academic staff

Dr Mohamed A. Abdallah

Dr Mohamed A. Abdallah

Associate Professor in Persistent Organic Pollutants / Emerging Contaminants

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Mohamed Abdallah has wide experience in applying mass spectrometric techniques for analysis of trace levels of environmental pollutants in biotic and abiotic matrices including different human tissues. He has particular interest in assessing the risk from human exposure to emerging contaminants using various exposure and pharmacokinetic models. Abdallah is also actively engaged in ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5527
Email
m.abdallah@bham.ac.uk

Dr David Adams

Dr David Adams

Lecturer in Urban Planning

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr David Adams has research interests in urban planning and urban geography.  He has a Geography BSc (2002) from Loughborough University, an MA in Spatial Planning (2008) and a PhD (2014) in planning from Birmingham City University.  He taught planning at Birmingham City University from 2008 until 2017.  In 2015, he became the programme lead for Birmingham City University’s ...

Email
d.adams.4@bham.ac.uk

Dr Rakib Akhtar

Dr Rakib Akhtar

Lecturer in Urban Planning

Life and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Rakib is an interdisciplinary scholar with a research focus on technology-oriented urbanisation, infrastructure development and their interconnection with right-wing nationalism. Rakib is a chartered Architect and a Town Planner with extensive knowledge and practical experiences across countries. His research interests sit at the intersection of Urban Planning, Political Economy and ...

Email
r.akhtar.2@bham.ac.uk

Dr Katia Attuyer

Dr Katia Attuyer

Assistant Professor in Urban Planning and Environmental Management

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Attuyer's research advances debates in urban geography with a focus on community engagement with the redevelopment of their neighbourhood, neoliberalisation of urban development policies in different geographical contexts , and financialisation. 

Her second area of expertise lies in well-being and the urban environment, with a particular emphasis on how the social and physical ...

Email
k.attuyer@bham.ac.uk

Dr Austin Barber

Dr Austin Barber

Senior Lecturer in Urban Development and Planning

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Austin is an experienced teacher, researcher and writer who brings a passion for cities and urban life to all aspects of his professional work. He has played a leading role in development of planning education at the University of Birmingham and has established a research profile in the planning and regeneration of city centres and inner cities in Britain, Europe and North America.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2984
Email
a.r.g.barber@bham.ac.uk

Dr Nicholas E. Barrand

Dr Nicholas E. Barrand

Associate Professor of Glaciology
Senior Admissions Tutor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Nicholas Barrand is a glaciologist focusing on glacier mass balance, sea-level rise, and the role, importance, and future evolution of glaciers as water resources. His research group addresses these issues using a range of interdisciplinary approaches including field observations and measurements, numerical modelling, and optical and microwave remote sensing.

 

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3103
Email
n.e.barrand@bham.ac.uk

Dr Rebecca Bartlett

Dr Rebecca Bartlett

Associate Professor in Biogeochemistry

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Rebecca is a biogeochemist, specialising in nutrient cycling and environmental change in modern and past environments. Her research focuses on the biogeochemistry of peats, soils and sediments during environmental disturbance; the subsurface microbial response to natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric sulphur deposition, temperature, storms and floods, mineral reactivity and chemical ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 4144181
Email
r.bartlett@bham.ac.uk

Dr Lesley Batty

Dr Lesley Batty

Reader in Ecological Education

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lesley Batty is a Reader in Ecological Education and brings her passion and expertise in the field to all aspects of her work. She has a particular interest in providing inclusive environments for learning and in working closely with employers to provide skills-led education. She is Head of Wellbeing and the Head of Employability and Placements for the School.

She has a particular interest in ...

Email
l.c.batty@bham.ac.uk

Dr Mike Beazley

Dr Mike Beazley

Senior Lecturer
Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies
Undergraduate Admissions Tutor (Planning programmes)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Mike is Director of Learning and Teaching and Director of Undergraduate Studies at CURS. He is heavily involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and in research student supervision.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3278
Email
m.j.beazley@bham.ac.uk

Dr James Bendle

Dr James Bendle

Reader (Associate Professor) in Organic Geochemistry

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

James is an organic geochemist specialising in paleoclimatology. His research develops and uses molecular tools to reconstruct past environmental conditions and addresses two key themes: (1) Developing new quantitative paleoclimate proxies; (2) Holocene and Cenozoic climate evolution.

For more information visit my personal website:

https://jamesbendle.wordpress.com/

Orcid ID: ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6156
Email
j.bendle@bham.ac.uk

Professor William Bloss

Professor William Bloss

Professor of Atmospheric Science
Head of College of Life & Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

William Bloss is an atmospheric scientist, specialising in air pollution and atmospheric chemistry.  His research applies a combination of laboratory studies, field measurements and numerical models to understand the causes of poor air quality, and support development of effective policy measures to protect human and environmental health.  Recent work has ranged from Clean Air Science ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4173 (Research Office)
Email
w.j.bloss@bham.ac.uk

Dr Susanne Boerner

Dr Susanne Boerner

Assistant Professor in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Susanne Börner’s research focuses on youth everyday agency, emotions and urban well-being in the context of interconnected urban crises. Susanne is particularly interested in the experiences of those growing up and living ‘at the margins’, such as children and young people as well as multi-generational contexts of knowledge generation. Her Marie Curie Global ...

Email
s.borner@bham.ac.uk

Dr Chris Bradley

Dr Chris Bradley

Senior Lecturer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Chris has been a lecturer in Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Birmingham from 1994 and became Senior Lecturer from 2007.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8097
Email
c.bradley@bham.ac.uk

Professor Richard Butler

Professor Richard Butler

Professor of Palaeobiology
Director of Research, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Richard is a vertebrate palaeontologist with expertise in the systematics, evolution and biogeography of late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic reptiles. His research addresses major patterns and drivers of biodiversity change through deep time, particularly as exemplified by four-limbed vertebrates (tetrapods), over the last 375 million years. He is also interested in the origin and dramatic ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5539
Email
r.butler.1@bham.ac.uk

Dr Jon Carey

Dr Jon Carey

Associate Professor in Applied Geoscience

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jon studies landslide failure mechanisms and fault behaviour in response to elevated pore fluid pressures and earthquake shaking. His research combines specialist laboratory testing with field monitoring and remote sensing to better understand slope failure and fault movement processes in both terrestrial and marine environments.

Email
j.m.carey@bham.ac.uk

Dr Liling Chang

Dr Liling Chang

Assistant Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Liling Chang’s main research interest is to examine responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change, elevated atmospheric CO2, and disturbance events (fires, droughts). Her research focuses on integrating field observations, remote sensing data, and process-based models to quantify and predict ecosystem water, energy, carbon fluxes, productivity, and demography.

Email
l.chang@bham.ac.uk

Professor Lee Chapman

Professor Lee Chapman

Professor of Climate Resilience & Met Office Joint Chair
Deputy Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer (College of Life and Environmental Sciences)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Lee Chapman’s research interests are at the interface of climatology and engineering investigating the impact of weather and climate on the built environment; an important research area given the ever-increasing concentration (and vulnerability) of the population and critical infrastructure in urban areas. This covers a range of topics and sub-disciplines including ...

Telephone
0121 414 7435
Email
l.chapman@bham.ac.uk

Dr Ying Chen

Dr Ying Chen

Assistant Professor in Atmospheric Science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Ying Chen is an expert in climate change and air quality. His research aims to advance understanding of critical roles of aerosols and clouds in Earth climate for more reliable estimate of tipping points and remaining carbon emission budget. His research also exports interlinks between air pollution and climate change to advice policymakers for “win-win” mitigation strategies.

Email
y.chen.21@bham.ac.uk

Dr Julian Clark

Reader in Political Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Julian Clark is Reader in Political Geography at the University of Birmingham. His research informs and extends debates focussed on critical geographical understandings of the state, and the governance of natural resources. In these domains Julian examines questions of how states are materialized and stabilised over space and time, including through geographies of diplomacy; and critical ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6262
Email
j.r.a.clark@bham.ac.uk

Dr Sophie Comer-Warner

Dr Sophie Comer-Warner

Assistant Professor and BRIDGE Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Sophie is an aquatic biogeochemist, specialising in carbon and nitrogen cycling and micro- and nanoplastic pollution in large river systems. Sophie is interested in the transport, processing and fate of carbon, nitrogen and plastic pollution with a particular focus on greenhouse gas dynamics. A major research focus is understanding how aquatic biogeochemistry will be affected by future global ...

Email
s.comer-warner@bham.ac.uk

Dr Natasha L. Cornea

Dr Natasha L. Cornea

Associate Professor in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Natasha Cornea’s research sits at the intersections of urban and development geographies, focusing on urban environmental governance and politics in Indian and Zambian cities. Conceptually her research draws on post-structuralist and situated approaches to urban political ecology, the everyday state and everyday governance.

Dr Natasha Cornea is part of the Birmingham ...

Email
n.l.cornea@bham.ac.uk

Dr Gethin Davison

Dr Gethin Davison

Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Gethin Davison is an interdisciplinary researcher and educator with a background in human geography, planning and urban design. He has published widely in the fields of urban planning, design and housing, and has a particular interest in the governance of design and the relationships between people and place.

Email
g.t.davison@bham.ac.uk

Dr Rosie Day

Dr Rosie Day

Senior Lecturer in Environment and Society

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences


Rosie Day is an environmental human geographer interested in various aspects of peoples experience of, and engagement with, the wider environment. Much of her work has been in the area of environmental inequalities and environmental justice where she has developed a particular theme on ageing and environmental issues. She is currently largely focused on research to do with energy ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 48096
Email
r.j.day@bham.ac.uk

Dr Surindar Kishen Dhesi

Dr Surindar Kishen Dhesi

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Health and Risk Management

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Surindar Dhesi is an environmental health lecturer and active chartered practitioner involved in several multi-disciplinary and multi-method projects on the conditions experienced by migrants, refugees and internally displaced people in France, Indonesia, Gaza, Rwanda and Nigeria. 

The overarching aim of her work is to help protect the most vulnerable members of society by understanding, ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7751
Email
s.k.dhesi@bham.ac.uk

Dr Benedetta Dini

Dr Benedetta Dini

Assistant Professor in Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Dini is an engineering geologist and geomorphologist with a strong interest in unravelling the physical processes underpinning landslides and the environmental factors influencing their distribution. Her work spans multiple disciplines, combining high-level remote sensing techniques such as InSAR, innovative wireless technologies, fieldwork, and spatial analyses to detect and investigate ...

Email
b.dini@bham.ac.uk

Dr Dilum Dissanayake

Dr Dilum Dissanayake

Associate Professor in Human Geography and Transportation Planning

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Dilum Dissanayake is an experienced academic with particular interest in transport planning and human Geography. Her passion for educating STEM careers means that she devotes time in developing research careers at Postdoctoral, PhD, as well as Postgraduate and Undergraduate degree levels. Dr Dissanayake’s ambition is to further advance knowledge and skills in transport planning and data ...

Email
d.dissanayake@bham.ac.uk

Dr Simon J Dixon

Dr Simon J Dixon

Lecturer in Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Simon is an interdisciplinary lecturer in geography with broad research interests around human interactions with water and landscapes.  Much of his work focuses on “Anthropocene geomorphology” - unique landforms resulting from interactions between human activities and natural processes. Examples include how waste plastic is being incorporated into sediments and fluvial transport ...

Email
s.j.dixon@bham.ac.uk

Dr Daniel Drage

Dr Daniel Drage

Associate Professor in Environmental Health

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Drage has a range of experience using mass spectrometry techniques to investigate the presence and effects of persistent and emerging organic contaminants in a range of indoor and outdoor environments. He has made contributions to the fields of human exposure, wildlife exposure as well as waste management.

Telephone
0121 414 7243
Email
d.s.drage@bham.ac.uk

Dr Tom Dunkley Jones

Dr Tom Dunkley Jones

Birmingham Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tom is a micropalaeontologist and paleoceanograher specializing in the study of fossil coccolithophore algae. His research interests are focused on the warm-climate states of the Paleogene period and include the use of coccolithophore assemblages and geochemical signatures as palaeoceanographic proxies. Tom is also interested in improving reconstructions of warm climate temperature ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6751
Email
t.dunkleyjones@bham.ac.uk

Professor Kirsty Edgar

Professor Kirsty Edgar

Professor in Micropalaeontology
Head of Research in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Kirsty is a micropalaeontologist and palaeoceanographer, specialising in planktic foraminifer and foraminifer-based geochemical records. She is interested in understanding the timing and nature of the interaction between global climate, geochemical cycling, and biota during the Cenozoic. A major research focus is elucidating the dynamics and consequences of transient climate events in the ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6163
Email
k.m.edgar@bham.ac.uk

Dr Adriane Esquivel Muelbert

Dr Adriane Esquivel Muelbert

Associate Professor in Global Forest Ecology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Adriane Esquivel Muelbert investigates how forests respond to different global change forces and what the implications of these responses are on biodiversity and global biogeochemical cycles. Her work demonstrates the importance of drought tolerance in shaping diversity and composition across Neotropical tree communities and provides evidence that Amazonian forests are changing as a ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8306
Email
a.esquivelmuelbert@bham.ac.uk

Dr Andrea Frank

Dr Andrea Frank

Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Andrea Frank is an urban planning scholar regarded for her work on community engagement in planning as well as researching and advancing planning education and pedagogies particularly in respect to international and community-engaged (socially responsible) co-learning. She is regularly invited as keynote speaker on education for spatial planning issues.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6976
Email
a.i.frank@bham.ac.uk

Dr Sara Fregonese

Dr Sara Fregonese

Associate Professor of Political Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Fregonese is a political geographer with a background in Middle Eastern Studies. Her research is about the relations between geopolitics, security and urban space, and how geopolitical situations and events impact on the everyday life of cities, their built environment and residents. 

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3635
Email
s.fregonese@bham.ac.uk

Professor Vincent Gauci

Professor Vincent Gauci

Birmingham Professorial Fellow

Geography and Environmental Sciences

Professor Gauci investigates how the biosphere interacts with the atmosphere and he explores questions relating to how these interactions respond to various drivers of global change.

Email
v.gauci@bham.ac.uk

Dr Ruth Geen

Dr Ruth Geen

Lecturer in Atmospheric Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Ruth Geen is an atmospheric dynamicist. Her research aims to increase confidence in projections of future regional climate by building simple, conceptual pictures of the large-scale circulations governing climate phenomena.

Telephone
47262
Email
r.geen@bham.ac.uk

Professor Sam Giles

Professor Sam Giles

Professor of Palaeobiology
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Sam Giles is a Professor of Palaeobiology with an interest in the anatomy, relationships, and macroevolution of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossil fishes. Her research uses x-ray imaging (CT scanning) to unlock the external and internal anatomy of living and fossil vertebrates. She is interested in the origins and evolutionary success of different bony vertebrate groups and the evolution of ...

Telephone
+44(0) 121 41 49130
Email
s.giles.1@bham.ac.uk

Dr Charles Goode

Dr Charles Goode

Teaching Fellow in Urban and Regional Planning
International and Year Abroad Tutor (GEES)
Postgraduate Planning Dissertation Lead

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Charles is a Geographer and trained planner with research and teaching interests in strategic planning/regional governance, community involvement, housing supply/affordability and planning history. His ESRC-funded doctoral research focused on the Green Belt, England's housing crisis and the planning system and is published in a range of practitioner and academic outlets. Charles' research is now ...

Email
c.goode@bham.ac.uk

Dr Laura Graham

Dr Laura Graham

Associate Professor
IIASA-NERC Research Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Laura Graham is a computational and spatial ecologist interested in understanding how anthropogenic changes such as climate and land-use change affect global ecosystems, and how this in turn affects human well-being. Read more about Laura’s research at laurajanegraham.github.io. 

Laura is currently working on the IIASA-NERC funded fellowship A complex-systems approach to improve ...

Email
l.graham@bham.ac.uk

Dr Sarah Greene

Dr Sarah Greene

Associate Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Sarah is a palaeoclimatologist, geobiologist, and Earth system modeller studying the biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the atmosphere, the ocean, and marine sediments. Particular research interests include rapid carbon cycle perturbations (Mesozoic mass extinctions, Palaeogene hyperthermals), protracted multi-mullion year carbon cycle trends (co-evolution of life and the carbon cycle), and ...

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 6167
Email
s.e.greene@bham.ac.uk

Dr Melanie Griffiths

Dr Melanie Griffiths

Birmingham Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Griffiths is a social scientist, working on mobility and immigration enforcement in the UK. She has been a Birmingham Fellow at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences since February 2018, after completing an ESRC Future Research Leaders grant at the University of Bristol.

Email
m.griffiths.3@bham.ac.uk

Dr Zhiling Guo

Dr Zhiling Guo

Assistant Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Zhiling Guo is an environmental toxicologist interested in understanding the connection between human exposure to pollutants (nanomaterial, micro/nano-plastic, air pollutant, organic pollutant, heavy metal, virus, pollen, and emerging pollutants) and life-long health, and the potential underlying mechanisms. Her research also focuses on establishing the 3R alternatives (i.e. in vitro barrier ...

Email
z.guo@bham.ac.uk

Professor Sophie Hadfield-Hill

Professor Sophie Hadfield-Hill

Professor of Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Sophie Hadfield-Hill is a Professor in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham. Principally a Children’s Geographer, Sophie’s expertise is children and young people’s everyday experiences of urban change in diverse contexts.  Her research portfolio spans young people’s lives in the UK, India and Brazil; she has been Principal and Co-Investigator on numerous ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8147
Email
s.a.hadfield-hill@bham.ac.uk

Dr Liz Hamilton

Dr Liz Hamilton

Associate Professor in Environmental Science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Hamilton is a soil scientist, specialising in biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in forest environments. Her research focuses on the changes to microbial nutrient cycling in soils as a response to climate change, pollution and land use change. Her work seeks to understand how we can manage soils to ensure future resilience to disturbance and how we might use nature-based ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2680
Email
l.hamilton.1@bham.ac.uk

Dr Shasha Han

Dr Shasha Han

Assistant Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Shasha Han is an Assistant Professor in Physical Geography (Hydrology and Water Resources) in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) at the University of Birmingham (UoB). Her research mainly focuses on three interlinked themes: 1) Enhancing probabilistic flood forecasts, flood inundation mapping, and advancing the modelling of hydroclimatic extremes with reduced ...

Email
s.han.2@bham.ac.uk

Professor David Hannah

Professor David Hannah

Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability)
Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action
Professor of Hydrology, UNESCO Chair in Water Science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

David is a physical geographer with interdisciplinary research interests focusing on three complementary themes within hydroclimatology (interface between hydrology-climatology): (1) hydroclimatological processes within alpine, Arctic, mountain and glacierized river basins; (2) climate and river flow regimes; and (3) river energy budget and water temperature dynamics. He has cross-cutting ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46925 (for own research)
Email
d.m.hannah@bham.ac.uk

Professor Stuart Harrad

Professor Stuart Harrad

Professor of Environmental Chemistry
Centre for Environmental Research and Justice (CERJ)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Stuart is an environmental chemist whose research addresses all aspects of the environmental sources, fate and behaviour of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). He has particular interests in human exposure to POPs with a focus on indoor pathways. He is also active in research that explores the environmental forensics utility of chirality.

Stuart is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 47298
Email
s.j.harrad@bham.ac.uk

Professor Roy Harrison

Professor Roy Harrison

Queen Elizabeth II Birmingham Centenary Professor of Environmental Health

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Roy Harrison’s research interests lie in the field of environment and human health. His main specialism is in air pollution, from emissions through atmospheric chemical and physical transformations to exposure and effects on human health. Much of this work is designed to inform the development of policy.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 43494
Email
r.m.harrison@bham.ac.uk

Professor Jason Hilton

Professor Jason Hilton

Professor of Palaeobotany and Palaeoenvironments
School Health and Safety Coordinator (fieldwork)

Life and Environmental Sciences

Professor Hilton is a research focused palaeobotanist and evolutionary plant biologist with wide-ranging interests in palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates through Earth history. He has a broad background in Geobiology and Earth Systems Science, and is an active researcher across a number of fields closely allied to his specialisation including investigations on mass extinctions, hyperthermal ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46151
Email
j.m.hilton@bham.ac.uk

Dr Shan Huang

Dr Shan Huang

Assistant Professor in Paleobiology

Dr Huang is a macroecologist interested in understanding broad-scale biodiversity dynamics in space and time, particularly about the role of history in shaping the biota. Her primary research approach is to synthesize large data sets of both extinct and extant organismal systems and their environmental templates to investigate processes that give rise to the dramatic temporal and spatial ...

Email
s.huang.7@bham.ac.uk

Dr David Jaroszweski

Dr David Jaroszweski

Research Fellow

Geography and Environmental Sciences

Dr David Jaroszweski researches the impacts of weather and potential impacts of climate change on transport systems. This research adopts a multidisciplinary approach and includes assessing the current relationships between weather and transport failure, the potential impact of climate change and the effect that concurrent socio-economic change may have on the future resilience of transport ...

Email
d.j.jaroszweski@bham.ac.uk

Dr Lloyd Jenkins

Lecturer in Historical and Cultural Geography: teaching-focused

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Jenkins is a Historical Geographer, with an interest in landscape change and people’s relationship with the past.

Telephone
0121 414 8544
Email
l.jenkins@bham.ac.uk

Professor Phil Jones

Professor Phil Jones

Professor in Cultural Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Phil Jones - Research in 60 seconds videoDr Phil Jones is a cultural geographer who focuses on issues related to the city.  His work deals with a number of research areas including urban regeneration, cycling and the arts.  He has a particular interest in research methods, including qualitative GIS, mobile interviewing and arts-based approaches.

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 5546
Email
p.i.jones@bham.ac.uk

Dr Stephen Jones

Dr Stephen Jones

Senior Lecturer in Earth Systems

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Steve Jones is a numerate geologist who studies the influence of the deep earth on climate. His published work spans mantle and crustal processes, oceanography and atmospheric science.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46155
Email
s.jones.4@bham.ac.uk

Dr Kärg Kama

Dr Kärg Kama

Associate Professor in Human Geography

Geography and Environmental Sciences

Dr Kärg Kama develops critical social science perspectives on natural resources development, specialising in unconventional fossil fuels, at the intersection of political geography, science and technology studies, and economic sociology. Dr Kama currently holds an ESRC Future Research Leaders award to study the scientific and political controversies of shale gas development in Europe. She is ...

Email
k.kama@bham.ac.uk

Professor Nick Kettridge

Professor Nick Kettridge

Professor of Ecohydrology
Deputy Head of School (Geography, Earth and Environmental Science)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Nick Kettridge specializes in characterizing the ecohydrological resilience of ecosystems to both natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Much of his research focuses on peatlands; understanding the processes that control the provision of key ecosystem services within these environments, and quantifying their response to changing climatic conditions and extreme events such as fire and drought.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3575
Email
n.kettridge@bham.ac.uk

Dr Kieran Khamis

Dr Kieran Khamis

Lecturer in Physical Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Kieran is an environmental scientist with a particular interest in freshwater ecosystems. His research can be divided into two main areas: (1) elucidating the impacts of global change (climate change, land use change and drought) on river ecosystems; and, (2) improving understanding of water quality and biogeochemistry of human modified river catchments (agricultural, urban), with a focus on ...

Email
k.khamis@bham.ac.uk

Professor Peter Kraftl

Professor Peter Kraftl

Chair in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Peter Kraftl is best known for his research on children’s geographies, focusing on children and young people’s experiences of and interactions with environmental processes – such as sustainable urban design, environmental resources and pollution. He also publishes on geographies of education and architecture. He is currently national co-lead for the Children, Young ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5524
Email
p.kraftl@bham.ac.uk

Professor Dr Stefan Krause

Professor Dr Stefan Krause

Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Water Crisis - Birmingham HeroesProfessor Dr Stefan Krause is Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. His interdisciplinary research group on coupled groundwater and surface water systems investigates the multifaceted impacts of global environmental change on hydrological fluxes, biogeochemical cycling and contaminant transport, and ecohydrological ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5535
Email
s.krause@bham.ac.uk

Dr Irina Kuznetsova

Dr Irina Kuznetsova

Associate Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Irina Kuznetsova's research expertise includes areas of migration, forced displacement, health, and critical urbanism. Her recent projects focus on social consequences of population displacement in Ukraine, Russia, Rwanda, Nigeria and Japan, including mental health and well-being, and the impact of migration on rural communities.

Email
i.kuznetsova@bham.ac.uk

Dr Joshua Larsen

Dr Joshua Larsen

Senior Lecturer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Joshua Larsen is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography. His research interests include:  Hydrology, ecohydrology, biogeochemistry, water quality, and palaeohydrology.

Email
j.larsen@bham.ac.uk

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager

Associate Professor in Palaeobiology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Stephan is a vertebrate palaeontologist, specialising in functional morphology and biomechanical analysis. His research focuses on the relationship between form and function in extinct vertebrates and how biomechanical function evolved through time in various vertebrate groups, such as dinosaurs, birds, crocodiles and mammals. Stephan applies a variety of computational techniques to restore the ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3957
Email
s.lautenschlager@bham.ac.uk

Professor Gregor C. Leckebusch

Professor Gregor C. Leckebusch

Professor of Meteorology and Climatology
UK Met Office Joint Chair

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Gregor Leckebusch is a leading expert in natural science research on meteorological and climatological extreme events and related impacts. His work is dedicated to natural variability and anthropogenic changes in extreme events like cyclones and storms and the relation to relevant risk assessments. Focus of his actual research is a better understanding of physical processes in the ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 45518
Email
g.c.leckebusch@bham.ac.uk

Dr Mark Ledger

Dr Mark Ledger

Senior Lecturer in Ecology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Mark is an ecologist researching environmental change in freshwaters. His research group is focused on understanding how environmental stressors and climate change, especially extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts and heat waves, affect the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. His group works empirically across a range of spatial and temporal scales, from laboratory ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 45540
Email
m.e.ledger@bham.ac.uk

Professor Iseult Lynch

Professor Iseult Lynch

Professor of Environmental Nanosciences
Theme lead for Environmental Sciences
Director of Research for Environmental Research and Justice (CERJ)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Iseult Lynch is an Associate Editor for Environmental Science: Nano, and Deputy director for the Facility for Environmental Nanomaterials Analysis and Characterisation (FENAC) at the University of Birmingham.  Her research focuses on the environmental interactions of nanoparticles and nanostructured surfaces with biological entities from macromolecules to organisms.

She has a very ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5532
Email
i.lynch@bham.ac.uk

Professor Rob MacKenzie

Professor Rob MacKenzie

Director, Birmingham Institute of Forest Research
Professor of Atmospheric Science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

60 second video iconRob MacKenzie is an atmospheric scientist with a particular interest in how plants affect air composition. Watch a video of him describing one aspect of his research in 60 seconds by clicking on the play icon above. 

As a result of a £15M grant, the University of Birmingham has set up the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR), of which Rob is delighted to be ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6142
Email
a.r.mackenzie@bham.ac.uk

Dr Marco Maffione

Dr Marco Maffione

Associate Professor in Earth Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Marco Maffione is a field geologist interested in global tectonics and large-scale tectonics processes operating at plate boundaries, including subduction initiation, ocean spreading, and deformation of orogenic systems. Since 2010 his research has focused on ophiolites, which he investigated in various locations, including Turkey, Cyprus, Albania, Greece, Oman, Canada and Tibet. He ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4181
Email
m.maffione@bham.ac.uk

Dr Tom Matthews

Dr Tom Matthews

Senior Research Fellow / Senior Lecturer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tom Matthews is a Senior Research Fellow who researches global environmental change issues using macroecological, macroevolutionary and biogeographical approaches. He applies a mixture of theoretical and empirical methods to investigate various macroecological topics. He has a keen interest in island systems and birds, and has published two recent books on species–area relationships ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8388
Email
t.j.matthews@bham.ac.uk

Alice Menzel

Alice Menzel

Assistant Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Alice is a feminist social and cultural geographer, specialising in the field of emotional geographies.

Her doctoral research critically examines the gendered, emotional experiences of expectant fathers across myriad everyday spaces/places (against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic).

Alice’s broader research interests include spatialities of family/parenting (and other intimate ...

Email
a.e.menzel@bham.ac.uk

Professor Alexander Milner

Professor Alexander Milner

Professor of River Ecosystems

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Alexander Milner has been at the University of Birmingham for 15 years, where he was initially responsible for setting up the Environmental Science and Environmental Management degrees. He is now responsible for the Masters degree in River Environmental Management. His research involves river ecosystems in alpine and Arctic environments and has long term studies in Glacier Bay ...

Telephone
+ 44(0)121 41 48098
Email
a.m.milner@bham.ac.uk

Professor Dominique Moran

Professor Dominique Moran

Professor in Carceral Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dominique Moran’s research and teaching is in the sub-discipline of carceral geography, a geographical perspective on incarceration. Supported by the ESRC, her research has informed and extended theoretical developments in geography, criminology and prison sociology, whilst interfacing with contemporary debates over hyperincarceration, recidivism and the advance of the punitive state. ...

Email
d.moran@bham.ac.uk

Professor Patricia Noxolo

Professor Patricia Noxolo

Professor in Human Geography
Chair in Postcolonial Geographies

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Pat Noxolo is an award-winning researcher and teacher, whose work brings together the study of international development, culture and in/security, and uses postcolonial, discursive and literary approaches to explore the spatialities of a range of Caribbean and British cultural practices. She has been lead researcher on the Caribbean In/securities and Creativity (CARISCC) research network, funded ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7421
Email
p.e.p.noxolo@bham.ac.uk

Professor Jonathan Oldfield

Professor Jonathan Oldfield

Professor in Russian Environmental Studies
Head of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jon Oldfield’s research is primarily focussed on an exploration of Russian understandings of physical natural systems. His current research has three main strands: Soviet climate science and its intellectual legacies, the science of geoengineering in the Soviet /Russian contexts, and Russian engagements with the Anthropocene as an empirical and conceptual entity. This research is ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2943
Email
j.d.oldfield@bham.ac.uk

Prof Christian Pfrang

Prof Christian Pfrang

Prof. Pfrang’s work is mainly focussed on gas-phase and heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry exploring the fate of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on air quality and climate change. He is also studying reactions of initiators of atmospheric oxidation (in particular ozone and nitrate radicals) with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), e.g. stress-induced plant emissions. Prof. Pfrang is ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5519
Email
c.pfrang@bham.ac.uk

Dr Ian Phillips

Dr Ian Phillips

Teaching Fellow

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ian Phillips is best known for writing the most comprehensive account of the 1973 Isle of Man Summerland fire disaster, which can be obtained by going to summerlandfiredisaster.co.uk. He gained his BSc Geography degree from the University of Birmingham in 1995, before continuing at the University to complete an MSc in Meteorology and Climatology and a PhD in Geography. Ian has been ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5552
Email
i.d.phillips@bham.ac.uk

Professor Francis Pope

Professor Francis Pope

Professor of Atmospheric Science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Francis is an environmental scientist with wide ranging interests in the atmospheric sciences, human health and sustainable cities. He trained as a physical chemist and he uses this fundamental knowledge to develop novel instrumentation and probe systems of interest. 

Francis has active research projects in the broad areas of air pollution, climate change, fundamental aerosol chemistry and ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 9067
Email
f.pope@bham.ac.uk

Dr Thomas Pugh

Dr Thomas Pugh

Reader in Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tom Pugh is a scientist interested in interactions and feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the global climate system, which he primarily investigates using computer models and big data synthesis. Read more about Tom's research at bioatmo.wordpress.com.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8306
Email
t.a.m.pugh@bham.ac.uk

Dr Arnald Puy

Dr Arnald Puy

Associate Professor in Social and Environmental Uncertainties

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Arnald Puy focuses on understanding and appraising uncertainties in contentious phenomena, especially those related with agriculture, climate and water resources. His research aims at providing insights for sustainability and makes use of mathematical models, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, post-normal science and ethics of quantification.

Email
a.puy@bham.ac.uk

Professor Jessica Pykett

Professor Jessica Pykett

Professor of Social and Political Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jessica Pykett is a social and political geographer with research interests in governance, knowledge practices, policy innovation and political subjectivities.  Her research has focused on affective and emotional techniques of governance, and the influence of neuroscience and behavioural science on public policy and economic theory. Current work is on the intersections of neuroscience and ...

Email
j.pykett@bham.ac.uk

Dr Adam Ramadan

Dr Adam Ramadan

Associate Professor in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Adam Ramadan is a political geographer with a focus on the Middle East and refugee issues.

Telephone
0121 415 8904
Email
a.ramadan@bham.ac.uk

Professor Tim Reston

Professor Tim Reston

Professor of Geology
Head of Geosystem Research Group

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tim Reston is a geologist and a geophysicist with interests in the use of geophysics to study geological problems, especially tectonics. He specialises in the seismic imaging and tectonics of rifted continental margins and of slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges, with particular emphasis on detachment tectonics and the effects of mantle serpentinization.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 43188
Email
t.j.reston@bham.ac.uk

Dr Paul Richardson

Dr Paul Richardson

Associate Professor in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Paul Richardson’s research and teaching is at the intersection of political and historical geography, with regional interests in Russia and Eurasia. His research activities focus on national identity, nationalism, borders, sovereignty, and territory, which have been supported by funding from the ESRC, AHRC, British Academy, and Leverhulme Trust. He is author of At the Edge of the Nation: ...

Email
p.b.richardson.1@bham.ac.uk

Dr John Round

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

John Round is a socio-economic geographer whose main research interest is concerned with how people/households develop tactics to cope with marginality in all its forms. His PhD examined how senior citizens survive in the Russian far north east city of Magadan in the face of extreme economic marginalization and hostile climatic conditions.  After this he researched the experiences of middle ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 45530
Email
j.round@bham.ac.uk

Professor Jon Sadler

Professor Jon Sadler

Professor of Biogeography

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jon Sadler is a biogeographer and ecologist whose research focuses on species population and assemblage dynamics in animals (sometimes plants). His work is highly interdisciplinary, bisecting biogeography, ecology, urban design, riparian management and island Biogeography. It uses approaches that combine detailed field studies, field and laboratory experimentation, sometimes with social science ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 45776
Email
j.p.sadler@bham.ac.uk

Professor Greg Sambrook Smith

Professor of Fluvial Sedimentology
Head of Research

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Sambrook Smith investigates the linkages between river processes and sedimentology at scales ranging from individual pores within a river bed up to km-long bars in large rivers.

The World’s largest rivers suffer from a paucity of knowledge about how they currently function, how they have evolved through time and how they may respond to future environmental changes. This lack of ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8023
Email
g.smith.4@bham.ac.uk

Dr Ivan Sansom

Dr Ivan Sansom

Senior Lecturer in Palaeobiology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ivan is a vertebrate palaeobiologist who specialises on the evolution and diversification of Palaeozoic non-tetrapod vertebrates, including conodonts, with a particular focus on the earliest skeletonising fish and the origin of the sharks. Current research primarily focuses on patterns of dispersal within early vertebrates and the influence of their palaeoecology on diversity and extinction.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46147
Email
i.j.sansom@bham.ac.uk

Dr Yuli Shan

Dr Yuli Shan

Associate Professor in Sustainable Transitions
GEES Sustainability Lead

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Yuli Shan is an expert in Climate Change and Sustainable Transitions. His interdisciplinary research aims to reveal how human activities affect global and regional climate change. He also seeks alternative low-carbon approaches towards the achievement of climate targets and a net-zero emission society. 

He is a Global Highly Cited Researcher (since 2020) and a Fellow of Royal ...

Telephone
0121 414 5525
Email
y.shan@bham.ac.uk

Adam Sheppard

Adam Sheppard

Assistant Professor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Adam is an Assistant Professor of urban planning, specialising in development management matters inclusive practice, theory, and history.

Email
a.j.sheppard@bham.ac.uk

Prof Zongbo Shi

Prof Zongbo Shi

Professor of Atmospheric Biogeochemistry

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The atmosphere and atmospheric processes interact with the biogeochemistry of the earth system. This in turn affects human and environmental health, air quality and climate. My group addresses three areas of research central to these impacts:

  • Sources and emissions of chemical substances to the atmosphere
  • Physical and chemical transformation of aerosol particles and their constituents in the ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 9128
Email
z.shi@bham.ac.uk

Dr Carl Stevenson

Dr Carl Stevenson

Lecturer in Geology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Carl Stevenson is a structural geologist with a focus on the emplacement and subsurface distribution of igneous and volcanic rocks. His research uses rock magnetism, geophysics and petrology to determine the large-scale geometry and internal architecture of intrusions and has led to breakthroughs in understanding magma transport and accommodation in the Earth’s crust. This work has ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46136
Email
c.t.stevenson@bham.ac.uk

Dr Fraser Sugden

Dr Fraser Sugden

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
International Lead (Research)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Fraser Sugden is a human geographer who has written extensively on shifting class, gender and generational relations in agriculture, and their interaction with contemporary environmental, political and economic stresses.

He has conducted intensive rural fieldwork across South and East Asia, with a focus on Nepal and the Eastern Gangetic Plains, and was based in this region for most of the ...

Email
f.sugden@bham.ac.uk

Dr Simiao Sun

Dr Simiao Sun

Associate Professor in Hydrogeology (Groundwater Science)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Simiao is a quantitative hydrogeologist who studies the mechanism of LNAPLs (Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids) migration and (re)distribution. 

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6159
Email
s.m.sun@bham.ac.uk

Professor John Tellam

Professor John Tellam

Professor of Hydrogeology

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

John Tellam’s main research interests are in inorganic, surface-interacting, solute and particle transport in groundwaters, with a particular emphasis on sandstone aquifers.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46138
Email
j.h.tellam@bham.ac.uk

Professor Sami Ullah

Professor Sami Ullah

Professor of Biogeochemistry

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Sami Ullah’s research is mainly focused on the biogeochemistry of nitrogen and its linkages to carbon and phosphorus cycling under global change in soils under forest, peatland/wetland, grassland, and agricultural crops. The impetus of his research is to advance mechanistic understanding of the response of key microbial functions such as denitrification, nitrogen and carbon ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8143
Email
s.ullah@bham.ac.uk

Professor Eugenia (Éva) Valsami-Jones

Professor Eugenia (Éva) Valsami-Jones

Chair in Environmental Nanoscience
Director of FENAC

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Eugenia Valsami-Jones - Research in 60 seconds videoProfessor Valsami-Jones’ research interests focus on understanding reactivity at the nanoscale, particularly interactions of nanoparticles with pollutants and biota and biomineralisation processes. She has carried out research on the interaction of a variety of carbon- and metal-based nano-objects with biota in vitro and in vivo and has pioneered novel methods of labelling ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5537
Email
e.valsamijones@bham.ac.uk

Dr Sebastian Watt

Dr Sebastian Watt

Associate Professor of Earth Sciences
Head of Education (GEES)

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Watt’s research investigates the physical and chemical processes that control the behavior and long-term development of volcanoes. Most of this work focuses on volcanism in subduction zones. Current projects include tephrochronological reconstructions of past explosive eruptions, studies of large-scale volcanic landslides and their associated hazards, and the chemistry and evolution of ...

Email
s.watt@bham.ac.uk

Dr James Wheeley

Dr James Wheeley

Senior Lecturer in Sedimentary Geology
School Deputy Head of Education

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

James Wheeley is a teaching-focused lecturer in sedimentary geology and sedimentary basin analysis. His research interests lie in carbonate sedimentology and applied micropalaeontology (especially conodont isotopes) which he is using to address deep time (Palaeozoic) palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological problems. 

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 46158
Email
j.r.wheeley@bham.ac.uk

Dr Martin Widmann

Dr Martin Widmann

Senior Lecturer in climate science

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr Martin Widmann is a climate scientist. His current main research area is regional climate change, in particular the development and validation of statistical downscaling methods. He also studies past climates; the main activity in this field is the development of data assimilation methods to combine climate simulations with empirical knowledge from proxy data.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 45553
Email
m.widmann@bham.ac.uk