Environment, food and rural affairs

Paul Anderson is Professor of Strategic Elements and Materials Sustainability and the Co-Director of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials.

Paul has published close to 100 research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews, book chapters and patents in the fields of porous framework materials, nanowires and nanoparticles, and hydrogen storage materials. He ...

Anthony Arnull specialises in the law of the European Union. He worked at the European Court of Justice from 1989-92 and was Head of Birmingham Law School between 2006 and 2009. He was Acting Head of the College of Arts & Law at Birmingham from April to August 2015. Professor Arnull is the author of The General Principles of EEC Law and the Individual (Leicester University Press, 1990); The ...

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 ...

Professor Kai Bongs was Director of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing from 2014-2019 and Principal Investigator from 2019-2022. Professor Bongs helped to drive the translation of gravity sensors and ultra-precise clocks into technology and applications across a diverse number of sectors, including climate, communications, energy, transport and urban ...

Nigel Cassidy has over 30 years’ academic and industrial experience in near-surface geophysics, geotechnical engineering and numerical modelling. His research focuses on the development of remote monitoring, modelling and inversion techniques to solve practical environmental and geo-engineering problems.

Nigel has published 70+ peer-reviewed international journal papers, articles and book ...

Professor Aleksandra Cavoski’s research interests are in the field of environmental law and EU law, including certain aspects of public international law. Her research agenda is inter-disciplinary and explores the intersection of law and other disciplines, in particular politics, science, public policy and language. Aleksandra is the College of Arts and Law Director of Global ...

David Chapman is Professor of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering. He is also the Technical Director for the National Buried Infrastructure Facility at the University of Birmingham, which is part of the UK wide government funded project UKCRIC (UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities).

His research interests lie in the area of underground construction (from pipelines ...

Henry’s research interests centre on the later prehistoric period, and particularly the relationships between human activity and environmental change within past landscapes and focusing on wetland sites. He specialises in the use of digital technologies to enable the modelling and analysis of the wide range of information required for such study to engage with past sites and landscapes.

Thi ...

Dr Coates's research interests include development, evolution, plant science and cell biology - in particular understanding how plants made the transition to land and how they survived once they got there. Dr Coates has a very strong interest in supporting inclusion and diversity in research, teaching and academic processes.

Professor Martin Freer is a nuclear physicist, and Director of the Birmingham Energy Institute  (BEI) at the University of Birmingham. He is also Director of the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA), which comprises eight internationally-renowned Midlands universities which are part of the Midlands Innovation partnership, together with the British Geological Survey.

Martin is former ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

In April 2021, Professor Andreas Hornung was appointed Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham.

Andreas Hornung holds 21 patents and has published more than 340 scientific publications to date.

The main strategic topic of Hornung’s work today is the development of decentralized power providing units combined with pyrolysis, gasification and digestion units – called the ...

I am an interdisciplinary scholar: trained in ethics and constructive theology with a background in the humanities, particularly literature and music.

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 ...

Rob 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 ...

Professor David Maddison is Director of the Birmingham Centre for Environmental and Energy Economics and Management (BCEEEM). He is also co-editor of the journal Climate Change Economics.

David Maddison is a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of ...

Nigel Maxted is Professor of Plant Genetic Conservation, with specific expertise in in situ and ex situ conservation related to crops, their wild relative and other socio-economically important plants.

Nigel has led National, European and International crop, their wild relative and other socio-economically important plant conservation projects with funding from international (FAO, GEF, Bioversity ...

Nicole Metje is the Head of Enterprise, Engagement and Impact and Head of the Power and Infrastructure Research Group within the School of Engineering, and the Director for the UKCRIC National Buried Infrastructure Facility at Birmingham.

Nicole is an international leader in the development and application of sensors for (buried) infrastructure assessment and monitoring. She ...

Professor Ian Norton is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and leads the food Formulation Engineering Research Group at the University of Birmingham. By developing new formulation engineering methods and techniques, the team is creating cutting-edge and novel approaches to food processing and the development of healthier food and higher performance products.

 

 

Dr Walters Nsoh is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Birmingham. His research relates primarily to the intersection between property (land) law and environmental law, the legal and policy challenges to nature conservation and the sustainable management of natural resources. His book The Privatisation of Biodiversity? - New Approaches to Conservation Law(Edward Elgar Publishing ...

Fiona's interests and experience focus on natural resource governance and management in developing country settings, particularly within inland fisheries and coastal locations in East and Southern Africa, and on exploring the links between poverty and the environment.

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 ...

Luisa's mission is to improve environmental health by pushing the boundaries of research and innovation. She applies high throughput sequencing technologies and AI to understand the impact of environmental change on freshwater ecosystems. Luisa works with ghost DNA and resurrected crustaceans to identify the causes of biodiversity loss and the mechanisms of evolution that allow species to persist.

Natalia Petrovskaya is an Associate Professor and a member of the Optimisation and Numerical Analysis Group in the School of Mathematics.

Personal webpage

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 ...

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.

Professor Jonathan Radcliffe is a Professor in Energy Systems and Policy, leading an interdisciplinary research team. His research interests are in energy system technology, policy and innovation, in particular the role of energy storage. He also leads the Resilient Cities theme of the Institute for Global Innovation, working with colleagues across the university to investigate the drivers of ...

Clive is Professor of Railway Systems and Deputy Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham.  He is Director of the University’s Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, which has over 180 researchers. He works extensively with the railway industry and academia in Britain and overseas. 

Clive leads a broad portfolio of research aimed at ...

Chris Rogers spent three years in the civil engineering industry, becoming a chartered engineer as a result of this practical experience, before returning to academia to research pipeline soil-structure interaction.  He lectured at Nottingham and Loughborough Universities before taking up his current position at the University of Birmingham in 1998.  His research portfolio is dominated ...

Robert Steinberger-Wilckens is Professor for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen research in Chemical Engineering. He is director of the research Fuel Cell and Hydrogen group and the Centre for Doctoral Training Fuel Cells and their Fuels, which is run by the universities of Birmingham, Nottingham, and Loughborough, Imperial College, and University College of London.

He works and has worked in many areas ...

Professor Rustam Stolkin serves as the Chair in Robotics and Royal Society Industry Fellow in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. He leads the Extreme Robotics Lab (ERL), Europe's most prominent university research lab dedicated to nuclear and other extreme environment applications of advanced robotics and AI.

Rustam is an interdisciplinary engineer with diverse research interests, although ...

I am a Reader in Philosophy here at the University of Birmingham, where I have worked since September 2010. I have a wide range of interests in philosophy. Whilst my own research (described below) mainly focuses on the more theoretical side of moral philosophy in metaethics and normative ethics, I am also interested in philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and ...

Susannah Thorpe is Professor of Zoology for the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her research employs a multidisciplinary approach in primate behavioural ecology to reveal how primates interact with complex natural habitats and the environmental constraints that steer their evolution. Her career has been predominantly based on revealing core aspects of human ...

Athanasios Tsolakis is Professor of Thermodynamics and Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer for the School of Engineering.  Thanos has published over 150 research papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings in the areas of fuels and fuel treatments, low carbon and carbon free energy carriers, combustion and vehicle emissions control technologies such as environmental ...

Professor Allan Walton has expertise in processing of permanent magnetic materials, solid state hydrogen storage materials, hydrogen processing of materials, coating technologies, hydrogen purification membranes and recycling of rare earth materials.  Allan is Professor of Critical and Magnetic Materials and is the ex-chair of the UK Magnetics Society.

He has published over 35 papers in ...

Hongming Xu is Professor of Energy and Automotive Engineering and Head of the Vehicle Technology Research Centre. He is Director of Birmingham CASE Automotive Research and Education Centre.

He has 6 years of industrial experience with Jaguar Land Rover and Premier Automotive Group of Ford. He researches synergies between fuel, propulsion and after-treatment technologies for cleaner road vehicles.

Xiao-Ping Zhang is a Professor of Electrical Power Systems, Director of Smart Grid, Birmingham Energy Institute, and Co-Director of Birmingham Energy Storage Centre sponsored by UK, and Head of the Electrical Power & Control Systems Group

Professor Zhang has been conducting active research in the fields of Energy Union, Global Power & Energy Internet, Super Power ...