Dr Graeme Awcock (Fieldtrip Leader)

The picture above shows the first time Graeme (right) and Boris (left) met, although Graeme had been making use of his excellent posts on Etna Activity well before then. So it was the equivalent to the explorer Stanley’s famous understatement “Dr Livingstone, I presume..” when he finally found him in the depths of Africa after being lost for 6 years! Make that “Dr Behncke, I presume…” in this case. Graeme’s interests and research have always been related to imaging technologies, but originally in an engineering context. He is delighted to have had the opportunity to move over to the Geography and Geology based disciplines, bringing his expertise to remote sensing of the environment, specifically, but not limited to, multispectral satellite data. (He is also my supervisor, so one has to be careful with the description!)

Dr James Ebdon

Is a Reader in Environmental Microbiology and has 15 years’ experience developing and applying novel low-cost methods for determining sources of faecal contamination in surface waters. He is also interested in safe water and sanitation provision in low resource settings and the survival and persistence of viruses in aquatic matrices. He has authored 31 publications, including 1 book chapter, 8 magazine/newspaper articles and won 5 research/teaching awards. He has presented his work to fellow academics, students, engineers, MPs, the general public and water professionals in 18 countries, including invitations to the USA by the Environmental Protection Agency, the NOAA Oceans and Human Health Centers (Hawaii), State General Laboratory (Cyprus) and the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Dr Christopher Joyce

Teaching

• Biogeography and ecology
• Wetlands
• Environmental conservation and management

Research

• Ecology, management and restoration of wetlands
• Wet grasslands
• Saline lagoons
• Rivers and floodplains

Dr Sarah Purnell

Teaching

• Water and Health
• Water Quality Analysis

Research

• Microbial source tracking techniques
• Bacteriophage applications
• The Genus Enterococcus
• Microbial inactivation
• Viral removal efficiency of water reuse systems
• Water quality prediction

Dr Ryan Woodard

Teaching

• West Sussex County Council Waste Prevention Advisor programme
• Interreg Iva funded Waste in Action
• PhD Supervisor

Research

• Recycling schemes
• Waste awareness and education
• Waste prevention
• Commercial and Industrial waste
• Behaviour change

Dr Ray Ward

Is a lecturer and researcher in the areas of coastal and fluvial geomorphology. He has a particular interest in assessing the physical and ecological impacts of climate change on estuarine and riverine environments, particularly at the plant soil interface.

Dr James Cole

James’ primary research interests concern hominin cognition and the use of material culture within hominin social signalling during the Pleistocene. I am also engaged in wide range of fieldwork projects across Europe where I am interested in bringing a range of Archaeological surveying techniques (topographic and geophysical) to contextualise hominin behaviour within the landscape.

Research Students:

Mr Robert Strick

Is a postgraduate research student studying for his PhD in fluvial geomorphology. His specific research area is quantifying the floodplain topography of the world’s largest rivers, specifically meandering rivers such as the Mississippi. The majority of his work utilises remote sensing technology including satellites and LiDAR but he does have planned trips to visit the Mississippi River, for some more hands on work! He is in his second year of his PhD studies and 5th year at Brighton. He previously studied BSc Environmental Science and MSc Environmental Assessment and Management at Brighton University. He was born and raised on the small  island of Alderney, in the Channel Islands, which is located in the English Channel (hence the name).

Mr Emanuele Sozzi

Is a postgraduate research student, his research area is in microbiology and is part of Environment & Public Health Research Unit (EPHRU).