Dr Ian Oliver

Title: Lecturer in Environmental Science
Phone: +44 (0) 1782 734956
Email:
Location: William Smith : WS 1.20
Role:
Contacting me:
Ian Oliver

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry. 2004. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia. Thesis: Copper Bioavailability in Biosolids
  • Honours Degree (Research) in Environmental Management (first class). 1999. Department of Soil & Water, University of Adelaide, Australia. Thesis: Potential phosphorus release from water treatment residuals under anaerobic conditions
  • Bachelor of Applied Science (Natural Resource Management). 1997. University of Adelaide, Australia. Subject majors: Environmental Chemistry, Soil Science, Environmental Management

Work history

  • Lecturer in Environmental Science, Keele University. January 2013
  • Senior Specialist Scientist (Environmental Chemistry), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), 2008-2012.
  • Postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA), Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC)/University of Edinburgh: 2005-2008
  • Research Officer (Terrestrial Ecotoxicology), Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO – Australia) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL – Belgium): 2002

My research focuses on the behavior and fate of contaminants in terrestrial and aquatic environments and how environmental contamination can be assessed and managed.

Soil, sediment, water and biota are all of interest to me because all of these can be affected by, and can accumulate, pollutants.

The types of contaminants I look at are quite variable and include metals, organic chemicals, nutrients and radioactive substances.

farm soil discussion mine drainage
Farm soil discussion Mine drainage

Other publications

  • Macgregor K, Oliver IW, Duduid A, Ridgway IM. Monitoring bioacumulative substances in Scottish river biota: Best practises, observed concentrations & the way forward. Scottish Environment Protection Agency (2011).
  • Oliver IW and Naysmith F. Review of metal concentrations data held for Glengonnar Water and Wanlock Water, South Central Scotland. Scottish Environment Protection Agency (2011).
  • Oliver IW, Cross A, Searl A, Shackley S, Smith C, Sohi S. 2011. Emerging Issues: Chpt 9 in Dobbie KE, Bruneau PMC, Towers W (Eds) The State of Scotland's Soil. Natural Scotland (2011).
  • Anderson H, Futter M, Oliver IW, Redshaw CJ. Trends in Scottish river water quality. Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (2010).

Selected Publications

  • Emelogu ES, Pollard P, Robinson CD, Smedes F, Webster L, Oliver IW, McKenzie C, Seiler TB, Hollert H, Moffat CF. 2013. Investigating the significance of dissolved organic contaminants in aquatic environments: Coupling passive sampling with in vitro bioassays. CHEMOSPHERE, vol. 90(2), 210-219. link> doi>
  • Graham MC, Oliver IW, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2011. Mechanisms controlling lateral and vertical porewater migration of depleted uranium (DU) at two UK weapons testing sites. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 409(10), 1854-1866. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Grant CD, Murray RS. 2011. Assessing effects of aerobic and anaerobic conditions on phosphorus sorption and retention capacity of water treatment residuals. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, vol. 92(3), 960-966. link> doi>
  • Macgregor K, Oliver IW, Harris L, Ridgway IM. 2010. Persistent organic pollutants (PCB, DDT, HCH, HCB & BDE) in eels (Anguilla anguilla) in Scotland: Current levels and temporal trends. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, vol. 158(7), 2402-2411. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, Mackenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2008. Depleted Uranium Mobility Across a Weapons Testing Site: Isotopic Investigation of Porewater, Earthworms, and Soils. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 42(24), 9158-9164. link> doi>

Full Publications List show

Journal Articles

  • Emelogu ES, Pollard P, Robinson CD, Smedes F, Webster L, Oliver IW, McKenzie C, Seiler TB, Hollert H, Moffat CF. 2013. Investigating the significance of dissolved organic contaminants in aquatic environments: Coupling passive sampling with in vitro bioassays. CHEMOSPHERE, vol. 90(2), 210-219. link> doi>
  • Graham MC, Oliver IW, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2011. Mechanisms controlling lateral and vertical porewater migration of depleted uranium (DU) at two UK weapons testing sites. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 409(10), 1854-1866. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Grant CD, Murray RS. 2011. Assessing effects of aerobic and anaerobic conditions on phosphorus sorption and retention capacity of water treatment residuals. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, vol. 92(3), 960-966. link> doi>
  • Macgregor K, Oliver IW, Harris L, Ridgway IM. 2010. Persistent organic pollutants (PCB, DDT, HCH, HCB & BDE) in eels (Anguilla anguilla) in Scotland: Current levels and temporal trends. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, vol. 158(7), 2402-2411. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, Mackenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2008. Depleted Uranium Mobility Across a Weapons Testing Site: Isotopic Investigation of Porewater, Earthworms, and Soils. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 42(24), 9158-9164. link> doi>
  • Graham MC, Oliver IW, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2008. An integrated colloid fractionation approach applied to the characterisation of porewater uranium-humic interactions at a depleted uranium contaminated site. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 404(1), 207-217. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, Mackenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2008. Distribution and partitioning of depleted uranium (DU) in soils at weapons test ranges - investigations combining the BCR extraction scheme and isotopic analysis. Chemosphere, vol. 72(6), 932-939. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM, Farmer JG. 2007. Assessing depleted uranium (DU) contamination of soil, plants and earthworms at UK weapons testing sites. J Environ Monit, vol. 9(7), 740-748. link> doi>
  • Ma Y, Lombi E, Oliver IW, Nolan AL, McLaughlin MJ. 2006. Long-term aging of copper added to soils. Environ Sci Technol, vol. 40(20), 6310-6317. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, Ma Y, Lombi E, Nolan AL, McLaughlin MJ. 2006. Stable isotope techniques for assessing labile Cu in soils: development of an L-value procedure, its application, and reconciliation with E values. Environ Sci Technol, vol. 40(10), 3342-3348. link> doi>
  • Oliver I, Merrington, G, McLaughlin, MJ. 2006. Copper Partitioning Among Mineral and Organic Fractions in Biosolids. Environmental Chemistry, vol. 3, 48-52.
  • Oliver IW, Hass A, Merrington G, Fine P, McLaughlin MJ. 2005. Copper availability in seven Israeli soils incubated with and without biosolids. J Environ Qual, vol. 34(2), 508-513. link> doi>
  • Oliver IW, McLaughlin MJ, Merrington G. 2005. Temporal trends of total and potentially available element concentrations in sewage biosolids: a comparison of biosolid surveys conducted 18 years apart. Sci Total Environ, vol. 337(1-3), 139-145. link> doi>
  • Smolders E, Buekers J, Oliver I, McLaughlin MJ. 2004. Soil properties affecting toxicity of zinc to soil microbial properties in laboratory-spiked and field-contaminated soils. Environ Toxicol Chem, vol. 23(11), 2633-2640. link> doi>
  • Smernik RJ, Oliver IW, McLaughlin MJ. 2004. Changes in the nature of sewage sludge organic matter during a twenty-one-month incubation. J Environ Qual, vol. 33(5), 1924-1929. link> doi>
  • Oliver I, Merrington, G, McLaughlin, MJ. 2004. Australian Biosolids: Characterization and Determination of Available Copper. Environmental Chemistry, vol. 1(2), 116-124. doi>
  • Oliver I, Merrington, G, Smernik, RJ, McLaughlin, MJ. 2003. The influence of sewage sludge properties on sludge-borne metal availability. Advances in Environmental Research, vol. 8(1), 21-36. doi>
  • Degryse F, Smolders E, Oliver I, Zhang H. 2003. Relating soil solution Zn concentration to diffusive gradients in thin films measurements in contaminated soils. Environ Sci Technol, vol. 37(17), 3958-3965. link> doi>
  • Smernik RJ, Oliver IW, Merrington G. 2003. Advanced solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies of sewage sludge organic matter: detection of organic "domains". J Environ Qual, vol. 32(4), 1523-1533. link> doi>
  • Smernik RJ, Oliver IW, Merrington G. 2003. Characterization of sewage sludge organic matter using solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. J Environ Qual, vol. 32(4), 1516-1522. link> doi>
  • Ma Y, Lombi E, McLaughlin MJ, Oliver I, Nolan AL, Oorts K, Smolders E. Aging of nickel added to soils as predicted by soil pH and time. Chemosphere, vol. 92(8), 962-968. doi>
  • Stevenson J, Loughlin S, Font A, Fuller G, MacLeod A, Oliver IW, Jackson B, Horwell C, Thordarson T, Dawson I. UK monitoring and deposition of tephra from the May 2011 eruption of Grímsvötn, Iceland. Journal of Applied Volcanology, vol. 2, 3. doi> full text>
  • ESC-20017 Human impacts on the Environment: Scientific perspectives (module leader)
  • ESC-2xxxx Environmental Quality Assessment (module leader); this module is delivered in Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, China, as part of the joint Keele – Nanjing programme
  • ESC-20038 Integrated Environmental Field Studies
  • Supervisor for 2nd/3rd year dissertation students (~10-15 students per year) undertaking Applied Environment Sciences and related programmes at Keele.
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM and Farmer JG. Colloid mediated migration mechanisms of depleted uranium (DU) in contaminated soils. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). 5th World Conference. Sydney Australia, 3-7 August 2008.
  • Oliver IW. Australian Soil Science. Invited presentation to the Australian Society of Soil Science (ASSSI) annual meeting, University of Sydney, August 2008.
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM and Farmer JG. 238U as a model for studying the mobility of U in surface and groundwater and its transfer into plants. Invited presentation to the International Symposium Protecting Water Bodies from Negative Impacts of Agriculture: Loads and Fate of Fertiliser Derived Uranium. Braunschweig, Germany, 4-6 June 2007.
  • Oliver IW, Graham MC, MacKenzie AB, Ellam RM and Farmer JG. Fate of depleted uranium (DU) in British weapons test zones: Soil associations and biological assimilation. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America 28th Annual Meeting. Milwaukee, USA. 11?15 November, 2007.
  • Oliver IW, MacKenzie AB, Graham MC, Ellam RM and Farmer JG. Determining the extent of depleted uranium contamination in soils at a weapons test site: An isotopic investigation. The 16th Annual V.M. Goldschmidt Conference. Melbourne, Australia, September 2006. Abstract also published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Volume 70, Issue 18, Supplement 1, August-September 2006, Page 457.
  • Oliver IW, MacKenzie AB, Graham MC, Ellam RM and Farmer JG. Determining depleted uranium (DU) contamination in soils and salt marsh sediments in the vicinity of DU munitions testing sites in SW Scotland and NW England, UK. The 7th International Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (ISEG). Beijing, China, September 2006. Also published in the Chinese Journal of Geochemistry, Volume 25, Supplemental, September 2006, Page 96.
  • Oliver IW, Merrington G and McLaughlin MJ. Copper availability in Australian biosolids. The Sixth International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements (ICOBTE). Guelph, Ontario, Canada. July-August 2001.

Awards

  • Excellence in Journal Manuscript Reviewing (‘Reviewer of the Year’) 2008. Journal of Environmental Quality
  • Australian Society of Soil Science Publication Medal, 2007, for Oliver et al. 2006, Environmental Science and Technology 40, 3342-3348 (see publications)
  • Chris Lee Award for Metals Research, 2006. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)/ International Copper Association (ICA): Excellence in research related to the fate and/or effects of metals in the environment

Journal Editing and Reviewing

  • I am an editor on the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Subject area: terrestrial ecotoxicology
  • I also review manuscripts for a wide range of other high quality environmental science journals
  • Member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) peer review college  

Memberships

  • British Society of Soil Science (BSSS)
  • Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)