Geography, Geology and the Environment

I joined Keele University in October 2007 as a lecturer for Environmental Geoscience and am a member of the Research Institute for Environmental Physics and Applied Mathematics EPSAM.

I studied Geoecology at the University of Potsdam from 1995-2000. After a research visit for my dissertation on: “Investigation of subsurface runoff processes in the vadose zone and ground water in the ’North German Lowlands’ using simulation models“ to the Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany from 1999-2000, I moved back to Potsdam University to do a PhD in Hydrology on: “Modelling water balance and nutrient dynamics in a groundwater-influenced catchment of the Havel River“ (2000-2005). Before coming to Keele I worked from 2005 -2007 as a Research Associate and later Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Water Management at Lancaster University, investigating reactive transport processes and contamination risks at aquifer-river interfaces and groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems.

The central aim of my research is the investigation of global environmental change impacts on hydrological fluxes, biogeochemical cycling and ecohydrological feedback functions in complex landscapes with coupled groundwater-surface water systems. My work particularly focuses on the analysis and quantification of multi-component reactive transport processes at aquifer-river interfaces and how these are influenced by changes in landuse and climate.

My research combines novel modelling techniques with the development of innovative experimental technologies for investigating the interlinked cycling of nutrients and reactive transport of contaminants.

I am therefore applying novel distributed sensor network technology together with reactive “smart tracers” for investigating the efficiency of interconnected nitrogen and carbon cycling in reactive “hot-spots” and “hot-moments” at aquifer-river interfaces in dependency of microbial metabolic activity and carbon respiration rates.

Moreover, I am developing adaptive modelling strategies for coupled simulation of groundwater and surface water flow at catchments scale which are applied in several studies to analyse the implications of environmental change on water transport and nutrient conditions in groundwater and surface waters.

In addition to reactive transport and transformation in coupled groundwater-surface water systems, my research interests extend to the ecohydrological implications of nutrient cycling and contaminant transport at aquifer-river interfaces as well as the development of management strategies and political instruments to promote the attenuation potential in these systems.

Current and ongoing research projects include:

• Smart tracers and distributed sensor networks for quantifying the metabolic activity in streambed reactivity hotspots (2011-2012, funded by NERC)
• Risk assessment and potential for attenuation of Trichloroethylene in hyporheic sediments (funded by Environment Agency, EPSAM, 2010-2013)
• Developing the use of redox sensitive tracers for quantifying metabolic activity in stream sediments (funded by the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research 2011-2012)
• Hyporheic Zone Processes - Understanding the role of the dynamic impacts of hyporheic zone processes on water balance and nutrient dynamics at the groundwater - surface water interface (funded by the German Research Council, DFG,, 2006-2008)
• Quantifying radiation efficiency by Fibre-optic DTS (iK-Fund, 2011-2012)
• Novel distributed sensor networks for tracing aquifer-river exchange flow patterns (funded by EPSRC & RGS/IBG, 2009-2010)
• UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Knowledge Transfer Network on “Groundwater-surface water interactions and hyporheic zone processes” 2007-2009 (joint Biogeochemistry & Ecohydrology working group leader )together with D.M. Hannah, U Birmingham))

 Year 1

• ESC-10042 : Environmental Science Skills (Introductory lectures environmental statistics)
• ESC-10001 : The Solid Earth and its Materials (Introductory lectures biogeochemical cycles and isotope dating methods)
• Introductory field course (Field course leader)
• Field course North Wales (Field course leader)

Year 2

• ESC-20017 : Human Impacts on the Environment (Module leader)
• ESC-20038 : Integrated Environmental Field Studies (Module leader)
• ESC-200xx : Overseas Fieldcourse – The Alps (Field course leader)

Year 3

• ESC-30032 : Environmental Analytical Methods
• ESC-30029 : Applied Methods in Environmental Sciences (Module leader)
• ESC-30019 : Applied Environmental Science Independent Research Project (single)
• ESC-30035 : Applied Environmental Science Independent Research Project (double)
• GEG-30006 : Geography (Double) Dissertation
• GEG-30008 : Geography (Single) Dissertation
• Dissertation Workshops (Descriptive statistics, spatial data analysis, time series analysis)

MSc Environmental Sustainability

• Environmental risks of clean coal technologies

Nanjing – Keele Environment and Sustainability Programme

• Assessment of Environmental Quality (Module leader)

Guest Lectures

• MSc Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering Environmental risks (Imperial College London)
• MSc Hydrogeology (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham)

Supervision of Visiting Research Students (EU Leonardo Programme)