I have spent a large part of the last 14 years working on the development and application of soil erosion models, and the transport of phosphorus associated with sediment. This work has focused on the further development of the European Soil Erosion Model, its application and use in a variety of environmental settings, from the Netherlands to Bolivia, and examination of variability in model predictions using Monte Carlo simulation techniques.

However, I also like to get my hands dirty and have recently been focussing on understanding the transport of sediment and pollutants in overland flow using a combination of experimentation, field work and process-based modelling at a range of scales. Particular emphasis is on the selectivity of erosion and transport processes, and its importance in controlling the delivery of chemical and biological contaminants to surface waters. This area of work is funded through both EU and BBSRC grants and is breaking new ground in our understanding of contaminant transport processes.

I am also interested in the sustainable management of soils and have worked in the tropics, semi arid and Mediterranean environments investigating how soil processes interact with vegetation in both semi natural and agricultural systems. The work on water movement under Mediterranean shrub communities in southern Spain was the first of its kind in Europe and is now approaching publication. This work is continuing in Northern Europe with a new EU funded project on Sustainable Agriculture and student led investigation into sources of fine sediment in the Lake District.

Some recent references