Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES)

Profile

General

I am a Senior Research Associate in marine biogeochemistry in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences with a particular interest in sediment transport and exchange processes. After completing a BSc in Marine Biology from Queen's University, I gained funding for a PhD project monitoring seasonal intertidal sediment-water column nutrient exchange to determine the significance of intertidal sediments on nutrient dynamics in Strangford Lough. I later moved to the University of Plymouth where I worked as part of an inter-disciplinary team investigating sediment dynamics and associated contaminant transport in estuaries before moving to Portsmouth to continue my career in this multi-disciplinary field and to further the understanding of how physical and biogeochemical factors inter-relate to govern sediment transport and constituent partitioning and diagenesis.

Teaching

I was fortunate to be funded for pure research, but have made efforts during my postgraduate studies to gain experience in teaching which has shown me how rewarding this aspect of a career can be.

I have provided guest lectures on ecological approaches to the marine environment and oceanic primary productivity. During residential field courses and day field trips, I have been involved in the teaching of shipboard and shore based instrumentation use, the collection of samples for subsequent laboratory analysis, in situ and laboratory biota identification, biotope mapping and various analytical chemistry techniques to under-and postgraduates.

Career

• April 2008 - Present: Senior Research Associate in Marine Biogeochemistry, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth and National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton.
• September 2005 - April 2008: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Marine Geochemistry, University of Plymouth.
• September 2001-December 2004: PhD in Marine Biogeochemistry, Queen's University Belfast. Thesis 'A comparison of nutrient fluxes across the sediment-water interface at two intertidal sites in Strangford Lough'
• BSc in Marine Biology, Queen's University Belfast.

Research

Currently funded by NERC and CEFAS, I now work as a senior research associate studying sediment-water column exchange of nutrients in coastal and shelf-sea waters at the University of Portsmouth and National Oceanography Centre Southampton. The project combines researchers with complimentary skills in biogeochemistry, sediment dynamics and modelling and aims to improve our knowledge of nutrient transfer across the benthic boundary, consequently increasing our understanding and predictive abilities of primary production in coastal waters. Nutrient fluxes are determined during sediment resuspension using a variety of annular flumes, a large in situ flume (the only one in the UK), a mini flume used with an intact core immediately on sediment collection and a large laboratory flume. The data will enable subsequent modelling of resuspension and advective pore water flow in differing North Sea sediments as well as improving our understanding of resuspension in coupling benthic and pelagic processes, greatly benefiting ecosystem modellers.

Previous research included investigating sediment dynamics and associated contaminant transport in estuaries. To better understand sediment dynamics in Estuaries, I developed a stable isotope sediment tracer technique at the University of Plymouth. The group which also included engineers from the University of Cardiff, performed experiments in a high capacity estuarine flume allowing for simultaneous monitoring of chemical and sediment dynamics, providing concurrent hydrodynamic and geochemical data from more environmentally realistic conditions than previous studies. The objective to provide a better appreciation of how physical parameters (i.e. bed geomorphology and shear stress) effect sediment transport and the partitioning of associated sediment contaminants. Collected data is currently being used by the Cardiff group in the refinement of numerical models simulating sediment dynamics and geochemical processes in estuaries.

Recent Publications

More recent publications