Current Positions
• Professor of Ecosystem Science, University of Oxford
• Founding Director, Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests
• Visting Professor, Imperial College London
• Programme Leader in Ecosystems Research, Environmental Change Institute
• Jackson Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Sciences, Oriel College, Oxford
• Senior Research Fellow, Institute of the Environment, University of California at Los Angeles, USA
• Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
• Founding Director, Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests
• Visting Professor, Imperial College London
• Programme Leader in Ecosystems Research, Environmental Change Institute
• Jackson Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Sciences, Oriel College, Oxford
• Senior Research Fellow, Institute of the Environment, University of California at Los Angeles, USA
• Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
Overview
The broad scope of my research interests is the impact of global atmospheric change on the ecology, structure and composition of terrestrial ecosystems, and in particular temperate and tropical forests. This research addresses fundamental questions about ecosystem function, diversity and dynamics, whilst at the same time providing outputs of direct relevance for conservation and adaptation to climate change. I apply a range of techniques including field physiological studies, intensive and long-term ecological monitoring, satellite remote-sensing and GIS, ecosystem modelling, and micrometeorological techniques. I coordinate an extensive and expanding research programme in Asia, Africa and particularly across the Amazon and Andes region. I also have an expanding network of research in temperate woodlands in the Upper Thames region, and the old growth temperate forests of Chile. I was co-founder of the Amazon Forest Inventory Network (RAINFOR) which has resulted in over 50 publications. In recent years I have developed an international research network (GEM: gem.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk) collecting data on ecosystem function in a number of research sites across the tropics. In October 2012 I was awarded an ERC Advanced Investigator award (2.5 million euros) to explore the links between forest diversity and ecosystem function across the GEM network.
Career History
• Director, Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests - Since 2009
• Professor of Ecosystem Science, Oxford University - Since 2007• Visiting Professor, Imperial College London - Since 2013
• University Lecturer and Reader in Terrestrial Ecology - 2005-2007
• Royal Society University Research Fellow, Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford - 1999-2005
• Post-doctoral research associate, University of Edinburgh - 1994-1999
• Assistant Editor for Environmental Sciences, Nature - 1994
• PhD, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading - 1990-1993
• MA Natural Sciences (specialising in Physics), Queens’ College, University of Cambridge - 1987-1990
• Professor of Ecosystem Science, Oxford University - Since 2007• Visiting Professor, Imperial College London - Since 2013
• University Lecturer and Reader in Terrestrial Ecology - 2005-2007
• Royal Society University Research Fellow, Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford - 1999-2005
• Post-doctoral research associate, University of Edinburgh - 1994-1999
• Assistant Editor for Environmental Sciences, Nature - 1994
• PhD, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading - 1990-1993
• MA Natural Sciences (specialising in Physics), Queens’ College, University of Cambridge - 1987-1990
Teaching Experience
• I coordinate and deliver a large part of the teaching on an MSc module on Global Change and the Terrestrial Biosphere to Oxford students
• I lead undergraduate and graduate field trips to our Oxford field site at Wytham Woods
• I lead undergraduate and graduate field trips to our Oxford field site at Wytham Woods
Grant Funding
My research group has a diverse funding portfolio, including funding from NERC, EU and the ERC, private foundations such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Microsoft Research and Earthwatch. Recent major grants include the following:
GEM-TRAIT Global Tropical Ecosystems Monitoring and Functional Traits , European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, €2,500,000 - 2013-2018
ECOFOR - a consortium exploring the functioning of human-modified tropical forests in the Atlantic and Amazon rainforests of Brazil. NERC/FAPESP, 2014-2017
BALI - exploring interactions between biogeochemistry and biodiversity along a disturbance gradient in Malaysian Borneo. NERC, 2013-2017.
ECOLIMITS - Ecosystem Limits to Poverty Alleviation in Ghana and Ethiopia, NERC/DFID Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme, £2,000,000 (with Reading University and African partners)
Tree communities, airborne remote sensing and ecosystem function: new connections through a traits framework applied to a tropical elevation gradient, NERC, £930,000 - 2012-2016
T-FORCES Monitoring tropical forests under global change, European Research Council, €675,000 (team member of 2.5 million euros grant to Oliver Phillips) - 2012-2017
Assessing the impacts of the 2010 Amazon drought, $650,000, Moore Foundation - 2011-2013
Dynamics and carbon implications of fire in the Andes, NERC, £350,000, Jul 2009 – Jun 2012 (PI) - 2009-2013
Biological controls on soil respiration and its climatic response across a large tropical elevation gradient, NERC, £550,000 (led by Edinburgh University) - 2013-2018
Modelling forest-savanna transitions in the Amazon, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, £280,000 as a part of £1.5 million consortium - 2009-2012
RAINFOR: Monitoring forest carbon cycling across the Amazon forest. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, £750,000 as a part of £2.3 million consortium - 2008-2012
GEM-TRAIT Global Tropical Ecosystems Monitoring and Functional Traits , European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, €2,500,000 - 2013-2018
ECOFOR - a consortium exploring the functioning of human-modified tropical forests in the Atlantic and Amazon rainforests of Brazil. NERC/FAPESP, 2014-2017
BALI - exploring interactions between biogeochemistry and biodiversity along a disturbance gradient in Malaysian Borneo. NERC, 2013-2017.
ECOLIMITS - Ecosystem Limits to Poverty Alleviation in Ghana and Ethiopia, NERC/DFID Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme, £2,000,000 (with Reading University and African partners)
Tree communities, airborne remote sensing and ecosystem function: new connections through a traits framework applied to a tropical elevation gradient, NERC, £930,000 - 2012-2016
T-FORCES Monitoring tropical forests under global change, European Research Council, €675,000 (team member of 2.5 million euros grant to Oliver Phillips) - 2012-2017
Assessing the impacts of the 2010 Amazon drought, $650,000, Moore Foundation - 2011-2013
Dynamics and carbon implications of fire in the Andes, NERC, £350,000, Jul 2009 – Jun 2012 (PI) - 2009-2013
Biological controls on soil respiration and its climatic response across a large tropical elevation gradient, NERC, £550,000 (led by Edinburgh University) - 2013-2018
Modelling forest-savanna transitions in the Amazon, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, £280,000 as a part of £1.5 million consortium - 2009-2012
RAINFOR: Monitoring forest carbon cycling across the Amazon forest. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, £750,000 as a part of £2.3 million consortium - 2008-2012
Editoral and Advisory Boards
• Editorial Board Member of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2008-2013) and Annual Reviews in Environment and Resources (2010-2015)
• Member of Environmental Research Committee of the Royal Society
• Advisory Board Member, Oxford Research Encyclopaedia in Environmental Science
• Steering Committee: Amazon Forest Inventory Network (RAINFOR), Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG)
• Advisory Board Member, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
• Member of Environmental Research Committee of the Royal Society
• Advisory Board Member, Oxford Research Encyclopaedia in Environmental Science
• Steering Committee: Amazon Forest Inventory Network (RAINFOR), Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG)
• Advisory Board Member, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Publications
I am the author of over 250 peer-reviewed publications. The publication pdfs are mostly available for download on my publications page.
