Research interests
RESEARCH INTERESTS & EXPERIENCE
Aquatic environmental sciences Main projects and interests focus on influences of anthropogenic processes and actions on the quality and composition of habitat and organisms:
- Interactions between nutrients and primary producers - roles of environmental factors, chemical form and consequent nutrient availability, impacts of phytoplankton on nutrient partitioning and fluxes.
- Projects funded under the Global Nitrogen Enrichment (GaNE) project (NERC) elucidating spatial and temporal variations of dissolved organic nitrogen in chalk-fed rivers, plus contributions to the UK national research Land-Ocean Interaction (LOIS) project.
- Focus on rivers, estuaries and near-shore coastal waters in the UK.
- Influences of anthropogenic pollutants (acidification) on interactions between nutrients and components of dissolved organic matter in humic lakes in northern Europe and Scandinavia.
- Impacts of human activity on rivers with emphasis on the physical factors (channel form, riparian habitat, discharge, rehabilitation and management) (funded by the Vitacress Conservation Trust, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, and the Salmon & Trout Association as collaborative research partners).
- Coastal pollution, focusing on the impacts and mitigation of pollutants derived from shipping and industrial activities (e.g. effects on marine molluscs of tin-based antifouling paints, and exposure of coastal marine environments in the Mediterranean [Libya] to oil residues).
Waste management Main projects and interests orient around the necessity to engage individuals in waste reduction, reuse and recycling as a means to achieve desired reductions in residual waste arisings:
- How and why householders’ perceptions and beliefs lead to their recycling behaviours.
- Diagnostic and prognostic approach to quantification and interpretation of recycling behaviour, combining conventional questionnaire techniques with novel applications of quantitative analysis.
- Application of novel quantitative behavioural benchmarks to guide and inform strategies to enhance recycling programmes and reduce the impact of waste production.
AWARDS
Chartered Institute for Wastes Management: James Jackson Award for Best Formal Written Paper 2015/2016; Rispo, Williams and Shaw (2015).
SUPERVISION AND EXAMINING OF RESEARCH DEGREES
Supervision (completed PhD awards)
Alison Arbuthnott: An investigation into the effects of catchment processes on the water quality of southern chalk rivers (2001).
Walid Walda: Oil pollution on the Libyan cost (2002).
Simon Bray: The long term recovery, recolonisation and ecology of the bio-indicator species Nucella lapillus from tributyl tin (TBT) pollution in Plymouth Sound and around the Isle of Wight (2005).
Judith Homewood: Dissolved organic nitrogen in the River Test and estuary (2005).
Annie Dickson: An exploration of the psycho-social responses and adaptations of citizens to the experience of conflict between consumerist and environmental values in the UK (2009).
Melanie Dixon: The Sustainable Use of Water to Mitigate the Impacts of Watercress Farms on Chalk Streams in Southern England (2010).
Marta Manca Zeichen: Protection and Management of Marine Areas in the Mediterranean Sea: Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing (2010).
Supervision (current postgraduate researchers)
Sarah Neenan: Marine transport and transport infrastructure impacts on noise pollution in near-shore marine and estuarine ecosystems: implications for fish (EngD; primary supervisor).
Fadilah Ali: The lionfish invasion in the Caribbean (PhD; co-supervisor).
Arthur Leung: Phosphorus in the perennial headwaters of chalk streams (PhD; primary supervisor).
Xavier Pierron: Optimising small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment collection flows in urban areas with GIS (PhD; co-supervisor).
Sandra Mueller: Closed loop resource management: metals in waste electronic and electrical equipment (PhD; co-supervisor).
Erni Mukhtar: Sustainable solid waste management in urban areas: a case study of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (PhD; co-supervisor).
Siti Abdul Gani Waste management in Malaysia (PhD; co-supervisor)
PhD Examinations
Adel Al Zayani: Selection of Marine Protected Areas: a model for the Kingdom of Bahrain (PhD, University of Southampton, 2003).
Tony Curran: Household bulky waste collection and re-use in England (PhD, University of Southampton, 2007)
Paul Eades: An assessment of environmental factors involved in the management of garden waste (PhD, University of Southampton, 2007).
Kirsty Pickard Heavy metal pollution and black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus L.) breeding ecology (PhD, University of Southampton, 2010).
Iain Russon: The response of fish to conditions associated with barriers to up- and downstream movement under experimental conditions in a flume (PhD, University of Southampton, 2011)
Anika Yunus: An investigation into the diagenesis of recalcitrant organic compounds in leachates (PhD, University of Southampton, 2010).
Julia Zhang: Greening academia: developing sustainable waste management at UK higher educational institutions (PhD, University of Southampton, 2010).
Lucy Crooks: Organic contaminants in salmonid spawning grounds: occurrences and effects of early life stages of salmonids (PhD, University of Portsmouth, 2011).
Adrienne Payne: Harnessing the genetic diversity of watercress (Rorippa nasturtium aquaticum) for improved morphology and anti-cancer benefits: underpinning data for molecular breeding (PhD, University of Southampton, 2011).
Nishkant Gupta: River conservation in the Indian Himalayan region (PhD, King’s College London, University of London, 2014).
Lyn Newbold: Experimental quantification of fish swimming performance and behavioural response to hydraulic stimuli: application to fish pass design in the UK and China (PhD, University of Southampton, 2014).
Clare Dalton: Influences of landfill leachate dissolved organic carbon on the attenuation of toluene and naphthalene by Oxford clay (PhD, University of Southampton, 2015).
Sadeg Kamouka: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application to oil and gas projects in Libya (PhD, Sheffield Hallam University, 2015).
Research group
Environmental Change and Sustainability (ECaS)
Affiliate research group
Centre for Environmental Sciences
Research project(s)
Ecological and Behavioural Aspects of Flora and Fauna in Relation to the Conservation Grade Approach in Agriculture
Phosphorus in the perennial headwaters of chalk streams
Sustainable resource management in households
This ongoing work includes research projects that focus on the development of infrastructure, service provision and improving public participation, including: civic amenity sites; waste management in medium-and high-density housing; carbon footprinting of recyclable materials; evaluating new recycling services; and collection of biodegradable waste.
Conservation farming
