After gaining a BSc in Biology from the University of Portsmouth in 1992, Iain worked briefly as an industrial chemist before re-entering academia with Bournemouth University in 1993. The main focus of Iain’s research is the environmental effect of pollutants. His work has encompassed terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems and covers all levels of biology, from the cell to communities. Iain’s interest in pollution ecology was inspired as an undergraduate by the truly awesome and sadly late Dr. Dafydd Morgan-Huws, which was then further stoked by the work in the then School of Conservation Sciences. This led to the award of a PhD in 2003. More recently, Iain has being collaborating with a multidisciplinary team in the Environment & Threats Strategic Research Group at Bournemouth University, were he leads research into soil protection.

Research

Iain is an environmental biologist with a wide range of research interests under this broad area. Pollution ecology is passion, particularly where heavy metals are involved, but Iain’s research also includes work on organic pollutants and microplastics. His work is often focused on invertebrates, which Iain finds a lot more interesting than organisms with backbones! Iain is also fascinated by soil biology, particularly the important role soil microbes play in ecosystem services and function, but also the role that soil biology and chemistry play in forensic science. Iain is currently supervising five PhD students, but welcomes approaches from potential students interested in his areas of research.

Publications

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