Dr Simon J Dixon BSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Simon J Dixon

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lecturer in Geography

Contact details

Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Simon is an interdisciplinary lecturer in geography with broad research interests around human interactions with water and landscapes.  Much of his work focuses on “Anthropocene geomorphology” - unique landforms resulting from interactions between human activities and natural processes. Examples include how waste plastic is being incorporated into sediments and fluvial transport processes, and the effects of geomorphological processes in cities producing hybrid human/natural landforms.

Simon is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Southampton, 2014
  • MSc (Distinction) River Environmental Management, 2009
  • BSc (Hons.) Chemistry, University of Birmingham, 1997 

Biography

Simon had a career in financial services working at offices in the UK and India, before undertaking a MSc in River Environmental Management as a mature student at University of Birmingham and then a PhD in Fluvial Geomorphology at University of Southampton. He worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on Large river morphodynamics and Peatland hydrology, before taking up a position as lecturer at University of Birmingham in 2018.

He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Area Prize in 2018 for "Ozymandias in the Anthropocene: the city as an emerging landform" a paper introducing the concept of hybrid urban landforms.

He is founder and co-chair of the Neurodiversity Staff Network at University of Birmingham, and founder of the UK Universities Neurodiversity Network. He has ADHD, Autism, four cats and has completed the Pokemon National Pokedex

Teaching

  • Second Year – Geomatics and GIS (module leader)
  • Turkey Field Course
  • Third Year - River Processes & Deposits

Postgraduate supervision

Projects are normally linked to three broad themes - i) "unruly" urban environments such as derelict buildings, and unoccupied sites and what their physical, ecological and social effects are, and how these are entangled with each other, ii) managing landscape change for flood mitigation, including rewilding, nature based solutions and river restoration, iii) how plastic pollution interacts with earth system processes, such as transport by rivers, and how plastic becomes waste.

Most PhD projects I am involved with will draw from multiple disciplines and typically will comprise a diverse supervisory team bring a range of knowledge and perspectives to support the project.

Research

Simon is an interdisciplinary lecturer in geography with broad interests in the feedbacks between human activities and landscape processes, often using the theoretical lens of “The Anthropocene” to frame research. My research group are looking at: the landscapes of The Anthropocene, the processes which reshape them, and how humans both influence these landscapes and processes, but are in turn influenced by the hybrid physical landscape of the Anthropocene in how they live their lives.

Examples include how waste plastic is being incorporated into sediments and fluvial transport processes, and the effects of geomorphological processes in cities producing hybrid human/natural landforms.

Simon is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Other activities

  • Member of British Society for Geomorphology
  • Member of European Geophysical Union
  • Member of the British Hydrological Society

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Davies, M, Kristunas, CA, Huddlestone, L, Alshreef, A, Bodicoat, D, Dixon, S, Eborall, H, Glab, A, Hudson, N, Khunti, K, Martin, G, Northern, A, Patterson, M, Pritchard, R, Schreder, S, Stribling, B, Turner, J & Gray, LJ 2020, 'Increasing uptake of structured self-management education programmes for type 2 diabetes in a primary care setting: a feasibility study', Pilot and Feasibility Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-020-00606-0

McKay, D, Stanes, E, Githua, N, Lei, X & Dixon, S 2020, 'On Global Plasticity: Framing the Global through Affective Materiality', New Global Studies, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 307-326. https://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2020-0039

Sambrook-Smith, G & Dixon, S 2019, 'The sedimentology of river confluences', Sedimentology, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 391-407. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12504

Dixon, SJ, Sear, DA & Nislow, KH 2018, 'A conceptual model of riparian forest restoration for natural flood management', Water and Environment Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12425

Horton, A & Dixon, S 2018, 'Microplastics: An introduction to environmental transport processes', Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, vol. 5, no. 2, e1268. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1268

Dixon, S, Sambrook-Smith, G, Best, JL, Nicholas, A, Bull, J, Vardy, ME, Sarker, MH & Goodbred, S 2018, 'The planform mobility of river channel confluences: Insights from analysis of remotely sensed imagery', Earth Science Reviews, vol. 176, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.09.009

Dixon, S, Viles, H & Garrett, B 2017, 'Ozymandias in the Anthropocene: the city as an emerging landform', Area. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12358

Dixon, S, Kettridge, N, Moore, PA, Devito, KJ, Tilak, A, Petrone, R, Mendoza, C & Waddington, JM 2017, 'Peat depth as a control on moss water availability under evaporative stress', Hydrological Processes. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11307

Dixon, S 2016, 'A dimensionless statistical analysis of logjam form and process', Ecohydrology. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1710

Dixon, S 2016, 'The effects of river restoration on catchment scale flood risk and flood hydrology', Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3919

Tooth, S, Viles, H, Dickinson, A, Dixon, S, Falcini, A, Griffiths, H, Hawkins, H, Lloyd-Jones, J, Ruddock, J, Thorndycraft, V & Whalley, B 2016, 'Visualizing geomorphology: improving communication of data and concepts through engagement with the arts', Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 41, no. 12, pp. 1793-1796. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3990

Dixon, SJ & Sear, DA 2014, 'The influence of geomorphology on large wood dynamics in a low gradient headwater stream', Water Resources Research, pp. n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015947

Chapter

Dixon, S 2020, Landscape Processes as Site Context. in A Kahn & B Carol J (eds), Site Matters: Strategies for Uncertainty Through Planning and Design. Routledge.

Conference contribution

Lerdrittipong, S, Zhong, J, Widmann, M, Bradley, C & Dixon, S 2024, Investigating SST's Role in Seasonal Climate Variations: A WRF Model Analysis in the Tropical Zone, Thailand. in EGU General Assembly 2024., EGU24-21379, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14/04/24. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-21379

Other contribution

Evans, C, Morrison, R, Burden, A, Williamson, J, Baird, A, Brown, E, Callaghan, N, Chapman, P, Cumming, A, Dean, H, Dixon, S, Dooling, G, Evans, J, Gauci, V, Grayson, R, Haddaway, N, He, Y, Heppell, K, Holden, J, Hughes, S, Kaduk, J, Jones, D, Matthews, R, Menichino, N, Misselbrook, T, Page, S, Pan, G, Peacock, M, Rayment, M, Ridley, L, Robinson, I, Rylett, D, Scowen, M, Stanley, K & Worrall, F 2016, Final report on project SP1210: Lowland peatland systems in England and Wales – evaluating greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon balances..

View all publications in research portal