People

Dr Florian Busch is a theoretical and experimental plant physiologist interested in all aspects of photosynthesis. His focus is on linking different photosynthetic processes with mathematical models to study the biochemical limitations of carbon fixation and to gain a quantitative understanding of how plant carbon uptake responds to changes in the environment.

Dr. Juliano Sarmento Cabral is one of the world’s experts in mechanistic modelling of eco-evolutionary biodiversity dynamics. He and his team have developed several mechanistic and process-based models for plant and animal populations, communities, and species ranges to demonstrate, for example, how ecological and genetic traits are both under selection under environmental change and how ...

Adriane Esquivel Muelbert investigates how forests respond to different global change forces and what the implications of these responses are on biodiversity and global biogeochemical cycles. Her work demonstrates the importance of drought tolerance in shaping diversity and composition across Neotropical tree communities and provides evidence that Amazonian forests are changing as a ...

Laura Graham is a computational and spatial ecologist interested in understanding how anthropogenic changes such as climate and land-use change affect global ecosystems, and how this in turn affects human well-being. Read more about Laura’s research at laurajanegraham.github.io. 

Laura is currently working on the IIASA-NERC funded fellowship A complex-systems approach to improve ...

Dr Hayward’s research group seeks to understand how organisms cope with variable and stressful environments. Temperate, polar and tropical terrestrial invertebrates (insects, mites and nematodes) are the primary focus of this endeavour. His lab uses state-of-the-art tools, and a systems biology approach, to investigate how these organisms detect, repair and stabilize the cellular and ...

Dr Huang is a macroecologist interested in understanding broad-scale biodiversity dynamics in space and time, particularly about the role of history in shaping the biota. Her primary research approach is to synthesize large data sets of both extinct and extant organismal systems and their environmental templates to investigate processes that give rise to the dramatic temporal and spatial ...

Tom Matthews is a Senior Research Fellow who researches global environmental change issues using macroecological, macroevolutionary and biogeographical approaches. He applies a mixture of theoretical and empirical methods to investigate various macroecological topics. He has a keen interest in island systems and birds, and has published two recent books on species–area relationships ...

Tom Pugh is a scientist interested in interactions and feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the global climate system, which he primarily investigates using computer models and big data synthesis. Read more about Tom's research at bioatmo.wordpress.com.

Dr Jim Reynolds has worked on the reproductive biology and the nutritional ecology of birds from many different and diverse orders including passerines, geese, grouse, kingfishers and terns. He has worked in North America and in mainland Europe in investigating how human activity influences food availability and the resulting changes in avian reproductive investment and life histories. He employs ...

Jon Sadler is a biogeographer and ecologist whose research focuses on species population and assemblage dynamics in animals (sometimes plants). His work is highly interdisciplinary, bisecting biogeography, ecology, urban design, riparian management and island Biogeography. It uses approaches that combine detailed field studies, field and laboratory experimentation, sometimes with social science ...

Dr Katy Ivison carried out her PhD at Durham University on the impact of climate change and biotic interactions on non-native plants in Norway. She is currently working on UK wildfire fuel dynamics, including characterizing the drivers of fuel moisture and investigating modelling techniques to understand and predict fuel moisture. 

Dr. Carolina Mayoral is a leading researcher in forest ecology and tree physiology, with nearly 8 years of postdoctoral experience at prestigious institutions such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research. Renowned for contributions to climate change experiments like BIFoR-FACE. Carolina's work has significantly advanced understanding of ...

Joe Wayman studied Zoology at Bangor University before moving to the University of Birmingham for his PhD in Physical Geography, looking at changes in biodiversity through time and space. From 2021 – 2023 he also worked as a research associate on the project MEFA which aimed to use staring radar technology to track and monitor bird activity above the city of Birmingham. In 2023 he completed ...

Rehab Almutairi is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography, supervised by Prof Sami Ullah on a project titled: "Forests restoration under global change: response of young plantations to drought and atmospheric nitrogen deposition."

Alex Armstrong is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography, supervised by Prof Sami Ullah on a project titled: "Effects of atmospheric Nitrogen pollution on Soil Carbon Storage and Greenhouse Gas Emission from Forests Soils".

Estelle Darko is a PhD Candidate in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on the factors that influence forest diversity and how diversity may be linked to forests’ resilience to climate change.

Nine Douwes Dekker is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography, supervised by Prof Sami Ullah on a project titled: "Identifying tipping points regulating greenhouse gas emission from soils at two forest free air CO₂ enrichment experiments".

Sarah Fairbrother is a PhD candidate supervised by Dr Simon Dixon, on a project entitled: "Rivers of the dammed: how should beavers fit and function in UK landscapes?"

Grace Handy is a NERC CENTA funded PhD student. Her research interests are tree and forest dynamics in response to global change, particularly increases in atmospheric CO2. Her work is based at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (BIFoR FACE) experiment, where she investigates the future of tree carbon allocation, with specific focus on the impact of ...

Caroline Johnson is a PhD candidate supervised by Dr Laura Graham, on a project entitled: "Balancing human and biodiversity needs from agricultural landscapes".

Fatima Khan is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography supervised by Dr Josh Larsen, on a project entitled: "Forests of the future: What, when and how will trees get their water".

Novalia is a PhD candidate in Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences focused on root exudates' effect on nitrogen acquisition. 

Rachel Mailes is a PhD student interested in forest ecology and ecosystem interactions.

Imogen is currently researching the use of birds as bioindicators of plastic pollution in the terrestrial environment. Funded by CENTA (NERC). 

Susan Quick is a multi-disciplined part-time doctoral student researching in the fields of ecohydrology and plant science with Birmingham Institute for Forest Research (BIFoR). A retired chartered engineer and safety practitioner she has more than 40 years industrial work experience mainly in the rail industry. In addition to academic research she undertakes a range of citizen science ...

Andrea Rabbai is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography, supervised by Prof Stefan Krause on a project titled: "Nutrient and greenhouse gas emissions in managed forests".

Manon Rumeau is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography, supervised by Prof Sami Ullah on a project titled: "Biological nitrogen fixation in forest soils under elevated CO₂: response of a key soil nutrient to global change."

Klaske Van Wijngaarden is a PhD candidate joint-supervised between Western Sydney University (Benjamin Smith, Belinda Medlyn), and University of Birmingham (Joshua Larsen, Thomas Pugh).

Maria Wagner Jørgensen is a PhD researcher in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Her PhD research focuses on changes in functional diversity of island communities with species extinction and introductions and aims to contribute knowledge to prevent further species loss. 

Lu Yang is a PhD candidate in Physical Geography supervised by Dr Josh Larsen, on a project entitled: "Stream synchrony: understanding the synchrony of nutrients, pollution, and water in river ecosystems". 

Hongzheng Zhu is a PhD candidate supervised by Dr Kieran Khamis, on a project entitled: "Multiobjective optimisation of Green Infrastructure practices using NSGA-II and VELMA."