Professor David Hannah PhD

Professor David Hannah

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Hydrology
College Director of Research

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 47931 (Helen Jones, PA)
Telephone (2)
+44 (0)121 41 46925 (for own research)
Email
d.m.hannah@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Water Crisis - Birmingham HeroesProfessor David Hannah - Research in 60 seconds videoDavid is a physical geographer with interdisciplinary research interests focusing on three complementary themes within hydroclimatology (interface between hydrology-climatology): (1) hydroclimatological processes within alpine, Arctic, mountain and glacierized river basins; (2) climate and river flow regimes; and (3) river energy budget and water temperature dynamics. He has cross-cutting interests in ecohydrology/ hydroecology, specifically ecological response to hydro-climatological and physico-chemical habitat variability/ change, and development of new methods for monitoring, analysing and modelling environmental dynamics. 

David is Professor of Hydrology in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Director of Research of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences. He is Chair-holder for the  UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

View David Hannah's Research Portal

Biography

  • UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences (2016-)
  • Director of Research, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2016-) 
  • Head of School, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2014-16)
  • Chair of Hydrology, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2012-)
  • Reader in Hydrology, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2009-12)
  • Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2005-2009)
  • Lecturer in Physical Geography, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (1998-2005)
  • Postdoctoral Associate, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (1997-1998)
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2007); Member of the Institute of Learning and Teaching and Register Practitioner of The Higher Education Academy (2005)
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Birmingham (2002)
  • PhD, Meltwater generation and drainage within a small glacierized basin in the French Pyrénées, University of Birmingham (1997)
  • BSc (Hons) in Physical Geography, University of Aberdeen (1994)

Teaching

Geography degrees

MSc River Environments and their Management

Teaching-related publication

Kingston D.G., Eastwood W.J., Jones P.I, Marshall S., Johnson R.H. and Hannah D.M. (2012), Experiences of using mobile technologies and virtual fieldtrips in Physical Geography: implications for hydrology education, Hydrology and Earth Systems Science, 16, 1281–1286 DOI:10.5194/hess-16-1281-2012

Postgraduate supervision

David Hannah’s research is interdisciplinary, focusing on three complementary themes within hydroclimatology (the interface between hydrology-climatology):

Hydroclimatological processes within alpine, Arctic, mountain and glacierised river basins
Climate and river flow regimes
River energy budget and thermal dynamics

Professor Hannah has a cross-cutting interest in hydroecology, specifically ecological response to hydroclimatological and physico-chemical habitat variability/change. He also develops new methods for monitoring, analysing and modelling environmental dynamics at range of space-time scales. He has successfully supervised numerous doctoral researchers and welcomes enquiries from prospective researchers in his areas of interest.

Research

The answer is in nature

David is Professor of Hydrology in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Director of Research of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences. He is Chair-holder for the UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham. 

His research is interdisciplinary, focusing on three complementary themes within hydroclimatology (interface between hydrology-climatology): (1) climate and river flow regimes; (2) hydro-climatological processes within alpine, Arctic, mountain and glacierized river basins; and (3) river energy budget and water temperaturedynamics. He has a crosscutting interest in ecohydrology/ hydroecology, specifically ecological response to hydro-climatological and physico-chemical habitat variability/ change. He also develops new methods for monitoring, analysing and modelling environmental dynamics at a range of space-time scales. His research has significant blue skies and applied implications for understanding and responding to impacts of climate change/ variability on hydrological systems and riverine ecology, and the management/ conservation of freshwaters.

David is active in UNESCO’s International Hydrology Programme, UK Representative for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (until 2016), and Vice-President of the IAHS-International Commission for Surface Water. Beyond academia, he provides advice to Government, agencies, water industry and regulators (please see Other activities).

Other activities

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Krajenbrink, HJ, Acreman, M, Dunbar, MJ, Greenway, L, Hannah, DM, Laizé, CLR, Ryves, DB & Wood, PJ 2019, 'Diatoms as indicators of the effects of river impoundment at multiple spatial scales', PeerJ, vol. 7, e8092. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8092

Khamis, K, Bradley, C & Hannah, D 2019, 'High frequency fluorescence monitoring reveals new insights into organic matter dynamics of an urban river, Birmingham, UK', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 710, 135668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135668

Docherty, CL, Dugdale, SJ, Milner, AM, Abermann, J, Lund, M & Hannah, DM 2019, 'Arctic river temperature dynamics in a changing climate', River Research and Applications, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1212-1227. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3537

Mao, F, Khamis, K, Krause, S, Clark, J & Hannah, D 2019, 'Low-cost environmental sensor networks: recent advances and future directions', Frontiers in Earth Science, vol. 7, 221. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00221

Dugdale, SJ, Malcolm, IA & Hannah, DM 2019, 'Drone-based Structure-from-Motion provides accurate forest canopy data to assess shading effects in river temperature models', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 678, pp. 326-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.229

Blöschl, G, McDonnell, JJ, Hannah, D, Krause, S, Krause, S & Van Loon, A 2019, 'Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective', Hydrological Sciences Journal, vol. 64, no. 10, pp. 1141-1158. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1620507

Abbott, BW, Bishop, K, Zarnetske, JP, Minaudo, C, Chapin, FS, Krause, S, Hannah, DM, Conner, L, Ellison, D, Godsey, SE, Plont, S, Marçais, J, Kolbe, T, Huebner, A, Frei, RJ, Hampton, T, Gu, S, Buhman, M, Sayedi, SS, Ursache, O, Chapin, M, Henderson, KD & Pinay, G 2019, 'Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions', Nature Geoscience, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 533-540. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0374-y

Comer-Warner, SA, Romeijn, P, Gooddy, DC, Ullah, S, Kettridge, N, Marchant, B, Hannah, DM & Krause, S 2019, 'Addendum: Thermal sensitivity of CO2 and CH4 emissions varies with streambed sediment properties', Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, 3093 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11185-x

Mao, F, Zhao, X, Ma, P, Chi, S, Richards, K, Clark, J, Hannah, DM & Krause, S 2019, 'Developing composite indicators for ecological water quality assessment based on network interactions and expert judgment', Environmental Modelling and Software, vol. 115, pp. 51-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.01.011

Kelleher, C, Ward, A, Knapp, JLA, Blaen, PJ, Kurz, MJ, Drummond, JD, Zarnetske, JP, Hannah, DM, Mendoza‐Lera, C, Schmadel, NM, Datry, T, Lewandowski, J, Milner, AM & Krause, S 2019, 'Exploring tracer information and model framework trade‐offs to improve estimation of stream transient storage processes', Water Resources Research, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 3481-3501. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR023585

Mackay, JD, Barrand, NE, Hannah, DM, Krause, S, Jackson, CR, Everest, J, Aðalgeirsdóttir, G & Black, AR 2019, 'Future evolution and uncertainty of river flow regime change in a deglaciating river basin', Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 1833-1865. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1833-2019

Dugdale, SJ, Kelleher, CA, Malcolm, IA, Caldwell, S & Hannah, DM 2019, 'Assessing the potential of drone-based thermal infrared imagery for quantifying river temperature heterogeneity', Hydrological Processes, vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 1152-1163. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13395

Romeijn, P, Comer-warner, SA, Ullah, S, Hannah, DM & Krause, S 2019, 'Streambed organic matter controls on carbon dioxide and methane emissions from streams', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 2364-2374. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b04243

White, JC, Krajenbrink, HJ, Hill, MJ, Hannah, DM, House, A & Wood, PJ 2019, 'Habitat-specific invertebrate responses to hydrological variability, anthropogenic flow alterations, and hydraulic conditions', Freshwater Biology, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 555-576. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13242

Comment/debate

Abbott, BW, Bishop, K, Zarnetske, JP, Hannah, DM, Frei, RJ, Minaudo, C, F.S. Chapin, III, Krause, S, Conner, L, Ellison, D, Godsey, SE, Plont, S, Marçais, J, Kolbe, T, Huebner, A, Hampton, T, Gu, S, Buhman, M, Sayedi, SS, Ursache, O, Chapin, M, Henderson, KD & Pinay, G 2019, 'A water cycle for the Anthropocene', Hydrological Processes, vol. 33, no. 23, pp. 3046-3052. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13544

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Climate and hydrology interactions (hydroclimatology); mountain/alpine/glacier environments; climate and river flows (flood/drought); stream/river temperature; biological/human response to climate/hydrological change

Expertise

Climate and hydrology interactions (hydroclimatology); mountain/alpine/glacier environments; climate and river flows (flood/drought); stream/river temperature; biological/human response to climate/hydrological change