Professor David Hannah PhD

Professor David Hannah

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Hydrology
Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action

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 the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action. He is Chair-holder for the  UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

David is listed in the Reuters Top 1000 world’s top climate scientists

View David Hannah's Research Portal

Biography

  • UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences (2016-)
  • Director of Birmingham Institute for Sustainability & Climate Action (2022-)
  • Director of Research, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham (2016-22) 
  • 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

Richards, LA, Fox, BG, Bowes, MJ, Khamis, K, Kumar, A, Kumari, R, Kumar, S, Hazra, M, Howard, B, Thorn, RMS, Read, DS, Nel, HA, Schneidewind, U, Armstrong, LK, Nicholls, DJE, Magnone, D, Ghosh, A, Chakravorty, B, Joshi, H, Dutta, TK, Hannah, DM, Reynolds, DM, Krause, S, Gooddy, DC & Polya, DA 2022, 'A systematic approach to understand hydrogeochemical dynamics in large river systems: development and application to the River Ganges (Ganga) in India', Water Research, vol. 211, pp. 118054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.118054

Jackson, FL, Hannah, DM, Ouellet, V & Malcolm, IA 2021, 'A deterministic river temperature model to prioritize management of riparian woodlands to reduce summer maximum river temperatures', Hydrological Processes, vol. 35, no. 8, e14314. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14314

Lathouri, M, England, J, Dunbar, MJ, Hannah, DM & Klaar, M 2021, 'A river classification scheme to assess macroinvertebrate sensitivity to water abstraction pressures', Water and Environment Journal, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 1226-1238. https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12712

Mackenzie, AR, Krause, S, Hart, KM, Thomas, RM, Blaen, PJ, Hamilton, RL, Curioni, G, Quick, SE, Kourmouli, A, Hannah, DM, Comer‐warner, SA, Brekenfeld, N, Ullah, S & Press, MC 2021, 'BIFoR FACE: water–soil–vegetation–atmosphere data from a temperate deciduous forest catchment, including under elevated CO2', Hydrological Processes, vol. 35, no. 3, e14096. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14096

Javadinejad, S, Hannah, D, Krause, S, Naseri, M, Dara, R & Jafary, F 2021, 'Building socio-hydrological resilience “improving capacity for building a socio hydrological system resilience”', Safety in Extreme Environments, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 205-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42797-020-00024-8

Khamis, K, Bradley, C, Gunter, H, Basevi, G, Stevens, R & Hannah, D 2021, 'Calibration of an in-situ fluorescence based sensor 1 platform for reliable BOD5 measurement in wastewater', Water Science and Technology, vol. 83, no. 12, pp. 3075-3091. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2021.197

Kingston, DG, Lavers, DA & Hannah, DM 2021, 'Characteristics and large-scale drivers of atmospheric rivers associated with extreme floods in New Zealand', International Journal of Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7415

Croghan, D, Khamis, K, Bradley, C, Van Loon, AF, Sadler, J & Hannah, DM 2021, 'Combining in-situ fluorometry and distributed rainfall data provides new insights into natural organic matter transport dynamics in an urban river', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 755, 142731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142731

Junqueira, AM, Mao, F, Mendes, TSG, Simões, SJC, Balestieri, JAP & Hannah, DM 2021, 'Estimation of river flow using CubeSats remote sensing', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 788, 147762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147762

Wendt, DE, Bloomfield, JP, Van Loon, AF, Garcia, M, Heudorfer, B, Larsen, J & Hannah, DM 2021, 'Evaluating integrated water management strategies to inform hydrological drought mitigation', Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 3113-3139. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021

Comment/debate

Hannah, DM, Abbott, BW, Khamis, K, Kelleher, C, Lynch, I, Krause, S & Ward, AS 2022, 'Illuminating the ‘invisible water crisis’ to address global water pollution challenges', Hydrological Processes, vol. 36, no. 3, e14525. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14525

Dugdale, SJ, Klaus, J & Hannah, DM 2022, 'Looking to the skies: realising the combined potential of drones and thermal infrared imagery to advance hydrological process understanding in headwaters', Water Resources Research, vol. 58, no. 2, e2021WR031168. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031168

Kosow, H, Kirschke, S, Borchardt, D, Cullmann, J, Guillaume, JHA, Hannah, DM, Schaub, S & Tosun, J 2022, 'Scenarios of water extremes: Framing ways forward for wicked problems', Hydrological Processes, vol. 36, no. 2, e14492. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14492

Review article

Krause, S, Abbott, BW, Baranov, V, Bernal, S, Blaen, P, Datry, T, Drummond, J, Fleckenstein, JH, Velez, JG, Hannah, DM, Knapp, JLA, Kurz, M, Lewandowski, J, Martí, E, Mendoza‐lera, C, Milner, A, Packman, A, Pinay, G, Ward, AS & Zarnetzke, JP 2022, 'Organizational principles of hyporheic exchange flow and biogeochemical cycling in river networks across scales', Water Resources Research, vol. 58, no. 3, e2021WR029771. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029771, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029771

Eastwood, N, Stubbings, WA, Abdallah, MA-E, Durance, I, Paavola, J, Dallimer, M, Pantel, JH, Johnson, S, Zhou, J, Hosking, JS, Brown, J, Ullah, S, Krause, S, Hannah, D, Crawford, S, Widmann, M & Orsini, L 2022, 'The Time Machine framework: monitoring and prediction of biodiversity loss', Trends in Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.09.008

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