Professor Stefan Krause

Stefan Krause

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5535
Email
s.krause@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Stefan Krause is Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. His interdisciplinary research group on coupled groundwater and surface water systems investigates the multifaceted impacts of global environmental change on hydrological fluxes, biogeochemical cycling and contaminant transport, and ecohydrological feedback functions in complex landscapes.

Stefan 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.

Feedback and office hours

Please email for appointments. New term time office hours will be announced soon.

Qualifications

09/2008 – 08/2009:  Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

04/2005:  Dissertation: Dr. rer. nat.

  • PhD thesis:  ”Modelling water balance and nutrient dynamics in a groundwater-influenced catchment of the Havel River“ (in German)

10/2000 – 03/2005:  PhD student at the Institute for Geo-ecology, University of Potsdam

09/2000:  Diploma in Geo-ecology

11/1999 – 08/2000:  Research visit and diploma thesis at the Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany, Supervisors: Prof. G. Nuetzmann, Prof. A. Bronstert

  • Dissertation: “Investigation of subsurface runoff processes in the vadose zone and ground water in the ’North German Lowlands’ using simulation models“ (in German)

10/1995 – 09/2000:  Studies of Geo-ecology at University of Potsdam, German

Teaching

MSc - Hydrogeology:

  • Surface water Interactions
  • Groundwater Management and Exploration
  • Environmental Geophysics
  • Hydrogeology Dissertations

MSc River and Environmental Management:

  • Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions

UG Env. Earth Sciences:

  • Natural Hazards
  • Resources of the Earth
  • Engineering Geology
  • Geology Topics
  • Env. Geoscience Dissertations

Postgraduate supervision

Stefan Krause’s research investigates the impacts of global environmental change on hydrological fluxes, biogeochemical cycling and ecohydrological feedback functions in complex landscapes with coupled groundwater-surface water systems. His work focuseses in particular on the analysis and quantification of multi-component reactive transport processes at aquifer-river interfaces and how these are influenced by changes in land-use and climate. This combines novel modelling techniques with the development of innovative experimental technologies for investigating the interlinked cycling of nutrients and reactive transport of contaminants. Moreover, Dr Krause is developing adaptive modelling strategies for coupled simulation of groundwater and surface water flow at catchments scale which are applied for analysing the implications of environmental change on water transport and nutrient conditions in groundwater and surface waters. Dr Krause welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral researchers in his areas of interest.

Other activities

  • Ecohydrology Journal: Editorial board member since 2011
  • Frontiers in Hydrosphere: Editorial Board member since 2013
  • Wires Water: International Advisory Board member since 2013
  • Grundwasser: Associate Editor since 2013
  • Water Resources Research: Guest editor for the special issue on: “New modelling approaches and novel experimental technologies for improved understanding of process dynamics at aquifer-surface water interfaces” (2013),
  • Ecohydrology: Guest editor for the special issue on: “Hydrology – Ecology Interfaces” 4 (4) (2011),
  • Advances in Water Research: Guest editor for the the special issue on: “Large scale interactions between rivers and aquifers” 33 (11) (2010),
  • Hydrological Processes: Guest editor for the the special issue on: “Hyporheic Zone Hydrology - Processes at the groundwater - surface water interface” 23 (13) (2009)
  • Committee Member of the European Geoscience Union Sub-Divisions on Eco-Hydrology, Wetlands & Estuaries and Catchment Hydrology
  • Committee Member of the Hydrogeology Group of the Geological Society of London
  • Consultancy activities for international industry projects including: Underground Coal Gasification Partnership (UCGP, Coal India, Clean Coal UK, European Commission), German water resources in a changing climate (German Weather Service)
  • Supervision of visiting research students: Project management, coordination and supervision of EU funded (Leonardo Programme) visiting research students and visiting PhD students
  • Memberships: European Geoscience Union (EGU), American Geoscience Union (AGU), International Association for Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), Society for Freshwater Science (SFS), International Commission on Ground Water (ICGW), International Commission on Water Quality (ICWQ), British Hydrological Society (BHS), Institute for Civil Engineers (ICE), Underground Coal Gasification Association (UCGA), UK Higher Education Academy, H2O-e.V. Charity for water resource management in developing countries

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Davies, G, Kernchen, S, Löder, MGJ, Brenninkmeijer, L, Laforsch, C, Krause, S & Lynch, I 2026, 'Determining the impact of common microplastic extraction methods from soil matrices on the biodegradable polymers polylactic acid and polyhydroxybutyrate', Microplastics and Nanoplastics, vol. 6, no. 1, 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-025-00167-0

Zhang, L, Zheng, T, Guo, B, Zheng, X, Wang, D, Zhang, Z, Lin, X, Jin, M, Schneidewind, U, Krause, S, Liu, L & Luo, J 2026, 'Impacts of river stage fluctuations on river corridor nitrous oxide source and sink dynamics', Water Research, vol. 295, 125574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.125574

Li, C, Bai, X, Chen, Z, Li, K, Hu, D, Krause, S & Schneidewind, U 2026, 'Modeling riverine non-buoyant microplastic transport under ultraviolet aging: A framework based on stochastic theory', Water Research, vol. 291, 125225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.125225

Wen, Z, Zhu, Q, Krause, S & Chen, W 2025, 'Advancing Multi‐Phase LNAPL Extraction Models by Incorporating a Wellbore Module', Water Resources Research, vol. 61, no. 11, e2025WR041014. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr041014

Li, C, Shi, Y, Zhu, W, Luo, D, Bai, X & Krause, S 2025, 'A low-impact nature-based solution for reducing aquatic microplastics from freshwater ecosystems', Water Research, vol. 268, 122632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122632

Mao, F, Shanafield, M, Ouellet, V, Hannah, DM & Krause, S 2025, 'Assessing river discharge dynamics through relative surface water extent changes in river basins', iScience, vol. 28, no. 1, 111598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111598

Chauhan, N, Krause, S, Singh, J, Dehbandi, R, Kumar, PV, Kumar, P, Toor, AP & Srivastava, A 2025, 'Assessment and Mitigation of Heavy Toxic Elements with Emphasis on Uranium in the Malwa Region of Punjab, India', ACS ES&T Water, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 838-850. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.4c00900

Clayton, GE, Richards, LA, Fox, BG, Thorn, RMS, Bowes, MJ, Read, DS, Tipper, HJ, Khamis, K, Dutta, TK, Kumar, A, Hazra, M, Howard, B, Schneidewind, U, Armstrong, LK, Nicholls, DJE, Davies, H, Hannah, D, Nel, HA, Ghosh, A, Joshi, H, Gooddy, DC, Polya, DA, Krause, S & Reynolds, DM 2025, 'Associations of anthropogenic activity and tributaries with the physicochemical, nutrient and microbial composition of the Ganga (Ganges) River, India', Water Research, vol. 278, 123374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.123374

Micucci, G, Lewicka-Szczebak, D, Sgouridis, F, Well, R, Buchen-Tschiskale, C, McNamara, NP, Krause, S, Lynch, I, Roos, F & Ullah, S 2025, 'Combining the 15N Gas Flux Method and N2O Isotopocule Data for the Determination of Soil Microbial N2O Sources', Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, vol. 39, no. 6, e9971. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.9971

Zhang, L, Wang, H, Liu, X, Zhan, H, Schneidewind, U, Krause, S, Jin, M, Liang, X, Liu, Y & Li, P 2025, 'Denitrification dominates nitrate attenuation and nitrous oxide effluxes under water table fluctuations', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 493, 138325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138325

Wazne, M, Schneidewind, U, Haverson, L, Mermillod-Blondin, F, Simon, L, Nel, HA & Krause, S 2025, 'Does what we find depend on how we sample? Measured streambed microplastic concentrations can be affected by the choice of sampling method', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 958, 178096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178096

Howard, BC, Baker, I, Buytaert, W, Drummond, J, Kettridge, N, Ullah, S & Krause, S 2025, 'Effects of instream wood reintroduction on transport and storage processes in a lowland sandy stream', Frontiers in Earth Science, vol. 13, 1593726. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2025.1593726

Conference contribution

Alharbi, M, Krause, S, Han, S, Wu, L & Li, Y 2025, Assessing the Impacts of Fluvial Flooding and River Bedform Geometry on Hyporheic Exchange Zones. in EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025., EGU25-21812, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27/04/25. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-21812

Editorial

Koelmans, AA, Krause, S & Krystek, P 2026, 'Editorial for the Special Issue “Micro-and nanoplastics in soil: Insights and challenges”', Chemosphere, vol. 397, 144871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2026.144871

Review article

Li, C, Luo, D, Shi, Y, Bai, X, Krause, S, Wang, R & Li, K 2025, 'Advances in quantifying the drivers of the occurrence, transport, and fate of freshwater microplastics', Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 49-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2024.2380537

View all publications in research portal