Welcome to our blog!

Hi there and welcome to our new blog site for the Water Sciences Group at the University of Birmingham. We are a group of researchers who are interested in all things watery from ecology to water chemistry to hydrology and on! We hope that this page will be a place where we can discuss issues and advances in the science, provide some details of the research that we are doing and keep everyone informed of conferences, publications and such like that are coming up. Please feel free to post as much or as little as you want.

Monday 21 November 2011

Polar Biology Conference

Phillip Blaen attended the workshop ‘High latitude biology, ecosystems and the future; a multidisciplinary approach’ at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge from 17th to 18th November 2011. This workshop presented a platform for networking with colleagues in these fields which include group discussions on the future of science in this field, current issues and a mentoring panel for ‘Succeeding in polar biological sciences’.

Phillip received second prize in the workshop’s poster competition. An online version of the poster can be viewed here:

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Water Sciences Seminar Programme

Water Sciences seminars will be held in the Geography & Environmental Sciences building in G311 unless advised otherwise. Contact Grace Garner (gxg627@bham.ac.uk) for more information or to volunteer a session.

Monday 14th Nov, 4-5 pm
Water Sciences DR Welcome, GES Coffee Room

Monday 28th Nov 4-5 pm
Ian Thornhill GEES, University of Birmingham
The influence of land use on water quality in urban ponds

Monday 12th Dec 4-5 pm
Sue Cumberland GEES, University of Birmingham
Water quality issues in South Africa; Can portable fluorescence spectrometry provide a tool in decision making?

Mon 16th Jan 4-5 pm
Gemma Harvey
School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London
Linking geomorphology and ecology: some recent experiences in river science

Mon 30th Jan 4-5 pm
Tory Milner Institute of Science & the Environment, University of Worcester
Assessing physical habitat in streams; do geomorphologists and invertebrates see eye to eye?

Mon 13th Feb 4-5pm
Alexander Poynter GEES, University of Birmingham
Title tbc

Mon 20th Feb 4-5 pm

Tristram Irvinne-Fynn Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences, University of Aberystwyth
Eppur si muove...? : on the mobility of supraglacial cryoconite and greening glaciers

Mon 27th Feb 4-5 pm
Simon Gosling School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Title tbc

Mon 5th March
Steve Birkinshaw Civil Engineering & Geosciences, Newcastle University
Determining water flow pathways using temperature as a tracer

Mon 12th Mar 4-5 pm
Harriet Orr Evidence Directorate, Environment Agency
Adapting water management to climate change

Mon 30th Apr 4-5 pm
John Gunn GEES, University of Birmingham
Environmental impacts of lead mine drainage in Derbyshire

Monday 7th May 4-5 pm

Debra Finn
GEES, University of Birmingham
Title tbc

Mon 14th May 4-5 pm
Edward Malone GEES, University of Birmingham
Title tbc

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Job Vacancy: Environmental Chemist

The Coal Authority are recruiting to a brand new post - Environmental Chemist 
Closing Date Thursday 22nd September

See our website



Friday 2 September 2011

Upcoming Conference

Hydroecological tools for  river basin planning

20 September 2011

Room NG08, Biosciences Building, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT


The aim of this meeting is to demonstrate practical applications of recent research in the new and fast-field of Hydroecology, and illustrate their utility for river basin planning. This forward-looking  meeting  will  encourage  dialogue  between  hydrologists,  looking,  for example, at mismatches in spatial and temporal resolution of datasets, models, scales of enquiry and process understanding in this area, emphasising the importance of the interrelationships between  river morphology  and  habitat,  as  well  as  between  ecology  and hydrology.

Individual sessions will  include examples of how an environmental  flow perspective can enhance river basin planning, and practical problems in their application (for example, to heavily modified water bodies). The meeting will consider where  future work should be directed, and progress  towards achieving  the Water Framework Directive  (2000)  target date of 2015 for inland and coastal waters to reach good ecological status.

Who should attend? The meeting will bring together a good mix of scientists, engineers, water managers,  regulators,  consultants  and  policy-makers  from  universities,  research institutes, the water industry, the Environment Agency and DEFRA. The meeting will alsocontribute towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

For Further Details please go to Conference details