Richard Fewster

Richard Fewster

Profile

Currently completing a PhD funded by the NERC Panorama DTP, investigating “Changing ecology, hydrology and permafrost in circum-Arctic peatlands”. Permafrost peatlands (i.e. peatlands frozen for > 1 year) represent vast carbon stores that are expected to be highly vulnerable to future climatic change, but the impacts of these changes remain uncertain. My doctoral research has centred on three core themes: 1) Future climate space losses for permafrost peatlands in Europe and Western Siberia; 2) Late-Holocene vegetation dynamics in circum-Arctic permafrost peatlands; and 3) Effects of palsa thaw on peat hydraulic properties. My previous and ongoing research has involved advanced statistical modelling; downscaling and analysing cutting-edge CMIP6 global climate projections; construction of hemispheric-scale catalogues of palaeoecological proxies; fieldwork on Arctic permafrost peatlands; and laboratory analyses of peat hydraulic properties. I am an active member of the River Basins Processes and Management research cluster, School of Geography and Climate-Ice group, Priestley International Centre for Climate.

 

Research interests

  • Peatlands
  • Permafrost
  • Climate Science
  • Palaeoecology
  • Palaeoclimatology
  • Environmental Change
  • Past and Future Climate Change
  • Statistical Modelling
  • Ecohydrology

Qualifications

  • 2018–2019, MSc by Research - Geography (Physical), The University of Leeds
  • 2015–2018, BSc Geography (hons), The University of Leeds

Research groups and institutes

  • River Basin Processes and Management
  • Palaeo@Leeds