Dr Richard Grayson

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds as a Research Fellow in the School of Geography 2007 and have been a Senior Research Fellow since 2013.

Prior to joining the University of Leeds I spent two years as a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

Research interests

My research interests focus around the core theme of catchment management, particularly how land management impacts hydrological and geomorphological processes.

I work on the WaterLANDS project that is exploring upscaling of wetland restoration across Europe. My role is the Action Site Lead for the UK site where we are working with the Great North Bog to upscale blanket peatland resotration across the North of England.  

I have a number or research interest at the University of Leeds Research Farm. I am acdemic lead for the Hydrology and Land Air Fluxes workstream and the Lysimeter Facility. As part of this I run three EC flux towers measuring CO2 fluxes and an automated soil flux chamber system capable of measuring CO2, CH4, NH3 and N2O. I also act as the point of contact for our Haldrup F55 plot Grass Harvester with on-board NIR spectrophotometer system.   

I am involved in leading a range of research projects examining the impacts of upland management and restoration on water quality and quantity in peat dominated catchments, including impacts on water colour, DOC and POC export as well as discharge, erosion and sediment loads   

Further research interests include: Catchment scale hydrological studies to identify and monitor the sources, sinks and impacts of diffuse pollution and the role of catchment management approaches to mitigate diffuse pollution in river catchments. The quantification of erosion and suspended sediment loads. The application of GIS based modelling approaches to estimate diffuse pollutant loads in river systems.

• Impact of Sphagnum colonisation on flow rates
• Long-term catchment intervention assessment
• SoilBioHedge: harnessing hedgerow soil biodiversity for restoration of arable soil quality and resilience to climatic extremes and land use changes
• Wessenden and Gorpley Natural Flood Management

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Liverpool
• BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Liverpool

Student education

My primary role is research however I also teach on both our Geography BSc and MSc and act as a PhD supervisor. 

Research groups and institutes

• River Basin Processes and Management
• water@leeds