Chris Joyce is Professor of Ecology in the School of Applied Sciences. He is Director of the Centre for Aquatic Environments. Professor Joyce has over 30 years of ecological research experience focusing on wetland ecology, management and restoration. He has conducted his research throughout Europe, especially in the UK, Czech Republic and Estonia, and in the USA. In 2020, he was awarded a 40th Anniversary Award by the international Society of Wetland Scientists for “high level and sustained contribution to wetland research and education.” He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Estonian University of Life Sciences in 2021 for being "an internationally recognised scientist and expert in the field of ecology who has contributed considerably to promoting international co-operation.”    

Professor Joyce has attracted funds worth well over £1.5 million for his research, including grants from the Darwin Initiative, Earthwatch Institute, European Union, Natural England, Environment Agency, NERC and other Research Councils. He has successfully supervised 16 Doctorate (PhD) research degrees and is currently supervising a further three PhD candidates.

Professor Joyce has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 35 conference papers. He has co-authored two books and edited three special issues of journals. He has presented his work to academics, practitioners, politicians and the general public and been invited to give keynote lectures throughout Europe and in the USA.

Professor Joyce has also conducted over 20 major ecological consultancy projects, specialising in botanical and wildlife surveys, preparing management plans, biodiversity audits, and ecological impact assessment. He has advised Government bodies, universities, non-governmental organisations and industry on ecology, biodiversity and environmental management. He was an Associate Editor of the international journal ‘ Hydrobiologia’ from 2012-2022, on the Editorial Board for the journal ‘ Wetland Science and Practice’, and served on the Publications Committee for the Society of Wetland Scientists from 2008-23.

I am passionate about fieldwork and try to integrate it into my teaching whenever appropriate. I am particularly keen on teaching field-based ecological skills, such as plant and wildlife identification, ecological surveys and sampling, habitat mapping, and interpreting the landscape. I have taught such skills in many habitats, including ponds, rivers, sea shores, salt marshes, floodplains, grasslands, woodlands and urban environments, and during residential field courses in the UK, Switzerland, Spain, Estonia, and Sicily. I also like to make use of the local area for teaching. For example, students and I visit Cuckmere Haven as part of my ‘Rivers, Coasts and Wetlands’ module in order to discuss wetland ecosystems and management.

I think it is important to recognise the critical role humans play in shaping ‘natural’ systems through their relationships with nature conservation. This is a key theme in my research but also in my teaching, which often involves students discussing contemporary conservation issues, for example in mock consultancy exercises or conventions. It also underpins my teaching on biogeography and environmental management on undergraduate courses, and on ecological evaluation and mitigation at Masters level.

I am afraid that I am also keen on teaching data analysis and presentation, at least so that students are not scared of statistics! In particular, I inflict multivariate analysis on students in the hope that their final year projects will reap the rewards!

I am interested in supervising postgraduate research students (PhD and MRes) in the following areas: wetland ecology and climate change; wetland creation and restoration; invasive wetland plants; wetlands for nature-based solutions; wetlands and environmental change.  Current or recent PhD projects include: Responses of Floodplain Grassland Plants to Extreme Climate Events; Blue Carbon in Seagrass meadows; Effective management of the invasive aquatic plant Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii) in wetlands; The impact of the non-native invasive species Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (Floating Pennywort) on macrophyte communities; Impacts of climate change on Baltic coastal plant communities; and Developing assessment methods for salt marsh creation and restoration. 

I have led over 20 major ecological consultancy projects, specialising in plant and wildlife surveys, preparing management plans, biodiversity audits and action plans, and ecological impact assessments.  I have worked with industry, charities and Government organisations including: the National Health Service, the Environment Agency, Toyota, Transport for London, Southern Water, Natural England and the National Trust.