Teaching students is the highlight of my job. Although my joint research role allows me to further my own knowledge and address real world problems that benefit society, it is through interactions with inquisitive minds I am rewarded the most. It is also an area where I continue to learn thanks to the wonderful students I encounter with their unique life experiences, and individuality, that they bring to our university. As part of my teaching I aim to inspire our students to achieve great things and to go deeper into learning than they thought they were capable of

I love teaching students about my specialist area which is remote sensing. In particular radar remote sensing. Although this subject is complex I aim to give you an experience that develops your remote sensing knowledge at each year of your learning through compulsory and optional modules. I strive to deliver interesting and informative sessions in lecture, tutorial, and computer lab settings throughout your time at the university with one of the great things about my subject being the practical application of the techniques you learn across multiple subject areas, and walks of life. We use our own senses in so many ways and it’s a delight to see students using additional senses provided by cameras and other sensors to further that experience. To help students outside the classroom I’m a big believer in guided independent work allowing you to experience situations that you may face in the working world in this field. To support this I create regular videos and guided reading content to help you throughout your degree.

My research interests lie within the subject area of remote sensing, but in particular environmental remote sensing. As the main subject of my PhD thesis, and research beyond, I am keenly interested in the role of remote sensing in vegetation studies and how removal or changes to vegetation can affect our environment. This has led me to research in the application and modelling of different technologies but mainly focusing on the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR).  I have been involved in lidar and radar work with emphasis on interferometry (InSAR) and polarimetry applications (PolInSAR) for both biomass and forest structure determination, and also for the investigation of Savanna and grassland dynamics within a wider framework of contributing to knowledge of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Working on this theme has involved integration into my research of radar systems such as Sentinel 1, ALOS PALSAR, UAVSAR, and lidar systems such as GLAS, LVIS, and GEDI. I’m interested in both multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing to complement my expertise in active remote sensing with recent collaborative research looking at the role of multispectral acquisitions from both satellite (Pleiades, World View, Landsat, Sentinel 2) and drone sensors (Parrot Sequoia) for the identification of plant species and health, and to enable mapping of animal foodscapes. My interests in hyperspectral mapping have enabled me to work closely with data such as from PRISMA and MODIS satellites to map ground cover and mineral composition on large spatial scales, and to identify hotspots in associated diseases such as Podoconiosis, and to conduct airborne and scanning research in the field of archaeology, investigating sediment deposits, and lichen coverage at Stonehenge.

In broader terms I am actively involved in climate change research related to landuse/landcover change, and the role of the terrestrial biosphere.  My work involves collaboration with international groups such as the Global Ecology Lab at the University of Maryland, Edinburgh Earth Observatory at the University of Edinburgh, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and CEFAS at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. It also involves fruitful collaborations closer to home at the University of Brighton through my research centre, Centre for Environment and Society, and my excellent team of PhD students working in settings such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Nigeria, India, Iran, Spain and the UK.  

I encourage those interested in collaborating on remote sensing themed research to feel free to contact me and to begin the process of conducting high impact science.