Staff Profile
Dr Richard Walton
Research Associate
- Email: richard.walton@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: 01912086185
Background
Academic Qualifications
2015-2019 University College London
PhD Conservation Biology/Palaeoecology
Thesis: “The pond pollinator pantry”: Assessing how pond management influences pollinators in the UK farmland landscape
2012-2013 University of Liverpool
MSc Environmental Science Distinction
MSc Dissertation: Three week monitoring of methane activity at two closed landfills in the UK
2005-2007 Brigham Young University (USA)
BSc Plant Biology
Grants & Awards
The Clan Trust Student Bursary, 2016
The Mead Fund – Travel & Cross-Institutional Study Bursary, 2016 & 2017
Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service, Norfolk County Council, Research Materials Bursary, 2016
Work Experience
2015, New York City Department of Environmental Protection
City Research Scientist 1
2014, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Freshkills Park
Environmental Monitoring & Education Intern
Committee Participation
2016-18 Academic Year, Organiser, Physical Geography Seminar Series, UCL
2016-19 Academic Year, Graduate Student Representative, Geography Lab Committee, UCL
2019-present, Organising Committee Member for 9th European Pond Conservation Network Conference
Research
My main research interests include a fondness for plant subfossils, ecological interactions with plants - especially at the aquatic-terrestrial interface - and how freshwater systems can be important spots for biodiversity conservation within the larger terrestrial landscape.
My current work is with the Living Deltas Hub and looks to reconstruct flood histories in freshwater systems within the Red, Mekong, and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River deltas using sediment cores. A further aim of my current research is to look at historic ecological changes to these systems so that informed baselines can be set for restoration goals.
Teaching
Teaching Experience
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, UCL Department of Geography 2016-2020
GEOG1005, Environmental Change
GEOG0017, Physical Geography Field Research
GEOG0038, Managing Fresh waters in the 21st Century
GEOG2007, Ecological Patterns & Processes
GEOG2008, Reconstructing Past Environments
GEOG2001, The Practice of Geography
GEOGG070, Aquatic Systems: Structure & Functioning
GEOGG104, Scientific Basis for Freshwater and Coastal Conservation
GEOGG135, Biological Indicators of Environmental Change