Newsletter from the

1. FACS & AER Review… Jan’13
The latest... Where are they now?
• Congratulations to Shaun Cotter (FACS 04-
05) on finally submitting his doctoral thesis on
effects of watercress beds on macroinvertebrate
communities in chalk streams. Admittedly, he
was self-funded and doing it part-time!
• Katherine Harris (FACS 07-09 PT) is now
Principal Marine Environmental Consultant at
HR Wallingford and often swanning back and
forth to Australia for work apparently!
FACS & AER students after a long day surveying the biota of
the R Cray in Kent for Thames21. Bruno Gallo strikes the heroic • Chris Jennings (FACS 08-09) turned
pose with the electrofishing anode! immediately to consultancy after completing his
Well, we’re already halfway through the taught MSc and after several promotions at Thomson
modules for FACS; onto optional courses now.... Ecology Ltd is now an Ecologist with PJC.
Plankton has already run, part taught by Dr Peter
Smyntek who has been working on Windermere • Dr Kev Wood (FACS 07-08) has taken up a
for the last three years. Post Doc position within the School of
Conservation Sciences at Bournemouth Uni as a
wildfowl modeller: swans perchance?
• Alex Seeney (FACS 11-12) is back... Or did he
ever leave? He’s in the lab for further analyses to
strengthen his Icelandic thesis for publication
• Hillery Warner (FACS 08-09) was awarded the
Dimitra Mantzorou & FACS colleagues getting to grips with FBA Bursary to support her studies & continues
plankton sampling her love for entomology as a Curatorial Assistant
of mantids & termites at the NHM
The new residential field module for Science,
Policy & Management down in Dorset was well
received by all, and there was lots of interaction Many of our graduates are now popping up with
with the local Environment Agency. profiles on social media such as LinkedIn or
Academia.edu. Easier to keep tabs on them now!
The next module for most will be Lakes & Ponds
with a field excursion to the Lake District and
fieldwork on Esthwaite Water with Prof Stephen
Maberly of the CEH Lake Ecosystem Group. So… What’s new?
Now the students are starting to think about
projects for the spring and summer. The Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Policy &
Management module has now been restructured.
Ed Willis-Jones (AER) is ahead of the curve with Prof Alan Hildrew will introduce the module and
respect to his Environment Agency sponsored we will continue to have several guest lecturers
project on invasive crayfish ecosystem engineering from Defra, the consultancies and government
and their impact on greenhouse gas mediation. He departments. Dr Stephen Perriss (Environment
has set up 25 pond mesocosms to naturalise over Agency) will contribute to a Case Study on the
winter and caught a stock of red swamp crayfish EU Water Framework Directive with practical
from Hampstead Heath which are now resident in input from our River Communities Group based
the basement of the Fogg Building until spring! in Dorset.
They’re breeding......
Ed is currently learning to sample methane & Dr Pascale Nicolet’s Million Ponds Project 2nd
oxygen from PhD student, Flick Shelley (FACS09- Phase - recently launched at the House of Lords
10), and how to measure turbidity with Dr
Gemma Harvey in Geography, prior to starting the The latest version of the Handbook for 2013 is
experiment in late February. available to download from the AER web pages.
Compiled by Dr Jonathan Grey Type ‘FACS field trips’ into YouTube and see what you get!
E-mail: j.grey@qmul.ac.uk Follow on Twitter @drjongrey Web: www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/