- Reader in the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC)
- Previously: RCUK Academic Fellow in Environmental Informatics - a joint position in LEC and the School of Computing and Communications (SCC)
- Previously : Royal Society University Research Fellow
Recent field trips and courses
2019, April, Mt. Etna: Annual field course for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Sun and snow this year. 
2018, April, Mt. Etna: Two separate trips this year due to the number of students wanting to attend...
2017, April, Mt. Etna: Annual field course for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Some mixed weather this year, but good views of the growing collection of vents in the SE, with several lava flows and activity from Voragine to watch. 
2016, April, Mt. Etna: Annual field course for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Warmest weather for many years: T-shirts and sunhats. Blue skies with the occasional minor explosion from the North East Crater.
2015, April, Mt. Etna: Annual field course for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Lots of snow this year, but great weather too. - 2015, January, Puyehue Cordón Caulle, Chile: A return trip to Cordón Caulle with Hugh, this time also with Nathan Magnall. Nathan's PhD project involves comparing lava emplacement mechanisms for flows from rhyolites to basalts; his next stop is Etna... More PCC photos.
- 2014, September, Holuhraun eruption, Iceland: In collaboration with University of Iceland colleagues, we took our laser scanning, time-lapse and thermal imaging equipment to record the lava advance in Iceland. See photos from the trip, or Hugh's Facebook page.
2014, April, Mt. Etna: Some good weather but sadly no eruptions this year, on either the undergraduate or postgraduate field courses. 
2013, April, Mt. Etna: Field course for a variety of our students (and others). A great trip - fantastic weather, spectacular activity from Etna and great pizza. - 2013, April, Sólheimjoküll, Iceland: First of two trips this year to Iceland, to assess the motion of the Sólheimjoküll glacier using laser scanning and time-lapse photography. See our time-lapse from 2012.
Research interests
- understanding physical aspects of Earth surface change
- lava flows and volcanic domes
- fluid dynamics of volcano degassing
- electrification of volcanic plumes and particle aggregation
- coastal erosion and sediment dynamics
- development of appropriate and adaptive field methodologies
Tools and techniques
- laser scanning (Riegl LMS-Z210ii and LPM-321)
- thermal imaging (FLIR ThermaCam S40)
- computational fluid dynamics (Flow3D)
- close-range photogrammetry and structure-from-motion (VMS, PhotoScan, Bundler...)
- remote time-lapse imaging (multiple dSLRs and remote housings)
Teaching
- LEC.374 & 476 Volcanic processes field course (A trip to Mt. Etna, Sicily)
- LEC.377 & 474 Geological hazards
- LEC.376 Introduction to geophysical techniques
- LEC.462 Data assimilation and integration (it's all about the metadata...)
- SCC.130 Information Systems (5 weeks of SQL and database intro.)
- SCC.245 Innovation (lectures on image-based modelling)
