Professor Ian Reid

PhD (Hull)

  • Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography
Ian Reid

Academic career

  • 2014 onwards: Emeritus Professor, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
  • 1994-2013: Professor of Physical Geography, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
  • 1992-93: Professor of Geography, University of London.
  • 1988- 92: Reader in Geography, University of London.
  • 1971-88: Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Arid-Zone River Hydrology and Sedimentology.  This research stems from the 1970s when I made my first expedition to the drylands of northern Kenya and continues today in the Negev. It aims to solve fundamental problems of sediment transport that bear implications for engineering management of river channels and water reservoirs. 

Temperate-Zone River Sediment Transport and Benthic Ecology. My interest in gravel-bed river dynamics goes back to the establishment of two permanent monitoring stations on Turkey Brook in southern England in the 1970s. More recent field and laboratory flume studies have investigated the fundamental mechanics of sediment entrainment and disturbance of channel-bed gravels by macro-invertebrates.

Automated Grain-Sizing of Natural Coarse Sediments for hydraulic and hydroecological research. This has led to development of the Digital Gravelometer™. 

Rift Sedimentation - Triassic North Sea, Pleistocene Dead Sea. This research evolved from my association with palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists in the East African Rift. It has connotations for hydrocarbon exploration and for understanding the impact of future climate change on basin sedimentation.

Agricultural and Forest Hydrology. This research explores the hydrology of cracking clay soils, the efficiency of underdrainage systems in agriculture, and the potential impact on water resources of the government’s proposed afforestation of a significant fraction of England over the next 30 - 50 years.

Selected Publications