Three member of King’s Water recently won the competitive RGS Ralph Brown Expedition Award. Mike, Rob, and Kate will carry out biodiversity research in Brunei.
The Ralph Brown Expedition Award is a single annual award offered to the leader of an expedition working in an aquatic environment. This includes the study of coral reefs, rivers, lakes and shallow seas. The project should be of value to the host country and, where possible, to the local community.
Mike Chadwick of the King’s College London Department of Geography will serve as the Principal Investigator. Dr Chadwick is interested in the effects of natural and human-induced ecosystem changes on aquatic organisms and the implications of ecosystem changes on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. His past work has explored invertebrate function in the main channel of the Mobile River (Alabama), tidally-influenced rivers in England, tributaries of the St. Johns River (Florida), and intermittent streams (Maine and Florida). Current projects include studies of London’s urban rivers, biodiversity offsetting, and freshwater fish conservation in India.
Mike will be joined by co-investigator Rob Francis and PhD researcher Kate Baker. Dr Francis is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology whose research interests include ecohydrology and biogeomorphology, urban biodiversity and reconciliation ecology, invasive alien species, and warfare ecology. Kate is pursuing her PhD at King’s examining eco-hydromorphic mechanisms and interactions in tropical rivers.
Their project will explore the biodiversity of headwater streams in the Temburong District of Brunei Darussalam.
Congratulations to Mike, Rob, and Kate. Stayed tuned to WaterWords and @KingsWaterKCL for more updates about the project!