Testimonial of SAGES Sponsored Study Towards a Scottish Graduate Academy of Science, Technology

Testimonial of SAGES sponsored study towards a Scottish Graduate Academy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths

Dr. Scott J. McGrane

SAGES Sponsored PhD

University of Aberdeen / University of Edinburgh

September 2009 – March 2013

Professors.DoertheTetzlaff and Chris Soulsby (University of Aberdeen) and Dr. Richard Essery (Edinburgh)

TESTIMONIAL

The threat posed by both climate and land use change threatens to alter the way freshwater catchments respond to hydroclimatic drivers. My research focused on the hydrological dynamics of catchments situated in lowland environments where the presence of both agriculture and urban landscapes impact on catchment behaviour and sought to assess how such dynamics have changed over time. We applied environmental tracers and models to gain insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics occurring at the catchment scale and used this to both model and predict the potential pathways for sediment, nutrients and contaminants.

During the course of my PhD, I benefited greatly from the SAGES network which provided training, guidance and networking over and above the PhD on its own. Through SAGES, I was fortunate to attend courses which aided me as a young researcher including a statistics course run by Marion Scott at Glasgow and a brief course introducing programming for PhD students with no prior background. I was fortunate to be involved in the organisation of the latter course, having identified the need amongst the other PhD students. SAGES presented all PhD students with the opportunity to request training courses or funding to attend courses which would greatly aid in the development of a skill set required for a young researcher. In addition to this, the annual SAGES Graduate Retreat hosted at The Burn in Edzell presented a unique opportunity for all SAGES theme PhD students and leaders to come together, discuss their research and wider issues in the sphere of geoscience and gain perspective on how these themes interlink at the science, policy and impact levels. This has created many lasting working and personal friendships for me which will lead to fruitful collaborations and networking in later stages of my career. Since successfully defending my Viva (20th March, 2013) and submitting my corrections, I have been working as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey under the supervision of Professor Soon-ThiamKhu as part of the NERC Changing Water Cycle programme which aims to assess how changing climate and land use impacts on the freshwater cycle. Particularly, we are interested in the impact of rapid urbanization on hydrological dynamics and pathways for sediment, contaminants and nutrients.

PUBLICATIONS

McGrane S.J., Tetzlaff D. and Soulsby C. (2012), Influence of lowland aquifers and anthropogenic impacts on the isotope hydrology of contrasting mesoscale catchments, Hydrological Processes, DOI: 10.1002/hyp.9610

McGrane S.J., Tetzlaff D., Essery R. and Soulsby C. (2013), Do catchment characteristics explain differences in coherence and trends in hydroclimatic behaviour in an upland region, Hydrology Research, In Press

*The SAGES Graduate School is an international graduate school. Although SAGES prize studentships were awarded on a highly competitive, globally accessible basis, all PhD graduates currently working in SAGES areas who are registered with a Scottish University are able to become affiliate members of the Graduate School and can participate in SAGES activities.

The same principle will be adopted for the Scottish Graduate Academy of Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths.