People
Dr Sami Ullah, Principal Investigator at FACE Underground Project
Research is mainly focused on the biogeochemistry of nitrogen and its linkages to carbon and phosphorus cycling under global change in soils under forest, peatland/wetland, grassland, and agricultural crops. The impetus of his research is to advance mechanistic understanding of the response of key microbial functions such as denitrification, nitrogen and carbon mineralization, biological nitrogen fixation, greenhouse gas fluxes and soil enzyme activity to land-use and climate change at catchment scale.
Dr Michaela Reay, Research Fellow at FACE Underground Project
Michaela is a biogeochemist and Research Fellow on the Face-Underground project. Previously, she completed her PhD at University of Bristol under the supervision of Prof. Richard Evershed and Prof. Davey Jones as part of the NERC DOMAINE project (Dissolved Organic Matter in Freshwater Ecosystems; http://www.nerc-domaine.uk/). Her research focused on nitrogen cycling in grassland systems, developing and applying novel compound-specific 15N-stable isotope probing and assessing nitrogen use efficiency on an ecosystem scale. Her research also includes nitrogen transfer from legumes in grasslands, N cycling in riverine systems and application of lipid analyses in archaeological settings.
Her current research focuses on how nutrient availability in elevated forests constrain the CO2 fertilisation effect at BIFoR-FACE on the NERC FACE-Underground project. She will use her expertise in 15N-tracing and metabolomics in this setting to support mechanistic understanding of nutrient availability in forests of the future.
Dr Hannah Martin, (née Tedds), Research Technician at FACE Underground Project
Hannah completed her undergraduate and master’s studies at the University of Birmingham focussing on environmental biology and conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources. She then went on to work at RBG Kew at the Millennium Seed Bank in West Sussex and then the Threatened Flora Seed Centre in Western Australia, working on the curation of seed collections and developing methods of seed viability testing. She returned to the UK and worked in Birmingham secondary schools, first as a laboratory technician and then completed her teacher training. Hannah always had a particular interest in crops and food security and returned to research at the University of Birmingham to complete her PhD with the MIBTP, researching flowering time and the control of polycomb group protein activity by the N-end rule pathway.
Now Dr Martin has joined the group of Sami Ullah starting January 2020 under the NERC’s standard grant-FACE Underground to support field sampling campaigns, to process and analyse samples and to manage data. Focussing on soil extracellular enzyme activity.
Iain Hartley
Professor Iain Hartley, Professor at the University of Exeter, Co-investigator in the FACE Underground project
Iain Hartley's research focuses on the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change. He has worked in a wide range of ecosystems, from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests. In particular, his research interests include: 1) determining the effects of permafrost thaw on greenhouse gas emissions from high-latitude ecosystems; 2) investigating the extent to which tropical forest productivity is limited by nutrient availability versus atmospheric CO2 concentrations; 3) quantifying the effects of global warming on soil and ecosystem carbon storage. Iain's research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and he sits on the scientific steering committte of the AmazonFACE project, which will be the first experiment to expose a mature rainforest canopy to elevated CO2. He also currently serves on the NERC Radiocarbon Facility steering committee.
Dr Liz Hamilton, lecturer at the university of Birmingham, Co-investigator on the FACE Underground project
Although we are in the early stages of the experiment, I think my work with the Birmingham Institute for Forest Research (BIFoR) Free Air CO2 Experiment (FACE) would certainly be the most ambitious and ground-breaking project that I have been involved with. The BIFoR FACE experiment looks at the impact of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations on a mature woodland in Staffordshire. It’s what we call a whole-ecosystem experiment, so we have researchers from all different fields looking at every aspect of how the environment responds to elevated CO2. Naturally, I am working with the soils, and we have some very interesting results.
Dr Emma J. Sayer, Reader in Ecosystem Ecology at Lancaster University, Co-Investigator on the FACE Underground project
My research investigates how ecosystems respond to change. I’m happiest when working in forests but I also make the occasional foray into grasslands. My main research focuses on determining how interactions between above- and below-ground processes affect ecosystem function, with a strong emphasis on carbon and nutrient cycling. I currently work in long-term experiments in the UK, Germany and Panama using a wide range of tools borrowed from biogeochemistry, plant-, soil, and microbial ecology. I’m also passionate about science communication and engaging the public with research – especially at music festivals http://www.festivalbugs.org! More details about my research can be found here: http://bit.ly/ejsayerLU
Professor Rob MacKenzie, Director at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, Co-investigator on the FACE Underground project
Rob MacKenzie is an atmospheric scientist with a particular interest in how plants affect air composition.
As a result of a £15M grant, the University of Birmingham has set up the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR), of which Rob is delighted to be inaugural Director. BIFoR will focus on two linked challenges: the impact of climate and environmental change on woodlands; and the resilience of trees to pests and diseases (so Rob is learning Biology and Ecology!).