Mr Richard Lindsay
Principal Lecturer
Ecology, Conservation and Environmental Sustainability
Richard Lindsay is an internationally respected specialist in the ecology and conservation of peatland ecosystems, and is also responsible for running the MRes in Environmental Sustainability.
Areas Of Interest
Richard's current main focus is on the evaluation of peatland site condition, and the use of virtual reality in the use of training. He is also actively involved in global initiatives to improve the mapping and evaluation of the world's peatland resources and their many ecosystem services. To this end, he is currently working with the UN FAO and the UN IPBEs programmes to develop improved approaches to these issues. He is also working with the IUCN UK Peatland Programme to develop citizen science programmes aimed at engaging communities with peatlands in their local area. You can access Richard's portfolio here.
OVERVIEW
Richard Lindsay has worked in peatland ecosystem conservation for more than 45 years, having been the Senior Peatland Specialist for the Nature Conservancy Council and successor bodies for 20 years, founding member and Chair of the International Mire Conservation Group for 15 years, and helping to establish and advise the IUCN UK Peatland Programme for the past 10 years. He has been at UEL for 23 years and in that time has taught a wide range of subjects, from ecosystem ecology and conservation evaluation, to geology, bryology, GIS for ecologists, and botany for phytotherapy.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Richard has undertaken research across a wide range of peatland-related issues and for an equally wide range of bodies and interest groups. He has provided the scientific basis underpinning a number of Public Inquiries and legal cases involving peatlands, both in the UK and abroad - his work in Ireland leading to a favourable ruling by the European Court of Justice. In his former role as Senior Peatland Specialist for the Nature Conservancy Council he was also responsible for leading the team that surveyed and reported on the global significance of the Flow Country in northern Scotland - now a candidate World Heritage Site - while survey work he has carried out in Australia has also led to formerly-overlooked peatland systems being considered for inclusion within the Fraser Island World Heritage Site. He has also undertaken peatland survey and advised on peatland conservation issues across the world, from Tierra del Fuego to Japan. His current research areas include the use of VR in peatland training, and the development of a new form of wetland agriculture for drained wetland soils, formally termed 'paludiculture'.