Mr Robert Read

Laboratory Manager & Field Technician
Location: Hudson Building, Cranfield campus
E: r.read@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x5664
Environmental Science and Technology

Current activities

Soil and water technical scientific support (laboratory and field)
Soil and water analyst (physical properties & inorganic chemistry)
Soil erosion and conservation research technical support (laboratory and field)
Fieldsite and laboratory project supervision and design
Quality assurance for projects and analytical studies
Environmental field sensors technical support

Recent projects:

Design & establishment of a field lysimeter laboratory for measuring whole-soil carbon balances and greenhouse gas fluxes under controlled temperature and moisture. Funded by Royal Society/Wolfson Foundation.
Field-based critical evaluation and demonstration of Compost Erosion Control Blankets on engineered slopes associated with soil stock piles and high way batters under UK climate conditions. Funded by WRAP.
Critical evaluation of BSI PAS 100 compost as a filter media in compost filter socks and as erosion control blankets when compared to current Best Management Practices for soil erosion control. Funded by WRAP.
Environmental Risk Assessment – Phase III. Salisbury Plain Training Ground (MOD). Funded by ENTEC.
SOWAP: ‘Soil and Surface Water Protection Using Conservation Tillage in Northern and Central Europe’ (Life-Environment demonstration project, European Commission).
‘The effects of compost on soil properties affecting soil erosion and drainage.’ (WRAP – the Waste and Resources Action Programme, 2005).
‘The Strategic placement and design of buffering features for sediment and phosphorous in the landscape’ (Experimental programme on the tri-axial soil slope and rainfall tower to provide fundamental process understanding of vegetative buffer performance). Final project report, DEFRA – PE0205.I.
‘Towards a general method to ‘scale up’ process models in arable land.’ The aim of this project is to understand the up-scaling behaviour of a mechanistic soil ammonia volatilization model. Producing a general framework to upscale models, this research provides both efficiencies in (future) sampling and a universal approach to handling process models and model outcomes over multiple scales. Funded by BBSRC.

Background

Robert has over 9 years experience working with soils with Cranfield University. Initially employed in the ‘National Soil Resources Institute’ GLP accredited contracts Laboratory as a Laboratory Technician he became the Study Director and Principal Investigator for GLP accredited soil, sediment and water contract work in February 2003.

Robert was appointed to the position of Laboratory Manager & Field Technician’ in 2004 for the Soil Erosion and Conservation Laboratory where he has worked collecting field data and conducting laboratory experiments for the improvement of understanding in soil erosion/conservation and nutrient/contaminant transport in UK soils.

Robert’s recent work has been funded by the EA, DEFRA, EC, WRAP, ENTEC, BBSRC, COTEC, DSTL, Wolfson Foundation, Balfour Beattie and many other companies/organisations.

Selected publications

Corstanje R., Kirk G.J.D., Pawlett M., Read R. & Lark R.M. (2008). Spatial variation of ammonia volatilization from soil and its scale dependent correlation with soil properties. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 59, 1260–1270. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01087.x
Rickson, R.J., Clarke, M.A., Read, R. and Morgan, R.P.C. (2005). The effects of compost on soil properties affecting soil erosion and drainage. Project code: RMD3 – 045, The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), The Old Academy, 21 Horse Fair, Banbury, Oxon OX16 0AH.