Contact Tim Brewer
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 750111 x2752
- Email: t.brewer@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Monitoring and Environmental Informatics
- Natural Capital
- Soil
- Soil Resources
- Sustainable Land Systems
Background
Tim graduated with a geography degree and went on to study for a Masters in Land Resource Management. After six months voluntary work in Kenya, he returned to Cranfield to run the aerial photography laboratory. During this time extensive contributions were made to the Monitoring Landscape Change in the National Parks project. He gained his lectureship in 1994 and became Course Director for the MSc in Geographical Information Management in 2001 until 2012. He was Environment Programme Director from 2012-2018 and Assistant Director of Education for the School of Water, Energy and Environment from 2016-2018. Tim was appointed as Director of Education for the School of Water, Energy and Environment in 2018.He has worked on research and consultancy projects in the UK and overseas, for example, Jordan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Mexico, India.
Current activities
Tim's main research interest is land cover monitoring, a topic of increasing importance for natural resources management in the context of global change (climate change, population pressures and food production, security).
Examples of recent and current research projects include: Newton ESRC-ICSSR Urban Transformations in India - developing Storymaps as co-investigator; Defra - scaling up the benefits of erosion mitigation at the landscape scale, and better understanding of the soil protection landscape as co-investigator; Newton Fund - Water Platform development with Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Mexico; Foreign and Commonwealth Office - monitoring and verification of cropping areas as co-investigator and work package leader; Food and Agriculture Organisation - development of a GPS based land use monitoring tool; Defra - Payment for Ecosystems Pilot Project within a complex urban environment as project manager. His main consulting interest is capacity building via CPD for geographic information management.
Recent capacity building examples include: Leading successful bid for and delivery of a CPD programme for the Abu Dhabi Water and Electircity Authority, UAE; leading delivery of CPD in remote sensing techniques.
Other areas of recent activity include: Water harvesting suitability analysis using GIS, developing customised GIS solutions, mapping upland semi natural vegetation by air photo interpretation within the UK, ground surveys in support of land cover classification, topographic mapping using analogue and softcopy photogrammetry, GPS survey, erosion survey and risk assessment, archaeological mapping by remote sensing and soil survey.
Clients
- Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK Government
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Government
- Natural England
- United Arab Emirates Technical Training Programme, UAE Government
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Beaujean S, Nor AN, Brewer T, Zamorano JG, Dumitriu AC, Harris J & Corstanje R (2021) A multistep approach to improving connectivity and co-use of spatial ecological networks in cities, Landscape Ecology, 36 (7) 2077-2093.
- Welivita I, Willcock S, Lewis A, Bundhoo D, Brewer T, Cooper S, Lynch K, Mekala S, Mishra PP, Venkatesh K, Rey Vicario D & Hutchings P (2021) Evidence of similarities in ecosystem service flow across the rural–urban spectrum, Land, 10 (4) Article No. 430.
- Willcock S, Parker A, Wilson C, Brewer T, Bundhoo D, Cooper S, Lynch K, Mekala S, Mishra PP, Rey D, Welivita I, Venkatesh K & Hutchings P (2021) Nature provides valuable sanitation services, One Earth, 4 (2) 192-201.
- Miller JD, Stewart L, Hess TM & Brewer T (2020) Evaluating landscape metrics for characterising hydrological response to storm events in urbanised catchments, Urban Water Journal, 17 (3) 247-258.
- Mallory A, Akrofi D, Dizon J, Mohanty S, Parker A, Rey Vicario D, Prasad S, Welvita I, Brewer T, Mekala S, Bundhoo D, Lynch K, Mishra P, Willcock S & Hutchings P (2020) Evaluating the circular economy for sanitation: findings from a multi-case approach, Science of the Total Environment, 744 (November) Article No. 140871.
- Rumson A, Hallett SH & Brewer TR (2019) The application of data innovations to geomorphological impact analyses in coastal areas: An East Anglia, UK, case study, Ocean and Coastal Management, 181 (November) Article No. 104875.
- Ali AS, Hallett SH & Brewer TR (2018) Using vegetation indices for the estimation and production of vegetation cover maps in the Jeffara Plain, Libya, IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 12 (2) 23-28.
- Almenar JB, Rugani B, Geneletti D & Brewer T (2018) Integration of ecosystem services into a conceptual spatial planning framework based on a landscape ecology perspective, Landscape Ecology, 33 (12) 2047-2059.
- Miller JD & Brewer T (2018) Refining flood estimation in urbanized catchments using landscape metrics, Landscape and Urban Planning, 175 (July) 34-49.
- Al-bukhari A, Hallett S & Brewer T (2018) A review of potential methods for monitoring rangeland degradation in Libya, Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, 8 (13).
- Muhammad Nor An, Corstanje R, Harris J & Brewer T (2017) Impact of rapid urban expansion on green space structure, Ecological Indicators, 81 (October) 274-284. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.5012015
- Rumson A, Hallett SH & Brewer TR (2017) Coastal risk adaptation: the potential role of accessible geospatial Big Data, Marine Policy, 83 (September) 100-110.
- Simms DM, Waine TW, Taylor JC & Brewer TR (2016) Image segmentation for improved consistency in image-interpretation of opium poppy, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 37 (6) 1243-1256.
- Evans R, Collins AL, Foster IDL, Rickson RJ, Anthony SG, Brewer T, Deeks L, Newell-Price JP, Truckell IG & Zhang Y (2016) Extent, frequency and rate of water erosion of arable land in Britain – benefits and challenges for modelling, Soil Use and Management, 32 (Supplement S1) 149-161.
- Kibblewhite MG, Bellamy PH, Brewer TR, Graves AR, Dawson CA, Rickson RJ, Truckell I & Stuart J (2014) An exploration of spatial risk assessment for soil protection: Estimating risk and establishing priority areas for soil protection, Science of the Total Environment, 473-474 (March) 692-701.
- Young D, Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Brewer TR, Homer R & Santos SA (2014) Monitoring British upland ecosystems with the use of landscape structure as an indicator for state and transition models, Rangeland Ecology and Management, 67 (4) 380-388.
- Garba S & Brewer TR (2013) Assessment of land cover change in north eastern Nigeria 1986 to 2005, Journal of Geography and Geology, 5 (4) 94-105.
- Al-Bakri JT, Duqqah M & Brewer TR (2013) Application of remote sensing and GIS for modeling and assessment of land use/cover change in Amman/Jordan, Journal of Geographic Information System, 5 (5) 509-519.
- Farmer E, Brewer TR & Sannier CAD (2011) Land cover attributes and their utility within land cover mapping: a practical example., Journal of Land Use Science 1-15.
- Taylor JC, Waine TW, Juniper GR, Simms DM & Brewer TR (2010) Survey and monitoring of opium poppy and wheat in Afghanistan: 2003-2009, Remote Sensing Letters, 1 (3) 179-185.
- Miller S, Brewer TR & Harris N (2009) Rainfall thresholding and susceptibility assessment of rainfall-induced landslides: application to landslide management in St Thomas, Jamaica., Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 68 (4) 539-550.
- Yallop AR, Thacker J, Thomas G, Stephens M, Clutterbuck B, Brewer TR & Sannier CAD (2006) The extent and intensity of management burning in the English uplands., Journal of Applied Ecology, 43 (6) 1138-1148.
- Brewer TR & Carrivick JL (2004) Improving local estimations and regional trends of glacier equilibrium line altitudes, Geografiska Annaler. Series A. Physical Geography, 86 (1) 67-79.
- Ziadat FM, Taylor JC & Brewer TR (2003) Merging Landsat TM imagery with topographic data to aid soil mapping in the Badia region of Jordan., Journal of Arid Environments, 54 (3) 527-541.
- Al-Bakri JT, Taylor JC & Brewer TR (2001) Monitoring land use change in the Badia transition zone in Jordan using aerial photography and satellite imagery., Geographical Journal, 167 (3) 248-262.
- Morgan RPC, Rickson RJ, McIntyre K, Brewer TR & Altshul HJ (1997) Soil erosion survey of the central part of the Swaziland Middleveld, Soil Technology, 11 (3) 263-289.
Conference Papers
- Azalarib A, Hallett S & Brewer T (2015) Desertification mapping using the MEDALUS methodology in Jeffara Plain**2015 Conference. In: DesertLand II: Conference on Desertification and Land Degradation, 2015, Ghent, 16 June 2015.
- Farmer E, Sannier C & Brewer TR (2008) Investigation of remote sensing and geographical information system techniques for increased versatility within land cover map production. In: RSPsoc annual conference, 1 September 2008.
- Kampouraki M, Wood G & Brewer TR (2007) The suitability of object-based image segmentation to replace manual aerial photo interpretation for mapping impermeable land cover. In: Annual Conference 2007 Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Newcastle, UK, 1 September 2007.
- Kampouraki M, Wood G & Brewer TR (2006) The application of remote sensing to identify and measure sealed areas in urban environments. In: 1st International Conference on Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA), Salzburg, Austria, 1 July 2006.
- Mati BM, Morgan RPC, Quinton JN, Brewer TR, Gichuki FN & Liniger HP (1998) GIS data for erosion assessment in the upper Ewaso Ngiro north basin, Kenya. In: proceedings of ESRI users conference., San Diego, USA, 1 July 1998.
Books
- Kampouraki M, Wood G & Brewer TR (2008) Opportunities & limitations of object based image analysis for detecting urban impervious and vegetated surfaces using true-colour aerial photography. In: Object-based Image Analysis-Spatial concepts for knowledge-driven remote sensing applications, Springer-Verlag.