Roger Flower

• BSc Zoology and Botany (Joint Honours), University of London, 1971
• MSc Oceanography, University of Southampton, 1973
• DPhil, University of Ulster, 1980

• Researcher, UCL Geography, 1981–2009
• Professorial Research Fellow, UCL, 2009–Present

• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• National Science Foundation
• National Geographic Society

• Associate Editor, Diatom Research
• Contributions to journals, including:
  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Biological Conservation
  • Journal of Paleolimnology
  • Hydrobiologia
  • Freshwater Biology
  • Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
  • Environmental Science and Technology

• Lake Baikal, Siberia (1991–1999) 
  Sediment records of environmental change studied through Leverhulme, NERC, and Darwin Initiative projects, providing insight into long-term ecosystem dynamics in this globally significant lake.
• Falkland Islands Diatom Ecology (2001–2003)
  Investigation of diatom taxonomy and ecology as part of the FCO Overseas Territories project, enhancing understanding of polar and subpolar freshwater ecosystems.
• CASSARINA Project (EU 4th Framework INCO, 1996–1999)
  Coordinated international research on aquatic ecosystem change in Mediterranean and North African lakes.
• MELMARINA Project (EU 6th Framework INCO, 2002–2006)
  Led a multi-country study examining sedimentary and ecological records to inform conservation and management of freshwater systems.
• Lake Qarun, Faiyum, and Saqqara, Egypt (2003–2009)
  Studied sediment and environmental change to explore historical human–environment interactions; supported by Leverhulme and British Academy grants.
• Other Research Projects
  Project manager for smaller grants and initiatives funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, Countryside Council for Wales, DEFRA, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Royal Society, covering freshwater monitoring and environmental management.

Professor Flower’s research is interdisciplinary and has not only influenced environmental change management in the UK and internationally but has also made a significant contribution to the global scientific literature. In the UK, he contributed to recognising the widespread problem of freshwater acidification that emerged in the 1980s. While research in this area is ongoing, his work established that atmospheric deposition of acid pollution from fossil fuel energy generation is the principal cause.

In North Africa, his research, undertaken as part of the CASSARINA and MELMARINA projects, led to the Tunisian Government listing the sites of Ghar El Melh and Megene Chitane as internationally important under the Ramsar Convention. During the course of his overseas research, he provided training for environmental scientists and management practitioners in partner organisations, enhancing their capacity to manage inland waters.

This included the design and operation of hydro-ecological monitoring programmes for environmental scientists in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. In Canada, his research with C. Curtis in the tar sands region demonstrated that tar sands oil extraction methods were not causing widespread water acidification. Similarly, studies of diatoms and recent environmental change in Lake Baikal indicated that the water quality of this vast lake was not severely impaired by pollution in the 1990s.

• Jessica Durkota (Self-funded/Environment Agency, 2008–, with Julian Thompson) – Distribution of hyporheic communities throughout a chalk catchment in southeast England
• Mohammed Rahman (Ted Hollis Scholarship, 2012–, with Julian Thompson) – Modelling water and sediment fluxes to freshwater wetlands in Bangladesh
• Hong Yang (Royal Society, 2006–2009) – Temporal and spatial patterns of diatoms in an upland Scottish loch