Professor Graham Sander

Research interests

Mathematical modelling of soil erosion, unsaturated flow of water through soils, contaminant transport through an unsaturated flow field, mathematics of nonlinear diffusion-convection equations.

Research project

Multi-dimensional Soil Erosion and Associated Chemical Transport: Experiments, Mathematical Modelling and Field Evaluation

Summary: This is a NERC funded project in conjuction with the Department of Environmental Science at Lancaster University. Phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment play a pivotal role in influencing water quality and biodiversity, and agriculture is thought to be responsible for 50% of these inputs to surface waters. Thus predicting the movement of these diffuse inputs from land to water bodies will become increasingly important. Sediment derived from the soil is a pollutant in its own right: reducing light penetration and physically damaging freshwater ecosystems; it is a carrier of pollutants such as pesticides and phosphorus. This research seeks to develop a soil particle size selective model which integrates sediment and water chemistry. By combining the ability to explicitly recognize the differential behaviour of the various sediment particle size classes which comprise natural soils, and the behavour of contaminants in sediments and solution, not only will it provide greater insight into the movement of sediment across both agricultural and contaminated land, but it will be better positioned than any other model to estimate the delivery of eroded sediment and associated contaminants to surrounding rivers or streams.

Methods: A combination of both laboratory and field scale experiments to obtain reliably and accurate data which will then be used to validate a detailed physically based deterministic mathematical model.

Previous research projects

Australian Research Council funded project on modelling unstable hysteretic flow through unsaturated soils.

Quinn, N, Bloschl, G, Bardossys, A, Castellarin, A, Clarks, M, Cudennec, C, Koutsoyiannis, D, Lall, U, Lichner, L, Parajka, J, Peters-Lidard, CD, Sander, G, Savenije, H, Smettem, K, Vereecken, H, Viglione, A, Willems, P, Wood, A, Woods, R, Xu, C-Y, Zehe, E (2018) Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications, JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY, 567, pp.560-563, ISSN: 0022-1694. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.08.079.

Quinn, N, Bloschl, G, Bardossy, A, Castellarin, A, Clark, M, Cudennec, C, Koutsoyiannis, D, Lall, U, Lichner, L, Parajka, J, Peters-Lidard, CD, Sander, G, Savenije, H, Smettem, K, Vereecken, H, Viglione, A, Willems, P, Wood, A, Woods, R, Xu, C-Y, Zehe, E (2018) Joint Editorial: Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications, HYDROLOGY RESEARCH, 49(6), pp.III-IX, ISSN: 0029-1277. DOI: 10.2166/nh.2018.124.

Quinn, N, Bloschl, G, Bardossy, A, Castellarin, A, Clark, M, Cudennec, C, Koutsoyiannis, D, Lall, U, Lichner, L, Parajka, J, Peters-Lidard, CD, Sander, G, Savenije, H, Smettem, K, Vereecken, H, Viglione, A, Willems, P, Wood, A, Woods, R, Xu, C-Y, Zehe, E (2018) Joint editorial: Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications, HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES, 22(11), pp.5735-5739, ISSN: 1027-5606. DOI: 10.5194/hess-22-5735-2018.

Quinn, N, Bloschl, G, Bardossy, A, Castellarin, A, Clark, M, Cudennec, C, Koutsoyiannis, D, Lall, U, Lichner, L, Parajka, J, Peters-Lidard, CD, Sander, G, Savenije, H, Smettem, K, Vereecken, H, Viglione, A, Willems, P, Wood, A, Woods, R, Xu, C-Y, Zehe, E (2018) Invigorating Hydrological Research through Journal Publications, JOURNAL OF HYDROMETEOROLOGY, 19(11), pp.1713-1719, ISSN: 1525-755X. DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-18-0208.1.

Educated at Griffith University in Brisbane Australia with postdoctoral research positions held at University of Western Australia and University College Dublin in Ireland.

1987 - 1990: Lecturer in Applied Mathematics - Griffith University.
1991 - 1999: Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics - Griffith University.
1997 - 1999: Head of School of Applied Mathematics and Statistics.
1998 - 1999: Deputy Head of School of Science.
2000 - 2007: Reader in Hydrology - Loughborough University.
2007 - : Professor of Hydrology.
2000 - : Visiting Research Fellow appointment at Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, Oxford University.
2003: Visiting Professor - Laboratoire D'Etudes des Transferts En Hydrologie Et Environment Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble France.
2004: Visiting Professor Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble France.

Broad interests and expertise

• Hydrology
• Soil physics
• Applied mathematics

Professional affiliations

• Member of the American Geophysical Union
• Member of the American Mathematical Society
• Member of the Australian Soil Science Society
• Member of the Australian and New Zealand Industrial Applied Mathematics Branch of the Australian Mathematical Society
• Member of European Geophysical Society