Research interests:
My Research areas:
Urban Environments: urban water and greenspace management; built/natural environment interactions; urban sustainability
Urban Ecosystem Services: goods and services provided by the environment which are particularly relevant in urban areas; multiple benefits.
Water: sustainable water management; SUDS; surface water management
Rivers/Hydromorphology: river restoration, catchment science, natural flood management
Career history:
Senior Lecturer, Environmental Science
University of Abertay Dundee
September 2014 – Present. School of Science, Engineering and Technology, Abertay University, Dundee, UK
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Geography
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1999 – 2002
Stream Naturalization projects in rural Illinois and urban Chicago areas. USEPA Star Grant funded project. Multi-disciplinary work and assessment focussed on stream naturalization.
PhD Student
University of Dundee
1994 – 1998
Monitoring, modelling and assessment of waterborne soil erosion from Arable land compared at 3 spatial scales.
Active research projects:
Research Grants and Funding
-Principal Investigator 2014; Scottish Government-funded CREW project (HEI/JHI collaboration): SRDP Guidance on Rural SUDS (RSuDS)
-Co-investigator 2013: Scottish Natural Heritage/Creative Scotland funded projects for ‘Year of Natural Scotland’ Title: Making space for water: A poetry of place. With Hazel Lesley Harrison (poet) and Jo Vergunst (Aberdeen)
-Co-investigator 2013: Scottish Government-funded CREW project (HEI/SUDSWP collaboration) Title: Implementation of Source Control for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) in Scotland
-Co-investigator 2013: Scottish Government/Scottish Crucible-funded ‘Projects for Scotland’ Title: Space to Pace (Greenspace and Health study in conjunction with Dr Helen Bridle at Heriot Watt University and others)
-Lead Investigator (for Abertay) 2013 – 2015: EU MED (Mediterranean) Programme: E2STORMED – Improvement in energy efficiency in the water cycle by the use of innovative storm water management in smart Mediterranean countries. Project leader: Ignacio Escuder Bueno, polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.
-Co-Investigator. 2013 Creative Scotland (Arts Council): ACES – Art, Science and Conflict. Artist/Scientist collaborative project with a focus on areas of environmental conflict. In collaboration with Prof Steve Redpath, Aberdeen University (and others)
Recent publications:
Brown, I., Berry, P., Everard, M., Firbank, L., Harrison, P., Lundy, L., Quine, C., Rowan, J., Wade, R. and Watts, K., (2015). Identifying robust response options to manage environmental change using an Ecosystem Approach: a stress-testing case study for the UK. Environmental Science & Policy, 52, pp.74-88.
Jose, R., Wade, R. and Jefferies, C., (2015). Smart SUDS: recognising the multiple-benefit potential of sustainable surface water management systems. Water Science and Technology, 71(2), pp.245-251.
Wade and McLean (2014) Multiple Benefits from Green Infrastructure. In Booth and Charlesworth (Eds) Water Resources in the Built Environment: management issues and Solutions. First edition. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Campbell, N.S, D’Arcy, B.J. and Wade, R. (2013) How to realise economic drivers for source control in a housing development: A Scottish case study. Proceedings, Novatech Conference, Lyon, France. September 2013
Wade, R. Jose, R and Lundy, L (2012). ‘Ecosystem Services Delivered by SUDS’. In: Agriculture and the Environment IX – Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions. Proceedings of the SAC and SEPA Biennial Conference. Edinburgh University, 3-4 April 2012.