Postdoctoral researcher

ICARUS
1.11 Laraghbryan House
Tel: + 353 1 7086550
E-mail: john.coll@nuim.ie

Office Hours

Biography

John graduated from the University of Stirling with an Honours degree in Environmental Science and Biology in 1996.  After a few years back in the workplace, John undertook his PhD at the Environmental Research Institute of the UHI Millennium Institute in Thurso: Local scale assessment of climate change and its impacts in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (2007).  John’s PhD project involved the use of large sets of observed climate data to validate the performance of the Hadley Centre Regional Climate Model (HadRM3) for selected variables across the Highlands.  Arising from these investigations he went on to examine how more locally relevant projections of climate change might be obtained for maritime upland regions.  John’s PhD was also affiliated to the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research from 2003-2006.  When not working John is keen on rock climbing and particularly enjoys frequent visits to the world famous sandstone boulders in the Forest of Fontainebleau, France.

Research Interests

Assessing the impacts of global warming on the maritime regions of NW Europe and evaluating adaptive responses.  This has involved developing a strong interdisciplinary approach and broad understanding of climate change research.

Funded Research, Grants and Awards

• The possible impact of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) changes on the coastline and communities of the Western Highlands and Western Isles.  Tyndall Centre Project IT1.15, 2002.  £10, 000.  Technical report delivered (pp 50).
• Scenarios of the future – Scotland Under Climate Change. Setting: Coasts and Seas.  Scottish Natural Heritage, 2004.  £5, 000.  Scoping report delivered (pp12).
• A Review of Potential Tidal Stream Energy Development in the Pentland Firth.  Community Economic Development Fund, Caithness, 2005.  £3, 500.  Technical report delivered (pp40).
• Biodiversity and Climate Change in Ireland Briefing Paper.  Comhar SDC, 2008. €12, 000.  Scoping and briefing papers delivered (pp70).

Publications

• David Woolf, John Coll, Stuart Gibb and Peter Challenor .  Sensitivity of ferry services to the Western Isles of Scotland to changes in wave climate. (2004). Paper presented at OMAE conference, Vancouver, Canada.
• John Coll, Stuart W. Gibb and John Harrison. (2005).  Modelling future climate in the Scottish Highlands - an approach integrating local climatic variables and climate model outputs. In The Mountains Of Europe:  Conservation, Management , People and Nature. Eds.  D.B.A. Thompson, M.F. Price and C.A. Galbraith. HMSO, Edinburgh. pp 103-119.
• John Coll,  Stuart W. Gibb, John Harrison (2006).   Upland climate change impacts – towards improved site-scale assessments for land managers? In Global Change in Mountain Regions.  Ed. M.F. Price.  Sapiens Publishing, Dumfries. pp 273-275.
• David Woolf, John Coll, Stuart Gibb and Peter Challenor.  Submitted to Climatic Change, Dec. 2006.  Sensitivity of the Western Isles of Scotland to changes in wave and wind climate. Back from review and edits underway for re-submission.
• David Woolf, John Coll. Impacts of Climate change on Storms and Waves. Section input to the UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) First & Second Annual Report Cards, November 2006 & 2007. Report Card and Supporting Evidence available as PDF downloads from the MCCIP website (www.mccip.org.uk).
• John Coll, Cathy Maguire, John Sweeney. Biodiversity and climate change in Ireland briefing paper (2008, in prep.)

Selected Conference Papers and Presentations

International conferences

• Upland climate change impacts – towards improved site-scale assessments for land managers?  John Coll,  Stuart W. Gibb, John Harrison.  Open Science Conference. Global Change in Mountain Regions:  Perth, UK, 1-5 October 2005.
• North Atlantic Oscillation Driven Changes To Wave Climate in the Northeast Atlantic: Implications for Ferry Services to the Western Isles.  John Coll , David Woolf, Stuart Gibb, Peter Challenor and Michael Tsimplis.  SEARCH Open Science Conference Seattle, USA, October 2003.  A scholarship award from the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) enabled attendance.
• Modelling climate change related shifts in land-use in the Scottish Highlands - an approach integrating local climatologies and climate model scenarios. John Coll, Stuart W. Gibb and John Harrison.  Nature and People, conservation and management in the mountains of Northern Europe.  Pitlochry, UK. November 2002.
• Predicting altitudinal shifts in land use in the Highlands of Scotland associated with climate change.  John Coll, Stuart W.Gibb and John Harrison.  Detecting Environmental Change: Science and Society. London, UK, July 2001.
• Assessing the impact of regional climate change on land use in the Highlands of Scotland.  John Coll, Stuart W.Gibb and John Harrison. Climate Change and Variability in Northern Europe. Turku, Finland, June 2001.

National and regional conferences/seminars

• Ireland’s biodiversity in a changing climate – the issues. ‘Ireland’s Biodiversity in a Changing Climate, Helping Nature to Adapt and Survive.’ Newry, Northern Ireland. November 2008.
• Sustaining the environment in a changing climate – challenges and opportunities. National Science Week, Inverness. March 2006.
• PhD Progress Updates. The Tyndall Assembly 2003-2005. These comprised abstracts and exemplar summary figures. The collaborative work on impacts to ferry services also featured in the Tyndall Newsletter, ‘The Effect’. September 2004.
• Climate change - a Moray Firth context: Possible changes and the implications? Moray Firth Partnership Conference. Inverness, UK. May 2005.
• Climate change in the British uplands, a view from the Highlands: Can policy response live with science uncertainty? The Economic and Social Research Council’s Transdisciplinary Seminar Series 2004-2006. ‘Sustaining Mountain Landscapes: Conflict and compromise in British uplands.’ Perth, UK. April 2005.

External Assignments and Public Service

Media engagement:  John has written press releases for both Scottish national and local press and provided interviews to journalists.   Live and recorded interviews for Scottish national and regional TV and radio have also featured.

John has provided data and information on the wind climatology of the Western Isles, and information on what regional climate change could mean for the West Coast of Scotland to the researchers and producers of the BBC2 ‘Coast’ series for the 2005 and 2006 series of programmes.  John also supplied Scottish upland climate change information to the researchers for the David Attenborough BBC programme ‘Climate Change: Britain under Threat’ screened February 2007.  John has also frequently given freely of his time to present illustrated talks on aspects of regional climate change to local community groups in Caithness and elsewhere in the Scottish Highlands.