Alan is Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography, University of Dundee and former Research Director of Dundee’s UNESCO Centre for Research on Water, Law Policy and Science and Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the British Society for Geomorphology, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and a former Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Having graduated from Cambridge University with an MA and PhD and a MS from Pennsylvania State, he took up his first academic post at the University of St Andrews, moving to a Chair at Dundee University in 1994. Throughout his career he has explored the behaviour of rivers both in terms of how they shape the physical landscape and how they impact on human society. Whilst most this research has been focused on Scotland, this has also been undertaken in the western USA, Spain, Israel and Poland. Alan’s current research focuses on climate change, flooding and societal responses to increased flood risk. He has published over 120 refereed articles and book chapters.
Since 2004 Alan has advised the Scottish Government on drafting and subsequently implementing the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. He was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Expert Group which reported on ‘Water Disasters’ to the 5th World Water Forum in Ankara in 2009. Between 2009 and 2016 he was a member of the Board of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and then the James Hutton Institute. A former member of Scottish Natural Heritage’s Science Advisory Committee, from 2017-19 Alan chaired a Scottish Government inquiry into Grouse Moor Management.
