Dr Paul Williams
Paul’s research interests centre on understanding plant-soil interactions and improving soil health. With over 70 papers, 3 of which having received enough citations to place them in the top 1% of their academic field based on publication year (Essential Science Indicators).
Paul has also written the chapter on high-resolution analysis in the authoritative subject related book “DGT for Environmental Measurement” Cambridge University Press, which is part of the Environmental Chemistry Series and he has an h-index of 31. In 2009 his work on arsenic in rice was identified by Thompson Reuters, Essential Science Indicators, November 2009, Environment & Ecology category as the most cited paper in the Fast Moving Front “Arsenic Speciation”.
RESEARCH FOCUS
Over the past 17 years Paul's focus has been to identify and attempt to correct the hidden inequality existing in global diets, a quest that’s taken him to the tannery slums of Dhaka, through to inaccessible mountain-dwelling communities in China poisoned by selenium – an element more commonly viewed in the “West” as being a super-nutrient, and the rice paddies projects of Sekinchan - a vital part of Malaysia’s food security strategy. Paul is currently researching the scientific/agronomic potential of a technology called DGT that can be used to analyse soil/water quality, in a bid to evaluate agro-ecosystem sustainability/health.
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Open to PhD applications in the field of biogeochemistry and global food security.
Research Students
PhD Title: The Impact of Biosolids on Soil Fertility and Crop Quality and the Application of X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy for Elemental Analysis in Biosolid Amended Cropping Systems
Name: Maame Ekua Croffie
Years of study: 2017- 2021
Country: Ghana
PhD Title: Maximising the benefits of covercrops through optimising the management of rotations, organic manures and N fertiliser
Name: Paul Cottney
Years of study: 2017-2020
Country: Northern Ireland
PhD Title: Preventing fertiliser overuse and minimizing P losses to local watercourses in NI: Multi-scale measurement of the plant-soil-water continuum
Name: Rebecca Hall
Years of study: 2016-19
Country:England
PhD Title: Elevated trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO) and inorganic arsenic in northern hemisphere summer monsoonal wet deposition
Name: Laurie Savage
Years of study: 2014-2018
Country: England
Alumni: where are they now?
Collins Amoah–Antwi
Warsaw University of Technology
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