Chris White

Dr White is the Director of Postgraduate Research and part of the Water, Environment, Sustainability and Public Health (WESP) research centre in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Dr White joined the Department as a Senior Lecturer in 2017 having previously been at the University of Tasmania and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Australia for over 8 years. 

His research focuses on natural hazards (including floods, droughts and heatwaves), surface water hydrology and resources, risk management and climate change resilience. He specialises in understanding natural hazards and risk from both physical causative and impacts perspectives, centred on the understanding, modelling and prediction of extreme weather events on both the extended-range (e.g. weeks to months) and climate timescales (e.g. up to the end of the century) using regional high-resolution and global climate projections.

Internationally, Dr White is the Australian National Correspondent for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), one of the eight associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), and is a Vice President of the International Commission on Coupled Land-Atmosphere Systems (ICCLAS), one of the ten commissions of the IAHS. 

This project analyses the interconnections between water resources and economic activities, seeking to address the challenges that water intensive sectors may face as a consequence of climate change. The impacts of climate change on the global economy are projected to be substantial if we carry on a ‘business as usual’ trajectory, with water scarcity and increased water resource variability likely to be a major factor in global economic losses.

I currently have a fully-funded (for UK/EU applicants) PhD advertised in collaboration Dr Scott McGrane in the Department of Economics as part of the Strathclyde Doctoral School Centre for Doctoral Training in Global Environmental Monitoring and Policy (GEMaP). The PhD project, titled 'Linking the Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources and Economic Activity in Scotland', will focus on the Scottish economy, analysing the interlinkages between water resources and economic outputs at multiple spatial scales. The project will combine economic data analysis, water resource mapping, climate change projections and economic and policy modelling exercises to assess the potential economic impacts of a “shock” to the available water resources in Scotland. More details are available here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/postgraduateresearchopportunities/businesspgropportunities/economicspgropportunities/cdtimpactsofclimatechangeonwaterresourcesandeconomicactivityinscotland/. If you are interested, please contact me at: chris.white@strath.ac.uk. Applications close 14 June 2019.

Please also feel free to contact me if you are interested in research or knowledge exchange collaborations or doing a PhD under my supervision.

Modules taught:

• Hydraulics and Hydrology (CL216)
• Water Engineering 1 (CL315)
• Water Engineering 2 (CL420)

My research focuses on natural hazards (including floods, droughts and heatwaves), surface water hydrology and resources, risk management and climate change resilience. I specialise in understanding natural hazards and risk from both physical causative and impacts perspectives, centred on the understanding, modelling and prediction of extreme weather events (in particular, hydrological prediction) on both the extended-range (e.g. weeks to months) and climate timescales (e.g. up to the end of the century) using regional high-resolution and global climate projections.

Much of my research involves working with end-users to make climate, weather and natural hazards science and information more usable though the exploration of improved applications, communication and promotion of appropriate risk information in support of resource management, emergency management and disaster risk reduction activities.

I currently have a fully-funded (for UK/EU applicants) PhD advertised in collaboration Dr Scott McGrane in the Department of Economics as part of the Strathclyde Doctoral School Centre for Doctoral Training in Global Environmental Monitoring and Policy (GEMaP). The PhD project, titled 'Linking the Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources and Economic Activity in Scotland', will focus on the Scottish economy, analysing the interlinkages between water resources and economic outputs at multiple spatial scales. The project will combine economic data analysis, water resource mapping, climate change projections and economic and policy modelling exercises to assess the potential economic impacts of a “shock” to the available water resources in Scotland. More details are available here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/postgraduateresearchopportunities/businesspgropportunities/economicspgropportunities/cdtimpactsofclimatechangeonwaterresourcesandeconomicactivityinscotland/. If you are interested, please contact me at: chris.white@strath.ac.uk. Applications close 14 June 2019.

I am always keen to talk to potential students, collaborators and industry partners about future projects and opportunities.