Professor David Nash

David Nash is Professor of Physical Geography and Deputy Head (Research and Enterprise) in the School of Environment and Technology. He has over 25 years' research experience, with interests in geomorphology and Holocene to recent environmental change in dryland regions of the world. He is a member of the Centre for Aquatic Environments, the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics and the Past Human and Environment Dynamics and Society, Space and Environment research groups.

Professor Nash has authored more than 90 publications, including over 60 articles in international refereed journals and 30 chapters in edited collections. He has edited two books, Geochemical Sediments and Landscapes (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) with Sue McLaren (University of Leicester), and Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) with Sarah Metcalfe (University of Nottingham).

Professor Nash's research has been funded by The Leverhulme Trust, Natural Environment Research Council, British Academy, British Society for Geomorphology and The Gilchrist Educational Trust (amongst others). He has successfully supervised four Doctorate (PhD) research degrees and is currently supervising a further four PhD candidates.

In addition to his role at the 91¶¶Òõ, he holds an Honorary Research Fellowship in the Department of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He was presented with the Gordon Warwick Award in 2003 by the British Geomorphological Research Group (now the ) for "excellence in geomorphological research as recorded in a named publication or set of publications".

David-Nash

How I like to teach

My teaching is underpinned by contemporary case study material drawn from the latest published research as well as from my own projects. I try to encourage students to read extensively and take a critical approach to the published and grey literature. This is exemplified in the module 'Climate Change', where students consider the views of climate change sceptics as part of an online debate, a really useful approach for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of current climate change arguments. In my final year module, 'Environmental Change in Low Latitudes', students evaluate the various lines of evidence used to reconstruct past environments and then write a critical review of the literature from a tropical or sub-tropical region of their choice.

I am strongly committed to fieldwork, as I believe it helps students contextualise the material they study in lecture sessions. In addition to UK and overseas field courses, I like to make use of the local area for teaching. For example, we visit the cliffs at Peacehaven as part of the module 'Ice Age Earth', where students have the opportunity to examine the impacts of past periglacial processes on chalk landscapes.

My research interests

My research interests are interdisciplinary, being situated at the intersection of geomorphology, climatology, history and archaeology. My current projects fall into two main areas:

Duricrusts in landscape and archaeological contexts

My main area of research concerns the development and environmental significance of silcrete and calcrete duricrusts in contemporary and former dryland areas. The primary goals of this research are to (a) characterise the micromorphology and geochemistry of duricrusts developed in different landscape settings, (b) assess the extent to which duricrusts may be used as indicators of past environments, and (c) apply this fundamental knowledge for use in archaeological contexts. To date, my research has focused upon non-pedogenic silcretes and calcretes in semi-arid areas, including the Kalahari Desert, central Australia and southeast Spain, and has recently been extended to the analysis of silcrete in the UK and aeolianite in Chile.

Reconstructing historical climatic change using documentary sources

My second research focus is the reconstruction of past climate variability through analyses of historical documents, particularly missionary and other colonial sources. Working with collaborators in Europe and southern Africa, I have developed novel methodologies to establish chronologies of climatic variability in the Kalahari Desert, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Madagascar and western India using these materials. Much of this research has focused on the reconstruction of past wetter and drier periods, but I have also used historical documents to explore past winter conditions and to reconstruct the pathways and impact of tropical cyclones.

Research activity

Current research projects:

Research Centres and Groups:

Research links:

  • PAGES (Past Global Changes) Africa 2k Working Group

Social media

Contact me

Professor David Nash
Deputy Head of School/Professor of Physical Geography

Environment and Technology
Moulsecoomb
91¶¶Òõ
BN2 4GJ

Telephone: +44 (0)1273 642423

Email: D.J.Nash@brighton.ac.uk

Biography

I have been fascinated by geography for as long as I can remember, and feel incredibly privileged to have made a career in such a diverse and rewarding discipline. I studied for a BSc Geology and Physical Geography degree at the University of Sheffield, graduating with First Class Honours in 1988. I then stayed on at Sheffield, first to undertake research for a PhD (awarded 1992) on the geomorphology of the extensive fossil valley systems in the Kalahari Desert, southern Africa, and then for my first academic post as Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Geography.

I joined the 91¶¶Òõ in September 1993 and have remained here ever since. I progressed from lecturer to senior lecturer, was made Reader in 2000, and promoted to Professor of Physical Geography in 2010. During my time at 91¶¶Òõ, I have served on various University committees including the Academic Board. I have also held a variety of external roles. I was an elected member of the Executive Committee of the British Geomorphological Research Group (now the ) from 2000-04, and Honorary Secretary for Expeditions and Fieldwork at the from 2002-06.

Research output

PhD students

NameThesis
Sylvanus Iro (2013 - 2018) Determining causes of gully erosion and associated rates of change in
South-East Nigeria, using a remote sensing and GIS methodology. 
Jonathan Dale (2014-2018) Evolution of the sediment regime in a large open coast managed realignment
site: a case study of the Medmerry Managed Realignment Site, UK
Rufus Ndukari (2014-2018)

Hydrocarbon contamination in Ogoniland, Nigeria, and its management
via adsorbent-based remediation strategies
Gemma Ives (2016 - 2019) Climate history of the Indian monsoon (University of Sheffield) 
Previous PhD students
Vana Gulliver (1999) Palynological and sedimentological evidence for environmental change in the Okavango Panhandle, northwest Botswana. 
Stewart Ullyott (2002)

Distribution, Nature and origins of sarsen stones in the eastern South Downs
George Adamson (2012) Climate variability and human vulnerability in western India, 1780-1860
Samantha Bromfield (2013 - 2017) Assessing the genesis of Periglacial Ramparted Depressions through a macroscopic and microscopic analysis of their internal structures

Roles

Deputy Head of School (Research and Enterprise)

 

Awards

Presented with the Gordon Warwick Award in 2003 by the British Geomorphological Research Group (now the ) for "excellence in geomorphological research as recorded in a named publication or set of publications".

Awarded an Honorary Research Fellowship by the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 2009.