The University of Leeds

Faculty Member, Earth and Environment

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences

About

My research is interdisciplinary and uses theories and methods from both the natural and social sciences to understand environmental change. I have field experience in Africa, UK and Eastern Europe. I have published several peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, as well as book chapters, working papers, book reviews, magazine articles and policy reports. I have also presented my work at international conferences across the world. I am the book reviews editor for the journal Land Degradation and Development, an editorial board member of the journal Food Security, a member of the science-policy working group of European Desertnet and a member of the social impacts working group of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels. I have undertaken commissioned consultancy work on several occasions for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat, as well as for the UK Government's Department for International Development.

My degree-level studies were in physical geography at the University of Sheffield, and I went on to study for an MSc in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in Drylands. My PhD, which was awarded by the University of Sheffield, focused on the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Africa.

I have recently been involved in projects funded by bodies such as the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK's Joint Research Councils (NERC, ESRC, BBSRC), the European Commission (Framework Programme 6), the Royal Geographical Society, the Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund through the Royal Society and the Gilchrist Educational Trust.

My current research projects include:

Sustainable Upland Management for Multiple Benefits (funded through the Joint Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use programme). This project combines knowledge from local stakeholders, policy-makers and social and natural scientists in order to anticipate, monitor and sustainably manage rural change in UK uplands.

Desertification Mitigation and Remediation of Degraded Land (DESIRE- funded through EU FP6). This project examines alternative strategies for the use, protection and rehabilitation of 18 international desertification 'hotspots' and brings together 28 research institutions, non-governmental organisations and policy makers from all over the world.

Managing desertification and drought in Romania (funded by the University of Manchester). This ongoing project explores the causes and consequences of desertification in southern Romania and examines the efforts of associations of private forest owners in rehabilitating degraded land through afforestation/reforestation.

Contact Information

Email:

Homepage: http://see.leeds.ac.uk/people/l.stringer