Background

Joined the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle in 1997, as part of the Water Resources Engineering Group. His area of teaching revolves around hydrology (water quantity and quality), with a focus on Catchment Systems Engineering. His research interests focus on catchment instrumentation, GIS and modelling. The work includes a wide range of soft engineered interventions for diffuse pollution management and flood risk mitigation (including, ponds, wetlands, riparian and ditch management). Equally the work includes liaison with catchment stakeholders and regional and national policy bodies (such as Defra, NGO’s and The Environment Agency).

Roles and Responsibilities

Chair of the Undergraduate Board of Examiners

Member of School Civil Engineering Programme Management Group

Qualifications

PhD Catchment Hydrology (Lancaster University, 1991)

BSc Geology and Water Resources (Aston University 1987, 2:1 Hns)

Memberships

European Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union and British Hydrological Society (part of the Institution of Civil Engineers)

Industrial Experience

In the area of catchment management he has worked closely with Defra and the Environment Agency and many rural organisations and NGO’s, such as Natural England, The Rivers Trusts, CPRE and RSPB. In that time a number of near market projects have been undertaken regarding pollution control technologies and flood mitigation using soft engineered features. Outputs have included government reports and decision support tools. More recently a major component of his income has arisen from consultancy projects which have targeted small catchment studies and flood alleviation strategies.

Previuos Post - ADAS 1995-1997 Consultant in the Research and Development team.

Research interests

What is the future of our landscape? How do we use data, models and proactive land management strategies to create a functioning and thriving landscape for all who use it? The long term goal is to set up integrated catchment management bodies capable of solving pollution and flooding problems whilst benefitting all who those who contribute to the solution (which includes professional bodies, industry and the public). Catchment Systems Engineering forms part of Earth System Engineering and looks to altering the water quantity and quality entering our rivers, using soft engineering and through active uptake by farmers and policy makers. Gathering data through state of the art instrumentation and then using models and GIS tools analyse them, produces the evidence base required to influence policy makers.

Postgraduate Supervision

Current PhD students as first supervisor – Mike Palmer (writing up), Nick Barber (year 2), Alex Nicholson (Year 2) and 1 new student starting in January.

Esteem indicators

Invited talks at ICE and CIWEM meetings. An invitation to the Houses of Parliament, Office of Science and Technology, to speak at special meeting to summarise his work on Natural Flood Management.

Current Funding

Defra – Demonstration Test Catchments Project, a 5 year study in the River Eden on pollution control

Defra – DTC Knowledge Exchange programme

NERC – The Environmental Virtual Observatory pilot study

Undergraduate Teaching

CEG1101 Environmental Systems (50% and module leader)

Postgraduate Teaching

CEG 8513 Hydroinformatic Systems Development (80% and module leader)

CEG 8503 Hydrosystems Processes and Management (30%)

Contributions to several residential and flexible learning modules

• Wilkinson ME, Quinn PF, Benson I, Welton P. Runoff Management: Mitigation measures for disconnecting flow pathways in the Belford Burn catchment to reduce flood risk. In: Proceedings of the British Hydrological Society International Symposium. 2010, Newcastle upon Tyne: British Hydrological Society.
• Burke SP, Heathwaite AL, Quinn PF, Merrett S, Whitehead PG, Preedy NP, Lerner DL, Saul AJ. Strategic Management of Non-Point Source Pollution from Sewage Sludge. Water Science and Technology 2003, 47(7-8), 305-310.
• Heathwaite AL, Burke SP, Quinn PF. The nutrient export risk matrix (the NERM) for strategic application of biosolids to agricultural land. In: Wastewater Re-use and Groundwater Quality. 2003, Sapporo, Japan: International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.
• Quinn P, Burke S, Hewett C, Wilkinson M, Jonczyk J. Catchment Engineering: A 'Hands on' Demonstration Approach to Problem Solving. Hydrology Research 2011.
• Quinn PF. Scale appropriate modelling: Representing cause-and-effect relationships in nitrate pollution at the catchment scale for the purpose of catchment scale planning. Journal of Hydrology 2004, 291(3-4), 197-217.
• Heathwaite AL, Quinn PF, Hewett CJM. Modelling and managing critical source areas of diffuse pollution from agricultural land using flow connectivity simulation. Journal of Hydrology 2005, 304(1-4), 446-461.
• Hewett CJM, Quinn PF, Whitehead PG, Heathwaite AL, Flynn NJ. Towards a nutrient export risk matrix approach to managing agricultural pollution at source. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 2004, 8(4), 834-845.
• Quinn PF, Hewett CJM, Dayawansa NDK. TOPCAT-NP: A minimum information requirement model for simulation of flow and nutrient transport from agricultural systems. Hydrological Processes 2008, 22(14), 2565-2580.
• Wilkinson ME, Quinn PF, Welton P. Runoff management during the September 2008 floods in the Belford catchment, Northumberland. Journal of Flood Risk Management 2010, 3(4), 285-295.
• Hewett CJM, Quinn PF, Heathwaite AL, Doyle A, Burke S, Whitehead PG, Lerner DN. A multi-scale framework for strategic management of diffuse pollution. Environmental Modelling & Software 2009, 24(1), 74-85.
• Whitehead PG, Heathwaite AL, Flynn NJ, Wade AJ, Quinn PF. Evaluating the risk of non-point source pollution from biosolids: Integrated modelling of nutrient losses at field and catchment scales. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 2007, 11(1), 601-613.
• O'Connell PE, Ewen J, O'Donnell GM, Quinn PF. Is there a link between agricultural land-use management and flooding?. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 2007, 11(1), 96-107.
• Lane SN, Morris J, O'Connell PE, Quinn PF. Managing the rural landscape. In: Thorne, CR; Evans, EP; Penning-Rowsell, EC, ed. Future Flooding and Coastal Erosion Risks. London: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2007, pp. 297-319.
• Heidrich O, Quinn PF. Mixed Plastic Waste Recycling and Sustainable Land Drainage Systems. In: 4th Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) Annual Conference: Emerging Environmental Issues and Future Challenges. 2006, St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne: CIWEM: Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management.
• O'Connell PE, Beven K, Carney J, Clements R, Ewen J, Harris G, Hollis J, Morris J, O'Donnell GM, Packman J, Parkin A, Quinn PF, Shepherd M. Impacts of land use management on flood generation: the current state of knowledge. In: 40th Defra Flood and Coastal Management Conference. 2005, York, UK.
• Quinn PF, Hewett CJM, Doyle A. Integrating Hydrology into Farmer's Decisions. In: Hatfield, JL, ed. The Farmer's Decision: Balancing Economic Agriculture Production with Environmental Quality. Iowa, USA: Soil & Water Conservation Society, 2005, pp. 173-204.
• Bathurst JC, Quinn PF, Gravier J, Orange J, Vivier P, Vogel S. Sediment yield dependency in the River Eden basin, northwest England.. In: Sediment Budgets, Procedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences Symposium, l. 2005, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil: IAHS Publication.
• Heal KV, Younger PL, Smith KA, Quinn PF, Glendinning S, Aumônier J, Dobbie KE. A sustainable use of ochre from mine water treatment plants for phosphorus removal and recycling. In: IMWA Symposium: Mine Water. 2004, Newcastle upon Tyne: IMWA.
• Hewett CJM, Quinn PF. Hydroinformatics Tools to Aid Decision Making for Nutrient Remediation at Source. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Hydroinformatics. 2004, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.
• O'Connell PE, Beven KJ, Carney JN, Clements RO, Ewen J, Fowler H, Harris GL, Hollis J, Morris J, O'Donnell GM, Packman JC, Parkin A, Quinn PF, Rose SC, Shepherd M, Tellier S. Review of impacts of rural land use and management on flood generation: Impact study report. London: Defra / Environment Agency, 2004. FD2114/TR.
• O'Connell PE, Beven KJ, Carney JN, Clements RO, Ewen J, Hollis J, Morris J, O'Donnell GM, Packman JC, Parkin A, Quinn PF, Rose SC, Shepherd M. Review of impacts of rural land use and management on flood generation: Research plan. London: Defra Flood Management Division, 2004. Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs FD2114/PR1.
• Quinn PF, Hewett CJM, Doyle A. Scale appropriate modelling: from mechanisms to management. In: Tchiguirinskaia I; Bonell M; Hubert P, ed. Scales in hydrology and water management. Wallingford: International Association of Hydrological Sciences, 2004, pp. 17-38.
• Quinn PF, Hewett CJM. An Earth Systems Engineering Approach to the Direct Management of Runoff Flow Paths and Nutrient Remediation at Source. In: 7th International Specialised Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Basin Management. 2003, Dublin, Ireland.
• Heal K, Younger PL, Smith K, Glendinning S, Quinn PF, Dobbie K. Novel use of ochre from mine water treatment plants to reduce point and diffuse phosphorus pollution. Land Contamination & Reclamation 2003, 11(2), 145-152.
• Hewett CJM, Quinn PF. TopManage: A High Resolution GIS Digital Terrain Analysis Tool to Study the Management of Flow on Farms. In: 7th International Specialised Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Basin Management. 2003, Dublin, Ireland.
• Evans EP, O'Connell PE, Quinn PF, Beven K, Carney JN, Clements RO, Harris GL, Hollis JM. Update of Research on Land Use and Runoff. In: 38th DEFRA Flood & Coastal Management Conference. 2003, University of Keele, UK.
• Burke S, Heathwaite AL, Quinn PF, Merrett S, Whitehead PG, Preedy N, Lerner DN, Saul AJ. Strategic management of non-point source pollution from sewage sludge. In: 3rd World Water Congress of the International Water Association: Integrated Water Resources Management. 2002, Melbourne, Australia: Water Science and Technology: IWA Publishing.
• Brazier RE, Rowan JS, Anthony SG, Quinn PF. 'MIRSED' towards an MIR approach to modelling hillslope soil erosion at the national scale. Catena 2000, 42(1), 59-79.
• Van Herpe Y, Troch PA, Callewier L, Quinn PF. Application of a conceptual catchment scale nitrate transport model on two rural river basins. In: Nitrogen, the Confer-N-s First International Nitrogen Conference 1998. 1998, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands: Environmental Pollution: Pergamon.
• Quinn PF, Ostendorf B, Beven K, Tenhunen J. Spatial and temporal predictions of soil moisture patterns and evaporative losses using TOPMODEL and the GAS-FLUX model for an Alaskan catchment. Hydrology & Earth System Sciences 1998, 2(1), 51-64.
• Quinn PF, Franks SW, Beven KJ, Wright IR. On the sensitivity of soil - vegetation - atmosphere transfer (SVAT) schemes: equifinality and the problem of robust calibration. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 1997, 86(1-2), 63-75.