Prof Stuart Gibb

Environmental Research Institute
North Highland College UHI
The University of the Highlands and Islands
Castle Street
Thurso
Caithness
KW14 7JD

North Highland College UHI
The University of the Highlands and Islands,
Centre for Energy and Environment
North Highland College UHI
Thurso
Caithness
KW14 7EE

Available to talk to the media about

• Renewable energy and the environment
• Emerging environmental contaminants
• Human pharmaceuticals in the environment
• Analytical environmental chemistry
• Novel solutions for water remediation and decontamination

In these languages

English

Biography

Professor Stuart Gibb is Director of the Environmental Research Institute at the North Highland College of the University of the Highlands and Islands where he a leading professor in Environmental Sciences.

Stuart grew up in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and studied in Aberdeen, and at the University of East Anglia in England.  Prior to joining the university, he has worked with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, University of East Anglia and with the British Antarctic Survey, including participation in national and international research programmes in Antarctica, the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean and Northern Seas.

Stuart joined the North Highland College to establish the Environmental Research Institute, a Centre which now employs almost 40 staff and research students. Here he is committed to instigating and developing research, learning, enterprise and outreach around a portfolio contemporary environmental issues currently focused on the priorities of ‘Renewable Energy and the Environment’, ‘Carbon water and Climate’ and ‘Environmental Contamination and Ecological Health’

He has published articles in ~20 different peer-reviewed journals on topics ranging from marine biogeochemistry and environmental analytical chemistry to water remediation; and from coral reef ecology to climate change in mountain environments. He has active collaborations and partnerships with SMEs and stakeholders across Scotland, and with universities and research institutes across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia, including experience of leading and participating in EU programmes.

He has had the opportunity to work as an advisor and reviewer for national agencies such as the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage as well organisations from further afield including Research Council of Norway and NASA in the USA. He is currently chair of the European Offshore Windfarm Environment Committee and the Peatland Partnership.

As well as holding Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist status, Stuart has held Visiting Professorial appointments with the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai and at the Changsha University of Science and Technology in Hunan Province of China. He is a fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Higher Education Academy.

Current research

Emerging Contaminants: Development and application of new analytical methodologies to detect and quantify environmental contaminants with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity.

Biosorbents: Novel utilisation of natural, low-cost materials for the decontamination of wasters and wastes.

Renewable Energy and the Environment: Developing capacity to address the key environmental issues underpinning the sustainable development of the marine renewable energy sector in Scotland.

Biogeochemistry: Understanding nitrogen biogeochemistry in the marine environment.

Research groups and interests

• Emerging environmental contaminants
• Human pharmaceuticals in the environment
• Phytoplankton chemotaxonomy
• Biogeochemical cycling
• Analytical environmental chemistry
• Novel solutions for water remediation and decontamination
• Marine renewable energy and the environment

Selected publications

Andrew N. Commin, Magnus W.H. Davidson, Nicola Largey, Paul P.J. Gaffney, David W. Braidwood, Stuart W. Gibb,  John McClatchey
Spatial smoothing of onshore wind: Implications for strategic development in Scotland
 Energy Policy, Volume 109, October 2017, Pages 36-48

Andrew S. French, Ruth N. Zadoks, Philip J. Skuce, Gillian Mitchell,  Danielle K. Gordon-Gibbs, Alexandra Craine, David Shaw, Stuart W. Gibb, Mark A. Taggart
Prevalence of Liver Fluke (Fasciola hepatica) in Wild Red Deer (Cervus elaphus): Coproantigen ELISA Is a Practicable Alternative to Faecal Egg Counting for Surveillance in Remote Populations
PLoS ONE (2016) 11(9): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162420

André Valente et al., 43 authors including Stuart W. Gibb
A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data for ocean-colour satellite applications
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 235–252, 2016, doi:10.5194/essd-8-235-2016

Andrew Commin, John McClatchey, Magnus Davidson, Stuart Gibb
Close-proximity tidal phasing for ‘firm’ electricity supply
Renewable Energy, Volume 102, Part B, doi10.1016/j.renene.2016.10.058

Carolina Nebot, Raquel Falcon, Kenneth G. Boyd and Stuart W. Gibb
Introduction of human pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plants into the aquatic environment: A rural perspective.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2015) 22: 10559. doi:10.1007/s11356-015-4234-z

Jiang J-J, Lee C-L, Fang M-D, Boyd KG, Gibb SW Source Apportionment and Risk Assessment of Emerging Contaminants: An Approach of Pharmaco-Signature in Water Systems.
 PLoS ONE (2015) 10(4): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122813.

C. A. Downs, Kathleen E. McDougall, Cheryl M. Woodley, John E. Fauth, Robert H. Richmond, Ariel Kushmaro, Stuart W. Gibb, Yossi Loya, Gary K. Ostrander, Esti Kramarsky-Winter;
Heat-Stress and Light-Stress Induce Different Cellular Pathologies in the Symbiotic Dinoflagellate during Coral Bleaching, PLOS ONE 8 (12), 1-16, 2013

Peloquin J. et al., 30 authors including Gibb S.
The MAREDAT global database of high performance liquid chromatography marine pigment measurements.
Earth System Science Data (1866-3516), 2013, Vol. 5 , P. 109-123

Shields, M.A., D.K. Woolf, E.P.M. Grist, S.A. Kerr, A.C. Jackson R.E. Harris, M.C Bell, R. Beharie, A. Want, E. Osalusi, S.W. Gibb and J. Side.
Marine renewable energy: The ecological implications of altering the hydrodynamics of the marine environment.
Ocean & Coastal Management 54, 2-9, 2011; doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2010.10.036

Coll J, Gibb SW, Price MF, McClatchey J, Harrison J.
Developing site scale projections of climate change in the Scottish Highlands. 
Climate Research, 45:71-85, 2010

Johnson, MT, Liss, PS, Bell, TG, Lesworth, TJ, Baker, AR, Hind, AJ, Jickells, TD, Biswas, KF, Woodward, M & Gibb, SW
Field observations of the ocean-atmosphere exchange of ammonia: Fundamental importance of temperature as revealed by a comparison of high and low latitudes.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 22 (1), 2008,  doi:10.1029/2007GB003039

Shuguang Lu, Stuart W. Gibb
Copper removal from wastewater using spent-grain as biosorbent.
Bioresource Technology 99, 1509-1517, 2008

Johnson MT, Sanders R, Avgoustidi V, Lucas MI, Brown L, Hansell D, Moore CM, Gibb SW, Liss PS, Jickells TD
Ammonium accumulation during a silicate limited diatom bloom indicates the potential for ammonia emission events. Marine Chemistry 106: 63-75, 2007;  doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2006.09.006

Carolina Nebot, Stuart W. Gibb and Kenneth G. Boyd
Quantification of human pharmaceuticals in water samples by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
Analytica Chimica Acta, Volume 598, pp. 87-94, 2007 doi:10.1016/j.aca.2007.07.029

Shuguang Lu, Stuart W. Gibb and Emma Cochrane
Effective removal of zinc ions from aqueous solutions using crab carapace biosorbent
Journal of Hazardous Materials, 149 (1), 208-217, 2007. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2006.01.054

E. L. Cochrane, S. Lu, S. W. Gibb and I. Villaescusa
A comparison of low-cost biosorbents and commercial sorbents for the removal of copper from aqueous media.
Journal of Hazardous Materials, 137 (1), 198-206, 2006 doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2006.01.054

McDougall KE, Gibb SW, Boyd KG, Brown BE
'Chlorophyll-like' compounds as novel biomarkers of stress in corals.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 35, 137-144, 2006

John Coll, Stuart W. Gibb, John Harrison.
Upland climate change impacts - towards improved site-scale assessments for land use managers?.
In Global Change in Mountain Regions. Ed M.F. Price. Sapiens Publishing, Dumfries. Pp. 273-275, 2006

Naqvi SWA, Bange HW, Gibb SW, Goyet C, Hatton AD, Upstill-Goddard RC.
Biogeochemical ocean-atmosphere transfers in the Arabian Sea.
Progress in Oceanography 65: 116-144, 2005

Modelling future climate change in the Scottish Highlands - an approach integrating local climatic variables and climate model outputs
John Coll, Stuart W. Gibb and John Harrison. In The Mountains of Europe: Conservation and Management, People and Nature. D.B.A. Thomson, M.F. Price and C.A. Galbraith. HMSO, Edinburgh. Pp103-109, 2005

Woolf, D.K., J. Coll, S. Gibb and P.G. Challenor.
Sensitivity of ferry services to the Western Isles of Scotland to changes in wave climate. In Proceedings of OMAE’04, 23rd International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, ASME, 2004.

Gibb SW, Hatton AD.
The occurrence and distribution of trimethylamine-N-oxide in Antarctic coastal waters.
Marine Chemistry 91: 65-75, 2004

I.B. Rae and S.W. Gibb
Removal of metals from aqueous solutions using natural chitinous materials
Water Science & Technology Vol 47 No 10 pp 189-196, 2003

Steinke M, Malin G, Gibb SW, Burkill PH.
 Vertical and temporal variability of DMSP lyase activity in a coccolithophorid bloom in the northern North Sea.
Deep Sea Research II, 49: 3001-3016. 2002

Brown BE, Downs CA, Dunne RP, Gibb SW
Exploring the basis of thermotolerance in the reef coral Goniastreaaspera
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 242, 119-129, 2002

Brown BE, Downs CA, Dunne RP, Gibb SW
Preliminary evidence for tissue retraction as a factor in photoprotection of corals incapable of xanthophyll cycling. J. Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 277 (2): 129-144, 2002

Joint I, and 27 authors including Gibb SW
Pelagic production at the Celtic Sea shelf break.
Deep Sea Research II, 48: 3049-3081, 2001

Gibb SW, Barlow RG, Cummings DG, Mantoura RFC, Irigoien X
Pigment chemotaxonomy of the north-eastern Atlantic.
Deep Sea Research II, 48: 795-823, 2001

Carole A. Llewellyn and Stuart W. Gibb
Intra-class variability in the carbon, pigment and biomineral content of prymnesiophytes and diatoms.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 193, 33-44, 2000

Brown, BE, Dunne, RP, Warner, ME, Ambarsari, I, Fitt, WK, Gibb, SW, Cummings, DG. Damage and recovery of Photosystem II during a manipulative field experiment on solar bleaching in the coral Goniastreaspera.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 195, 117-124, 2000.

Anning T, MacIntyre HL, Pratt SM, Sammes PJ, Gibb S, Geider RJ.
Photoacclimation in the marine diatom Skeletonemacostatum.
Limnology and Oceanography 45 (8), 1807-1817, 2000

Gibb, S.W., R.G. Barlow, D.G. Cummings, N.W. Rees, C.C. Trees, P. Holligan, D. Suggett.
Surface phytoplankton pigment distributions in the Atlantic Ocean: An assessment of basin scale variability between 50°N and 50°S.
Progress in Oceanography, 45 (3-4), 339-368, 2000 

Handbook of Water Analysis.  Chapter 11 - Ammonia
Stuart W. Gibb, Leo Nollet (Ed.), ISBN 0-8247-8433-2 Marcel Dekker, New York, 2000

J.M. Baker, C.E. Reeves, S.A. Penkett, P.D. Nightingale, S.W. Gibb and A.D. Hatton
Biological Production of Methyl Bromide in the Coastal Waters of the North Sea and Open Ocean of the Northeast Atlantic
Marine Chemistry, 64(4), 267-285, 1999

Colomban de Vargas, Richard Norris, Louisette Zaninetti, Stuart W. Gibb Jan Pawlowski.
Molecular Evidence of Cryptic Speciation in Planktonic Foraminifers and their Relation to oceanic Provinces.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96 (6), 2864-2868, 1999