Paul Quinn

You are here: / / / Paul Quinn

Email: Paul.Quinn@hutton.ac.uk

Biography

I graduated from Lancaster University with a PhD in ‘Digital Terrain Analysis and Hydrological Modelling’. Currently I am working part time at the James Hutton institute in Scotland. After 25 years of research and teaching at Newcastle University in Civil Engineering, I retired to concentrate on nature-based solutions and natural flood management. I worked for many years as a hydrologist using field work, GIS and modelling methods to address water-based issues. I decided that rather than observe runoff processes causing problems, it would be better to change (‘engineer’) those processes and solve environmental problems. Thus, my colleagues and I developed the concept of catchment systems engineering. Working with stakeholders, policy makers and industry we are now ‘engineering’ solutions to water quantity and quality issues, by building bunds, wetlands and ponds on farms and in forests. Recently, I have worked at several sites in Ireland implementing Natural Water Retention Measures as part of the EPA/OPW SloWaters project led by Mary Bourke, and we are consulting at several locations interested in adopting NWRM. We are keen to show that intervention in intensively used landscape can have lower water quality pollution, reduce flood and drought risk and increase biodiversity. EPSP is at the forefront of this thinking Ireland, and I look forward to working closely with the team to implement practical solutions and train the problem solvers of the future.

Relevant Publications

  • Quinn PF, Hewett CJM, Wilkinson ME, Adams R. The Role of Runoff Attenuation Features (RAFs) in Natural Flood Management. Water. 2022; 14(23):3807. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233807
  • Birkinshaw, S. J., Kilsby, C., O’Donnell, G., Quinn, P., Adams, R., & Wilkinson, M. E. (2021). Stormwater Detention Ponds in Urban Catchments—Analysis and Validation of Performance of Ponds in the Ouseburn Catchment, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Water, 13(18), 2521.
  • Norbury M, Phillips H, Macdonald N, Brown D, Boothroyd R, Wilson C, Quinn P, Shaw D. Quantifying the hydrological implications of pre-and post-installation willowed engineered log jams in the Pennine Uplands, NW England. Journal of Hydrology. 2021 Dec 1;603:126855.
  • Nicholson, A.R., O’Donnell, G.M., Wilkinson, M.E. and Quinn, P.F., 2020. The potential of runoff attenuation features as a Natural Flood Management approach. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 13, p.e12565.
  • Hewett, C.J., Wilkinson, M.E., Jonczyk, J. and Quinn, P.F., 2020. Catchment systems engineering: An holistic approach to catchment management. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 7(3), p.e1417.
  • Adams, R., Quinn, P., Barber, N. and Burke, S., 2020. Identifying Flow Pathways for Phosphorus Transport Using Observed Event Forensics and the CRAFT (Catchment Runoff Attenuation Flux Tool). Water, 12(4), p.1081.
  • Adams, R., Quinn, P., Barber, N. and Reaney, S., 2018. The role of attenuation and land management in small catchments to remove sediment and phosphorus: A modelling study of mitigation options and impacts. Water, 10(9), p.1227.
  • Adams R., Quinn P.F., and Bowes M. 2015. CRAFT-The Catchment Runoff Attenuation Flux Tool, a Minimum Information Requirement Nutrient Pollution Model. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1641-1657, doi:10.5194/hess-19-1641-2015.
  • Wilkinson M.E, Quinn P.F., Barber N.J and Jonczyk J. 2014. A framework for managing runoff and pollution in the rural landscape using a Catchment Systems Engineering approach. Science of the Total Environment January 2014, Pages 1245–1254.
  • Wilkinson, M.E., Mackay, E., Quinn, P.F., Stutter, M., Beven, K.J., MacLeod, C.J., Macklin, M.G., Elkhatib, Y., Percy, B., Vitolo, C. and Haygarth, P.M., 2015. A cloud-based tool for knowledge exchange on local scale flood risk. Journal of environmental management, 161, pp.38-50.
  • Mackay, E.B., Wilkinson, M.E., Macleod, C.J., Beven, K., Percy, B.J., Macklin, M.G., Quinn, P.F., Stutter, M. and Haygarth, P.M., 2015. Digital catchment observatories: A platform for engagement and knowledge exchange between catchment scientists, policy makers, and local communities. Water Resources Research, 51(6), pp.4815-4822.
  • Wilkinson M.E, Quinn P.F., Barber N.J and Jonczyk J. 2014. A framework for managing runoff and pollution in the rural landscape using a Catchment Systems Engineering approach. Science of the Total Environment January 2014, Pages 1245–1254
  • Wilkinson M.E, Quinn P.F. and Hewett C.J.M. 2013. The Floods and Agriculture Risk Matrix: a decision support tool for effectively communicating flood risk from farmed landscapes. International Journal of River Basin Management 2013, Volume 11, Issue 3
  • Barber N.J and Quinn P.F. Mitigating diffuse water pollution from agriculture using soft-engineered runoff attenuation features. Area 2012, 44(4), 454-462. Management, 11, 237-252.
  • Owen, G.; Perks, M.; Benskin, C.; Wilkinson, M.E.; Jonczyk, J.; Quinn, P.F.. Monitoring agricultural diffuse pollution through a dense monitoring network in the River Eden Demonstration Test Catchment, Cumbria U.K. 2012. Area, 44,443-453.
  • Nicholson, A.; Wilkinson, M.E.; O’Donnell, G.; Quinn, P.F. Area, 44, 463-469. Runoff attenuation features: a sustainable flood mitigation strategy in the Belford catchment, UK. 2012.
  • Wilkinson, M.E.; Quinn, P.F. Welton, P. Runoff management during the September 2008 floods in the Belford catchment, Northumberland. 2010. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 3, 285-295.
  • Quinn P.F., Hewett C.J.M, Dayawansa, N.D.K. TOPCAT-NP: A minimum information requirement model for simulation of flow and nutrient transport from agricultural systems. Hydrological Processes 2008, 22(14), 2565-2580
  • Heathwaite, L, Quinn, P.F. and Hewett, C.J.M. Modelling and managing critical source areas of diffuse pollution from agricultural land using flow connectivity simulation. J. Hydrol 2004, 304(1-4), 446-461.

Projects

  1. Advisor on EA NFM Trials, 2018-2022, Merseyside NFM and Weardale NFM Demonstrator
  2. EPA/OPW Ireland, SLOWATERS, The impact of natural water retention measures on flooding.
  3. NERC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, based at ARUP, Assessing the potential for Natural flood Management in the UK.
  4. The Belford Catchment Flood Study Project, Northumberland Flood Levy funding.
  5. Design Consultant on Netherton Burn NFM project; Haltwhistle Community Catchment Management study; Dykehead NFM Project; Northumberland Multi-objective Catchment Management Project and Lustrum Beck FAS.
  6. Demonstration Test Catchments. Sustainable farming and pollution in R. Eden, Defra.
  7. Working with Natural Processes. EA.
  8. ARUP NERC Industrial Fellowship, ‘Delivering Natural Flood Management to Industry’.
  9. Knowledge Transfer Partnership, developing new range of rain gauges, Innovate UK.
  10. CHASM – Catchment Hydrology & Sustainable Management, NERC,
  11. Earth Systems Laboratory, NERC SRIF2.
  12. FD2114 – Review of impacts of rural land use and management on flood generation, Defra.
  13. MS4W – Making Space for Water, Nafferton Farm Runoff Management Experiment and the development of the EA Floods and Agricultural Risk Matrix tool (The FARM Tool), EA.
  14. Global Secure – Water Resources and Energy in China, EPSRC,
  15. Pilot EVO Environmental Virtual Observatory, NERC.

Funded by

Partners

DISCLAIMER:

Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the material contained in this website, complete accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor the authors accept any responsibility whatsoever for loss or damage occasioned or claimed to have been occasioned, in part or in full, as a consequence of any person acting or refraining from acting, as a result of a matter contained in this website.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

This project is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2021-2030 and co-funded by OPW. The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

© Copyright - SloWater.eu
Caroline BourkeStephen Addy