Education & Outreach , 2017 – 2018

Background

My PhD was in microbial effects on glacier carbon budgets and albedo. After graduating I spent 2 years lecturing at the University of Derby (UK) before returning to Sheffield as a PDRA. I have been engaged in the study of ice algae, cryoconite and albedo for about a decade and have worked a lot in Greenland, Svalbard and Iceland.

Current Research

Like most glaciologists I am interested in why ice melts and why it matters. My work can be broadly divided into three main themes: 1) Albedo feedbacks on glaciers and ice sheets, 2) glacier microbiology, 3) glacier hydrology, although in reality these three themes are very tightly interwoven into one integrated ice-melt machine.

I am currently a PDRA on NERC’s Black and Bloom project where I am responsible for measuring and modelling biological darking of ice surfaces. At the same time, I hold my own grant from the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, I am a co-investigator on an interdisciplinary environmental spectroscopy project “Into the UV” and am scientific leader on Moncler’s ‘Inside the Glaciers’ project. I am an active science communicator and more information can be found on my personal webpage tothepoles.wordpress.com. I recently joined UKPN as a way to contribute to the early career community in the UK and to do great work with other young scientists. My first major project for UKPN is the UK-Russia ECR collaboration scheme.

Contacts

Email: joe.cook@polarnetwork.org