Geospatial Systems - Philip Home
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Profile
Philip Home
Biography
About
Having always wanted to understand the relationship between humanity and environmental systems, I set to join the EPSRC CDT in Geospatial Systems with the intention of applying geospatial data and techniques to address global challenges including climate change and ecological crisis’s. I hope to use this opportunity to research the intimate links and feedbacks between society and the environment, to inform planning and decision makers.
I initially joined the University of Leeds in 2013 to study environmental science, undertaking modules in geology, meteorology, policy, geographies, ecology and GIS. My research focussed on exploring the geographical extent of volcanic pumice eruption patterns by applying geochemical techniques to analyse cryptotephra soil cores taken from Abisko, Arctic Sweden. Throughout my undergraduate studies the spatial relationships between numerous environmental variables were impressed on me to be of great importance for significant inferences.
To further my ambition in human – environmental relationships, I decided to undertake a postgraduate degree in Risk and Disaster Science at University College London. This research involved underpinning both the social and physical mechanisms to determine the complexity of risk associated with various natural and anthropogenic hazards. Multi-disciplinary study into social contexts, geophysical components, management and modelling were applied to assist in addressing vulnerable populations to risk. Once again the applicability of spatial analysis was evident in many aspects of disaster risk research. I felt compelled to apply spatial analyses in my independent research project, I focussed on using GIS and remotely sensed data from LandSat 8 to build landslide susceptibility maps for the town of Paradise, California using multi criteria decision analysis, creation of landslide inventory and image classification. The outputs of this research assisted in future land management and planning in the region.
Having understood the utility of spatial information and analysis to address global challenges through a multidisciplinary lens, I am enthusiastic to join the CDT that welcomes experts from multiple backgrounds and will employ geospatial techniques in many fields in new exciting ways. My aim is to utilise spatial relationships and data to aid decision makers and advise action towards sustainable and equitable development, in a world adapting to the impacts of climate change. Furthermore, I would like to apply techniques utilising data mining from various sources including social media, citizen science and public engagement.
Now beginning my studies in the CDT, I will be equipped with the skills and techniques necessary to collect and analyse the geospatial data associated with the dynamic nature of environmental, social and ecological fields.
PhD Title: Climate change adaption and resilience, biodiversity management and active travel
