Staff profile

My research interests, which focus on past, present and future human interactions with the environment, arise from a varied background.  I have a BA in Archaeology and Geology from Bristol University, where I also studied for my PhD on "Erosion of Semi-Arid Archaeological Sites: A Study in Natural Formation Processes", working on sites in Southwest France. Then I moved to Keele University to work as a post-doc on a NERC-funded project on overland-flow dynamics in the context of vegetation change.  Following a temporary lectureship at Southampton University, I took up a lectureship in physical geography at King's College London in 1993, where I was subsequently reader (2000) and professor (2002).  

In 1999, I received the prestigious Gordon Warwick award of the British Geomorphological Research Group, recognizing my innovative work in the understanding of past and present semi-arid environments. I have also previously been Honorary Secretary and Membership Secretary of the BGRG, which is now the British Society for Geomorphology.

In 2005, I moved to Sheffield as Professor of Physical Geography, and spent three years as a Visiting Professor at Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg.  I was appointed as Professor in Physical Geography at Durham in October 2011.

I have carried out extensive field research, especially in drylands, with an emphasis on the Mediterranean, the US Southwest and sub-Saharan Africa.  Computer modelling is central to the methods I use to link data with theory, and I have also carried out laboratory experiments on slope and channel processes to make this link.

Research Interests

• Modelling of human-environment interactions using agent-based models and other interdisciplinary approaches
• Geomorphology and geoarchaeology of arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean regions
• Processes of overland flow and soil erosion
• Links between hydrological, geomorphological and ecological processes (ecohydrology and ecogeomorphology)
• Laboratory modelling of hydrological and geomorphic processes
• Computer modelling of hydrological and geomorphic processes
• Theoretical geomorphology

Please contact me if you are interested in discussing possible PhD or MRes research projects on any of these themes.

If you would like copies of any of my publications, please get in touch.

• Catchments and Rivers
• Hazards and Surface Change
• Sea Level, Ice and Climate

• Dynamics of Runoff And Erosion Modelling (DRAEM)

• Dynamics of Runoff and Erosion (DRÆM) project
• For full publications and other research details, please go to my personal web page
• GEOMOP: Modern Geospatial Practices for Ancient Movement Praxis
• I-CONN: Understanding and managing complex systems using connectivity science

• 2019: i-CONN: Interdisciplinary connectivity: Understanding and managing complex systems using connectivity science, Interreg (ERDF) Europe, €4 million, 2019-10-01 - 2023-09-30
• 2013: Vegetation shifts in desert environments: a multi-scale ecohydrological approach for the analysis of grassland-shrubland transitions(£165202.29 from European Commission)
• 2012: Understanding Runoff and Erosion Dynamics(£73762.33 from NERC - Natural Environment Research Council)

Journal Article

• Ayala, G., Bogaard, A., Charles, M. & Wainwright, J. (2022). Resilience and Adaptation of Agricultural Practice in Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. World Archaeology
• Osumgborogwu, Ikenna Emmanuel, Wainwright, John, Turnbull, Laura & Uzoigwe, Luke O. (2022). A multi‐method approach to analyse changes in gully characteristics between 2009 and 2018 in southeast Nigeria. Land Degradation & Development 33(9): 1398-1409.
• Wainwright, J. & Ayala, G. (2022). Holistic Approaches to Palaeohydrology: Reconstructing and Modelling the Neolithic River Çarşamba and the Riverscape of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. The Holocene 32(11): 1277 - 1304.
• Kabora, T.K., Stump, D. & Wainwright, J. (2021). Digging deep: Exploring the role of social cohesion and farmer decision-making in the resilience of historical socio-ecological systems. Resilience & Archaeology 36(1): 133-152.
• Ayala, G. & Wainwright, J. (2020). Çatalhöyük and Its Landscapes. Near Eastern Archaeology 83(2): 88-97.
• Wolfhagen, J., Veropoulidou, R., Ayala, G., Filipović, D., Kabukcu, C., Lancelotti, C., Madella, M., Pawłowska, K., Santiago-Marrero, C.G. & Wainwright, J. (2020). The Seasonality of Wetland and Riparian Taskscapes at Çatalhöyük. Near Eastern Archaeology 82(2): 98-109.
• Baartman, Jantiene E.M., Nunes, Joao Pedro, Masselink, Rens, Darboux, Frédéric, Bielders, Charles, Degre, Aurore, Cantreul, Vincent, Cerdan, Olivier, Grangeon, Thomas, Fiener, Peter, Wilken, Florian, Schindewolf, Marcus & Wainwright, John (2020). What do models tell us about water and sediment connectivity? Geomorphology 367: 107300.
• Sinha, Pammi, Rollason, Edward, Louise, J. Bracken, Wainwright, John & Reaney, M. Sim (2020). A new framework for integrated, holistic, and transparent evaluation of inter-basin water transfer schemes. Science of The Total Environment 721: 137646.
• Kabora, T.K., Stump, D. & Wainwright, J (2020). How did that get there? Understanding sediment transport and accumulation rates in agricultural landscapes using the ESTTraP agent-based model. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29: 102115.
• Kalayci, T., Lasaponara, R., Wainwright, J. & Masini, N. (2019). Multispectral Contrast of Archaeological Features: A Quantitative Evaluation. Remote Sensing 11(9): 913.
• Wainwright, J. & Ayala, G. (2019). Teleconnexions and environmental determinism: was there really a climate-driven collapse at Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(9): 3343-3344.
• Kitchener, B.G.B., Dixon, S.D., Howarth, K.O., Parsons, A.J. Wainwright, J., Bateman, M.D., Cooper, J.R., Hargrave, G.K., Long, E.J. & Hewett, C.J.M. (2019). A low-cost bench-top research device for turbidity measurement by radially distributed illumination intensity sensing at multiple wavelengths. HardwareX 5: e00052.
• Turnbull, L. & Wainwright, J. (2019). From structure to function: understanding shrub encroachment in drylands using hydrological and sediment connectivity. Ecological Indicators 98: 608-618.
• Gao, Peng, Cooper, James R. & Wainwright, John (2019). Toward understanding complexity of sediment dynamics in geomorphic systems. Geomorphology
• Briant, R.M., Wainwright, J. & Maddy, D. (2018). New approaches to field-model data comparison: Numerical modelling of the last glacial cycle in the Welland catchment, England. Geomorphology 323: 106-122.
• Briant, R., Cohen, K., Cordier, S., Demoulin, A., Macklin, M., Mather, A., Rixhon, G., Wainwright, J., Wittmann, H. & Veldkamp, T. (2018). Applying Pattern Oriented Sampling in current fieldwork practice to enable more effective model evaluation in fluvial landscape evolution research. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43(14): 2964-2980.
• Hewett, Caspar J.M., Simpson, Carolyn, Wainwright, John & Hudson, Steve (2018). Communicating Risks to Infrastructure Due to Soil Erosion: A Bottom-Up Approach. Land Degradation & Development 29(4): 1282-1294.
• Parsons, A., Cooper, J., Wainwright, J. & Sekiguchi, T. (2018). Virtual velocity of sand transport in water. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43(3): 755-761.
• Ayala, G., Wainwright, J., Walker, J., Hodara, R., Lloyd, J.M., Leng, M. & Doherty, C. (2017). Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the alluvial landscape of Neolithic Çatalhöyük, central southern Turkey: The implications for early agriculture and responses to environmental change. Journal of Archaeological Science 87: 30-43.
• Kitchener, B.G.B., Wainwright, J. & Parsons, A.J. (2017). A review of the principles of turbidity measurement. Progress in Physical Geography 41(5): 620-642.
• Millington, J. & Wainwright, J. (2017). Mixed qualitative-simulation methods: understanding geography through thick and thin. Progress in Human Geography 41(1): 68-88.
• Brown, A.G., Tooth, S., Bullard, J.E., Thomas, D.S.G., Chiverrell, R.C., Plater, A.J., Murton, J., Thorndycraft, V.R., Tarolli, P., Rose, J., Wainwright, J., Downs, P. & Aalto, R. (2017). The Geomorphology of The Anthropocene: Emergence, Status and Implications. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 42(1): 71-90.
• Pan, C., Ma, L. & Wainwright, J. (2016). Particle selectivity of sediment deposited over grass barriers and the effect of rainfall. Water Resources Research 52(10): 7932-7979.
• Perry, G.L.W., Wainwright, J., Etherington, T.R. & Wilmshurst, J.W. (2016). Experimental simulation: using generative modeling and palaeoecological data to understand human-environment interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 4: 109.
• Moreno-de las Heras, M., Turnbull, L. & Wainwright, J. (2016). Seed-bank structure and plant-recruitment conditions regulate the dynamics of a grassland-shrubland Chihuahuan ecotone. Ecology 97(9): 2303-2318.
• Cunliffe, A.M., Puttock, A.K., Turnbull, L., Wainwright, J. & Brazier, R.E. (2016). Dryland, calcareous soils store (and lose) significant quantities of near-surface organic carbon. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 121(4): 684-702.
• Moreno-de las Heras, M., Diaz-Sierra, R., Turnbull, L. & Wainwright, J. (2015). Assessing vegetation structure and ANPP dynamics in a grassland–shrubland Chihuahuan ecotone using NDVI–rainfall relationships. Biogeosciences 12(10): 2907-2925.
• Parsons, A.J., Cooper, J. & Wainwright, J. (2015). What is suspended sediment? Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 40(10): 1417-1420.
• Parsons, A.J., Bracken, L.J., Poeppl, R.E., Wainwright, J. & Keesstra, S.D. (2015). Introduction to special issue on connectivity in water and sediment dynamics. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 40(9): 1275-1277.
• Okin, G.S., Moreno-de las Heras, M., Saco, P.M., Throop, H.L., Vivoni, E.R., Parsons, A.J., Wainwright, J. & Peters, D.P.C. (2015). Connectivity in dryland landscapes: shifting concepts of spatial interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13(1): 20-27.
• Moreno-de las Heras, M., Diaz-Sierra, R., Turnbull, L. & Wainwright, J. (2015). Assessing vegetation structure and ANPP dynamics in a grassland-shrubland Chihuahuan ecotone using NDVI-rainfall relationships. Biogeosciences Discussions 12(1): 51-92.
• Long, E.J., Hargrace, G.K., Cooper, J.R., Kitchener, B.G.B., Parsons, A.J., Hewett, C.J.M. & Wainwright, J. (2014). Experimental investigation into the impact of a liquid droplet onto a granular bed using three-dimensional, time-resolved, particle tracking. Physical Review E 89(3): 032201.
• Stewart, J., Parsons, A.J., Wainwright, J., Okin, G.S., Bestelmeyer, B., Fredrickson, E.L. & Schlesinger, W.H. (2013). Modelling Emergent Patterns of Dynamic Desert Ecosystems. Ecological Monographs
• Bracken, L.J., Wainwright, J., Ali, G.A., Tetzlaff, D., Smith, M.W., Reaney, S.M. & Roy, A.G. (2013). Concepts of hydrological connectivity: Research approaches, pathways and future agendas. Earth-Science Reviews 119: 17-34.
• Michaelides, K., Lister, D., Wainwright, J. & Parsons, A.J. (2012). Linking runoff and erosion dynamics to nutrient fluxes in a degrading dryland landscape. Journal of Geophysical Research 117: G00N15.
• Cooper, J.R., Wainwright, J., Parsons, A.J., Onda, Y., Fukuwara, T., Obana, E., Kitchener, B., Long, E.J. & Hargrave, G.H. (2012). A new approach for simulating the redistribution of soil particles by water erosion: A marker-in-cell model. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface 117(F4): F04027.
• Wainwright, J., Turnbull, L., Ibrahim, T.G., Lexartza-Artza, I., Thomton, S.F. & Brazier, R.E. (2011). Linking Environmental Régimes, Space and Time: Interpretations of Structural and Functional Connectivity. Geomorphology 126(3-4): 387-404.
• Wainwright, J. & Millington, J.D.A. (2010). Mind, the gap in landscape-evolution modelling. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 35(7): 842-855.
• Wainwright, J., Parsons, A.J., Muller, E.N., Brazier, R.E., Powell, D.M. & Fenti, B. (2008). A transport-distance approach to scaling erosion rates: 1. Background and model development. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33(5): 813-826.
• Wainwright, J., Parsons, A.J., Muller, E.N., Brazier, R.E., Powell, D.M. & Fenti, B. (2008). A transport-distance approach to scaling erosion rates: 3. Evaluating scaling characteristics of MAHLERAN. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33(7): 1113-1128.