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.

Chapter in book

• Caylor, K. K., Okin, G. S., Turnbull, L., Wainwright, J., Wiegand, T., Franz, T. E., & Parsons, A. J. (2013). Integrating short-and long-range processes into .models: the emergence of pattern. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag
• Cerda, A., Gallart, F., Li, J., Papanastasis, V. P., Parmenter, R. R., Turnbull, L., Parsons, A. J., & Wainwright, J. (2013). Long-range ecogeomorphic processes. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag
• Mueller, E. N., Wainwright, J., Parsons, A. J., & Turnbull, L. (2013). Land degradation in drylands: an ecogeomorphological approach. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag
• Turnbull, L., Wainwright, J., & Ravi, S. (2013). Vegetation change in the southwestern USA: patterns and processes. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag
• Turnbull, L., Hochstrasser, T., Wieczorek, M., Baas, A., Wainwright, J., Scarsoglio, S., Tietjen, B., Jeltsch, F., & Mueller, E. N. (2013). Approaches to modelling ecogeomorphic systems. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag
• Jeltsch, F., Lefever, R., Turnbull, L., Scarsoglio, S., Alados, C. L., Rallart, F., Mueller, E. N., Millington, J., Wainwright, J., Wierzoerek, M., & Grimm, V. (2013). Resilience, self-organization, complexity and pattern formation. In Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems. Springer Verlag

Journal Article

• Tiwari, S., Turnbull, L., & Wainwright, J. (2025). Local-and Global-Scale Hydrological and Sediment Connectivity over Grassland and Shrubland Hillslopes. Journal of Hydrology, 655, Article 132896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.132896
• Priß, D., Wainwright, J., Lawrence, D., Turnbull, L., Prell, C., Karittevlis, C., & Ioannides, A. A. (2025). Filling the Gaps—Computational Approaches to Incomplete Archaeological Networks. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 32(1), Article 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09688-z
• Boon, M., Motta, D., Massa, M., Wainwright, J., Lawrence, D., & Ayala, G. (2025). Understanding the long-term development of an irrigation network using a sinuosity-based automatic classification of waterways. Holocene, 35(1), 29-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836241285795
• Tiwari, S., Recinos Brizuela, S., Hein, T., Turnbull, L., Wainwright, J., & Funk, A. (2024). Water‐controlled ecosystems as complex networks: Evaluation of network‐based approaches to quantify patterns of connectivity. Ecohydrology, 17(7), Article e2690. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2690
• Santos, M., & Wainwright, J. (2024). River(s) Wear: Water in the Expanded Field. Cultural Geographies, 31(4), 447-471. https://doi.org/10.1177/14744740241233699
• Etherington, T. R., O’Sullivan, D., Perry, G. L. W., Richards, D. R., & Wainwright, J. (2024). A least-cost network neutral landscape model of human sites and routes. Landscape Ecology, 39(3), 52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01836-w
• Stewart, J., Parsons, A., Wainwright, J., Okin, G., Bestelmeyer, B., Fredrickson, E., & Schlesinger, W. (2023). Desert Ecosystems. Ecological monographs, 84(3), 373-410. https://doi.org/10.1890/12-1253.1
• Osumgborogwu, I. E., Wainwright, J., Turnbull, L., & Uzoigwe, L. O. (2022). A multi‐method approach to analyse changes in gully characteristics between 2009 and 2018 in southeast Nigeria. Land Degradation and Development, 33(9), 1398-1409. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4246
• Ayala, G., Bogaard, A., Charles, M., & Wainwright, J. (2022). Resilience and Adaptation of Agricultural Practice in Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. World Archaeology, 54(3), 407-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2022.2125058
• Wainwright, J., & Ayala, G. (2021). Holistic Approaches to Palaeohydrology: Reconstructing and Modelling the Neolithic River Çarşamba and the Riverscape of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Holocene, 32(11), 1277-1304. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836211041744
• Kabora, T., 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. Archaeological review from Cambridge, 36(1), 133-152. https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.79044
• Baartman, J. E., Nunes, J. P., Masselink, R., Darboux, F., Bielders, C., Degre, A., Cantreul, V., Cerdan, O., Grangeon, T., Fiener, P., Wilken, F., Schindewolf, M., & Wainwright, J. (2020). What do models tell us about water and sediment connectivity?. Geomorphology, 367, Article 107300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107300
• Wolfhagen, J., Veropoulidou, R., Ayala, G., Filipović, D., Kabukcu, C., Lancelotti, C., Madella, M., Pawłowska, K., Santiago-Marrero, C., & Wainwright, J. (2020). The Seasonality of Wetland and Riparian Taskscapes at Çatalhöyük. Near Eastern Archaeology, 83(2), 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1086/708446
• Ayala, G., & Wainwright, J. (2020). Çatalhöyük and Its Landscapes. Near Eastern Archaeology, 83(2), 88-97. https://doi.org/10.1086/709176
• Sinha, P., Rollason, E., Bracken, L. J., Wainwright, J., & Reaney, M. S. (2020). A new framework for integrated, holistic, and transparent evaluation of inter-basin water transfer schemes. Science of the Total Environment, 721, Article 137646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137646
• Kabora, T., 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, Article 102115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102115
• Kitchener, B., Dixon, S., Howarth, K., Parsons, A., Wainwright, J., Bateman, M., Cooper, J., Hargrave, G., Long, E., & Hewett, C. (2019). A low-cost bench-top research device for turbidity measurement by radially distributed illumination intensity sensing at multiple wavelengths. HardwareX (Oxford), 5, Article e00052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2019.e00052
• Kalayci, T., Lasaponara, R., Wainwright, J., & Masini, N. (2019). Multispectral Contrast of Archaeological Features: A Quantitative Evaluation. Remote Sensing, 11(9), Article 913. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080913
• Gao, P., Cooper, J. R., & Wainwright, J. (2019). Toward understanding complexity of sediment dynamics in geomorphic systems. Geomorphology, 330, 129-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.01.018
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818336116
• Briant, R., 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.09.006
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4458
• Turnbull, L., & Wainwright, J. (2018). From structure to function: understanding shrub encroachment in drylands using hydrological and sediment connectivity. Ecological Indicators, 98, 608-618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.11.039
• Nunes, J. P., Wainwright, J., Bielders, C. L., Darboux, F., Fiener, P., Finger, D., & Turnbull, L. (2018). Better models are more effectively connected models. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 43(6), 1355-1360. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4323
• Hewett, C. J., Simpson, C., Wainwright, J., & Hudson, S. (2018). Communicating Risks to Infrastructure Due to Soil Erosion: A Bottom-Up Approach. Land Degradation and Development, 29(4), 1282-1294. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2900
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4262
• Ayala, G., Wainwright, J., Walker, J., Hodara, R., Lloyd, J., 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.09.002
• Kitchener, B., Wainwright, J., & Parsons, A. (2017). A review of the principles of turbidity measurement. Progress in Physical Geography, 41(5), 620-642. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133317726540
• Millington, J., & Wainwright, J. (2017). Mixed qualitative-simulation methods: understanding geography through thick and thin. Progress in Human Geography, 41(1), 68-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132515627021
• Brown, A., Tooth, S., Bullard, J., Thomas, D., Chiverrell, R., Plater, A., Murton, J., Thorndycraft, V., 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3943
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr019010
• Perry, G., Wainwright, J., Etherington, T., & Wilmshurst, J. (2016). Experimental simulation: using generative modeling and palaeoecological data to understand human-environment interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 4, Article 109. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00109
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1446
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jf003628
• Parsons, A., Cooper, J., & Wainwright, J. (2015). What is suspended sediment?. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 40(10), 1417-1420. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3730
• Parsons, A., Bracken, L., Poeppl, R., Wainwright, J., & Keesstra, S. (2015). Introduction to special issue on connectivity in water and sediment dynamics. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 40(9), 1275-1277. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3714
• 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. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2907-2015
• Okin, G., Moreno-de las Heras, M., Saco, P., Throop, H., Vivoni, E., Parsons, A., Wainwright, J., & Peters, D. (2015). Connectivity in dryland landscapes: shifting concepts of spatial interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 13(1), 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1890/140163
• Bracken, L. J., Turnbull, L., Wainwright, J., & Bogaart, P. (2015). Sediment connectivity: a framework for understanding sediment transfer at multiple scales. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 40(2), 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3635
• Long, E., Hargrace, G., Cooper, J., Kitchener, B., Parsons, A., Hewett, C., & 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), Article 032201. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.89.032201
• Bracken, L., Wainwright, J., Ali, G., Tetzlaff, D., Smith, M., Reaney, S., & Roy, A. (2013). Concepts of hydrological connectivity: Research approaches, pathways and future agendas. Earth-Science Reviews, 119, 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.02.001
• Cooper, J., Wainwright, J., Parsons, A., Onda, Y., Fukuwara, T., Obana, E., Kitchener, B., Long, E., & Hargrave, G. (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), Article F04027. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012jf002499
• Michaelides, K., Lister, D., Wainwright, J., & Parsons, A. (2012). Linking runoff and erosion dynamics to nutrient fluxes in a degrading dryland landscape. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, Article G00N15. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012jg002071
• Wainwright, J., Turnbull, L., Ibrahim, T., Lexartza-Artza, I., Thomton, S., & Brazier, R. (2011). Linking Environmental Régimes, Space and Time: Interpretations of Structural and Functional Connectivity. Geomorphology, 126(3-4), 387-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.07.027
• Wainwright, J., & Millington, J. (2010). Mind, the gap in landscape-evolution modelling. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 35(7), 842-855. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.2008
• Wainwright, J., Parsons, A., Muller, E., Brazier, R., Powell, D., & 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1622
• Wainwright, J., Parsons, A., Muller, E., Brazier, R., Powell, D., & 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1624