Dr Peter J A Burt

Biography

Dr Burt joined the Natural Resources Institute as a Special Research Fellow in January 1989 and was appointed Principal Scientist in 1991. He has been a member of the Agriculture, Health and Environment Department since April and was previously Acting Head of the Environmental Sustainability Group (January – March 2003) and Deputy Head of that Group (August 2001 to December 2002). Dr Burt has 30 years experience working in the field of biometeorology, with emphasis on investigations of micro- and meso-scale dispersal of pests, disease pathogens and pollens, micrometeorological monitoring and environmental remote sensing. He has completed major investigations to assess the role of the wind in the movement of the plant pathogens causing Sigatoka diseases of banana and plantain and the use of satellite imagery to identify likely areas of the eclosion of pest grasshoppers in relation to rainfall in the Sahel (particularly Mali), as well as studies of insect movement and dispersal in association with wind systems in the lower atmosphere. Other investigations have involved the use of satellite remote sensing as an aid to agro-ecological monitoring and in the collection and analysis of atmospheric profile (temperature, water vapour and ozone) data. Dr Burt is Programme Leader for the University's MSc in Sustainable Environmental Management. He has also been involved in the preparation and teaching of courses in biometeorology at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and currently lectures in introductory meteorology to first-year undergraduates, as well as lecturing in other undergraduate and postgraduate courses on aspects of ecology, applied meteorology/climatology and airborne dispersal. He is responsible for the Institute's academic quality control, reporting directly to the Director of Learning and Quality in the Department of Science. His research in aspects of meteorology/climatology and airborne dispersal is further supported through the supervision of MSc and PhD students. He is currently involved in investigations of the dispersal of airborne material within the Medway, Kent, area and has acted as an Expert Witness on airborne particulate dispersal at local planning enquiries. Dr Burt was a member of the organising and scientific committees of the 24th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Remote Sensing Society, held at the University of Greenwich in September 1998, and co-editor of the conference proceedings (see publications list). He was also involved in the organisation on the Third European Symposium on Aerobiology, held at University College Worcester in August 2003, as a member of the organising and scientific committees, co-editor of the symposium abstracts and invited Chair of the Climate Change session. He has acted as an Expert Reviewer for Working Groups I and II for the IPCC 5th Assessment Report.

Research Interest

Dr Burt's research activities can be divided into four main categories: biometeorology, with emphasis on insect aerobiology; pollen and spore aerobiology; investigations of the atmospheric dispersal of pollutants, and general meteorology.