Professor Richard Battarbee FRS

Rick Battarbee is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Change at UCL and the former Director of the UCL Environmental Change Research Centre. He is a freshwater ecologist and palaeolimnologist specialising in diatom analysis and the use of lake sediments in understanding the impact of nutrient pollution, acid deposition and climate change on lake ecosystems. The work of his research group provided definitive evidence relating the acidification of surface waters in the United Kingdom to ‘acid rain’.

He is a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the recipient of the Ruth Patrick Award from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, an Einstein Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Paleolimnology Association. He also holds honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster and Queens University, Kingston, Canada.

He represents the Royal Society on the Council of the Freshwater Biological Association and is Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Society Journal, Biology Letters.

Professional position

  • Director of Environmental Change Research Centre, Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London (UCL)
  • Emeritus Professor of Environmental Change, University College London (UCL)
  • Chairman, ENSIS Ltd

Subject groups

  • Earth and Environmental Sciences

    Limnology

  • Patterns in Populations

    Ecology (incl behavioural ecology)

Professor Richard Battarbee FRS
Elected 2006
Committees Participated Role
Publishing Board January 2015 - December 2018 Ex-Officio
Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences December 2013 - November 2016 Member
Sectional Committee 9: Patterns in populations December 2006 - November 2009 Member