Colin McClean

Dr Colin McClean is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York since 1996. With over 20 years of expertise, he specializes in spatial analysis and GIS applications for environmental management, including climate change impacts on plant species, reserve modeling, and machine learning optimization. His work has been cited in the Stern Review and IPCC reports. He holds a BSc from the University of Edinburgh (1986) and a PhD from Durham University (1991), followed by postdoctoral research at Cardiff and Newcastle universities.

• Research: Focuses on spatial modeling for conservation, land use, and biogeochemistry. Notable projects include Sahelian greening studies and climate change effects on African plant species.
• Grants: Includes £218,438 from the Darwin Initiative for biodiversity tools and £167,700 EU funding for Shea Tree modeling in the Sudano-Sahelian zone.
• Teaching: Leads courses in GIS, environmental tools, and glaciology fieldwork in Iceland.
• Collaborations: Works with institutions like WWF, NERC, and DEFRA on projects addressing climate change and conservation challenges.

He has supervised numerous PhD students and contributed to datasets on forest fragmentation, biodiversity finance, and agricultural set-aside strips.