Dr Philip Collins

Phil Collins is Deputy Head of Civil Engineering and Senior Lecturer in Geology & Geotechnical Engineering.  He completed his doctoral research into the Quaternary geology of the Kennet Valley at the University of Reading in 1994.  He started postdoctoral studies into relative sea level change in the Department of Geography & Earth Sciences at the West London Institute, before becoming a lecturer at Brunel University College in 1995, moving to the Uxbridge Campus in 1997. 

In 2007, University restructuring saw him join the Department of Mechanical Engineering where he led the establishment of the new Civil Engineering degree programme.  In 2009, he was appointed Acting Head of the newly formed Civil Engineering Subject Area.  He is currently Deputy Head of the Subject Area, managing the strategic development and day-to-day operation of the taught programmes. 

Civil Engineering Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CivilatBrunel

Research Interests

My research crosses the boundaries between geography, geology and geotechnical engineering.  He has conducted field studies in a number of locations including the UK, Canary Islands, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Norway and Canada.  This research covers a series of themes:

Palaeoenvironmental change: using an interdisciplinary approach to understand how a site has changes over time.  I am particularly interested in patterns and rates of change in river, montane and coastal settings.  As well as my own research, I’ve collaborated with colleagues from the UK and overseas, and have supervised three PhDs and one MPhil as lead or co-supervisor in this area.

Deformation and failure of ground and engineered materials: using geotechnical and geological methods, as well as methods borrowed from materials science and forensic science, I am interested both in understanding the processes of deformation and failure, and identifying diagnostic tools to help understand past deformation.  This work includes consideration of the action of recent and ancient seismicity, freeze-thaw, and karst (dissolution-related) and has involved both field and laboratory analyses. The research includes the design of new experimental equipment.  I currently have two PhD students working in this area.

Geodynamics, tectonics and seismicity: building on my work on active faults and palaeoseismicity, I have worked with colleagues in the UK and Greece on assessments of seismic risk, and developing a better understanding of earthquake patterns.  I have supervised two PhD students, with two more currently carrying out their research.

Environmental justice and urban sustainability: working with a Human Geography colleague, I am currently co-supervising a PhD student investigating access to urban green space in west London.

Current Research

United Kingdom

• Quaternary geology of the Thames Basin
• Ground deformation diagnostics in Quaternary soils and sediments
• Investigating evidence for environmental shifts in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene
• Relative sea level change and saltmarsh dynamics (with Phill Teasdale , Andy Cundy and Callum Firth, Brighton University )
• Holocene history of Pinus (with Andy Moir and Suzanne Leroy)
• Invertebrate population dynamics and climate (with Angus Westgarth-Smith (research student) and Suzanne Leroy )
• Linking forestry and people in urban West London (with Sue Buckingham and Rekha Sharma (research student)

Turkey

• Assessing past seismicity using palaeoenvironmental techniques in western Turkey (with INGV-Roma , linked to RELIEF ) and eastern Turkey (with Salih Bayraktutan and Derek Rust)
• Geomorphological and sedimentological investigation of features produced by tectonics and climate change
• Evaluating Holocene environmental shifts recorded in floodplain and valley floor sediments

Italy

• Assessing the soil and sedimentary signature of Holocene earthquakes (with INGV-Roma )
• Coastal marsh sensitivity to relative sea level change and extreme events (with Simon Turner and Andy Cundy)

Crete, Greece

• Assessing water resource quality using geophysical techniques (with Despina Kalisperi, Steve Kershaw and Filippos Valianatos, TEI-Crete)
• Geophysical investigations for geo-hazard assessment (with Margarita Moisidi, Steve Kershaw and Filippos Valianatos, TEI-Crete)

Norway

• Palaeoenvironmental diagnostics of a late Holocene montane soils and sediments, Okstindan (with Steve Gurney, Reading University , Andy Cundy, Brighton University and Ian Croudace, Southampton University )

Experimental

• Assessment of the mechanical behaviour of problematic substrates, based on the context of dams in Iraq (with Nihad Salih, research student)

Teaching

I’m very much a believer in personalised teaching where the lecturer brings their own experience and interests into the lecture room.  I am a firm believer in taking theory out into the real world, whether this is in the laboratory, surveying on campus, or further afield on a residential field course.

Module leader

• CE1002 Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering & Surveying
• CE2004 Geotechnical Engineering
• CE5008 Geo-environmental Management

Module teaching contributor

• CE1603 Professional Skills
• CE5509 Water Infrastructure Engineering

Supervision Level 3 BEng/MEng Individual research reports; MSc Dissertations; MPhil; PhD

Research Supervision

• Buba Apagu (current). Assessment of borehole drilling methods for water abstraction from an alluvial aquifer, Nigeria.
• Rekha Sharma (current). The involvement of Disadvantaged Groups in Urban Forestry. 2nd supervisor
• Despina Kalisperi (PhD 2010). Coastal aquifer assessment using geophysical methods, Crete.
• Margarita Moisidi (PhD 2010). Micro-seismic assessment of geological structures, Crete.
• Charlotte Miller (MPhil 2010). Palaeoenvironmental records of climate, Sea of Oman.
• Andy Moir (PhD 2008). The Dendroclimatology of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the peatlands of Northern Scotland.
• Phill Teasdale (PhD 2005). The Late Holocene evolution of coastal wetlands in Argyll, Western Scotland (a radiometric dating and geochemical study).
• Simon Turner (PhD 2000). High resolution reconstruction of microtidal wetlands, south east Sicily, over the last 100 years.

Social Media

Follow me on twitter: PhilCollins_UK

Find me on LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/phil-collins/14/780/4ab

Industrial liaison

From the start of Civil Engineering in 2007, I have actively worked to develop numerous excellent contacts in the Civil Engineering sector.  The current input our courses receive from practising engineers is significant and brings a very applied perspective to what we deliver.

Accreditation

I have been heavily involved in the accreditation process since the start of the Civil Engineering courses in 2007, and have been lead author on accreditation reports submitted to the Joint Board of Moderators in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.  To date, each of these reports has been successful and accreditation has been awarded.

Committees

I sit on a range of committees and panels:

• School of Engineering & Design Board (member)
• SED Undergraduate Committee (member)
• SED Postgraduate Committee (member)
• SED Postgraduate Mitigating Circumstances Panel (Chair)
• Civil Engineering Board of Studies (member)
• Civil Engineering Staff-Student Liaison Committee (member)
• Civil Engineering Mitigating Circumstances Panel (Chair)
• Civil Engineering Examination Board (member)
• Admissions Forum (member)
• Placements Forum (member)

Professional affiliations

• Institution of Civil Engineers – Graduate Member
• Royal Geographical Society – Fellow
• Geologists’ Association – Member
• Quaternary Research Association - Member

Publications

Journal Papers

(2011) Teasdale, PA., Collins, PEF., Firth, CR. and Cundy, AB., Recent estuarine sedimentation rates from shallow inter-tidal environments in western Scotland: implications for future sea-level trends and coastal wetland development, Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (1-2) : 109- 129

(2008) Collins, PEF., Rust, DJ. and Bayraktutan, MS., Geomorphological evidence for a changing tectonic regime, Pasinler Basin, Turkey, Journal of the Geological Society 165 (4) : 849- 857 Download publication

(2008) Pantosti, D., Pucci, S., Palyvos, N., De Martini, PM., D'Addezio, G., Collins, PEF. and Zabci, C., Paleoearthquakes of the Düzce fault (North Anatolian fault zone): insights for large surface faulting earthquake recurrence, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 113 (B1) : B01309

(2007) Westgarth-Smith, AR., Leroy, SAG., Collins, PEF. and Harrington, R., Temporal variations in English populations of a forest insect pest, the green spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum), associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation and global warming, Quaternary International 173-174 153- 160 Download publication

(2006) Collins, PEF., Worsley, P., Keith-Lucas, DM. and Fenwick, IM., Floodplain environmental change during the younger dryas and holocene in northwest Europe: Insights from the lower Kennet Valley, South Central England, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 233 (1-2) : 113- 133 Download publication

(2005) Collins, PEF., Rust, DJ., Bayraktutan, MS. and Turner, SD., Fluvial stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in the Pasinler Basin, Eastern Turkey, Quaternary International 140-141 121- 134 Download publication

(2005) Westgarth-Smith, AR., Leroy, SAG., Collins, PEF. and Roy, DB., Mechanisms for the control of U.K. butterfly abundance by the North Atlantic Oscillation, Antenna 29 (4) : 257- 266

(2005) Westgarth-Smith, AR., Leroy, SAG., Collins, PEF. and Roy, DB., The North Atlantic Oscillation and UK butterfly life cycles, pigmentation, morphology, behaviour and conservation, Antenna 29 (3) : 186- 196

(2005) Westgarth-Smith, AR., Leroy, SAG. and Collins, PEF., The North Atlantic Oscillation and UK butterfly populations, Biologist 52 (5) : 273- 276 Download publication

(2005) Westgarth-Smith, AR., Leroy, SAG. and Collins, PEF., The North Atlantic Oscillation and UK butterfly populations, Biologist 52 (5) : 273- 276

(2001) Stewart, IS., Firth, CR., Rust, DJ., Collins, PEF. and Firth, JA., Postglacial fault movement and palaeoseismicity in western Scotland: a reappraisal of the Kinloch Hourn fault, Kintail, Journal of Seismology 5 (3) : 307- 328

(2000) Cundy, AB., Kortekaas, S., Dewez, T., Stewart, IS., Collins, PEF., Croudace, IW., Maroukian, H., Papanastassiou, D., Gaki-Papanastassiou, P., Pavlopoulos, K. and Dawson, A., Coastal wetlands as recorders of earthquake subsidence in the Aegean: a case study of the 1894 Gulf of Atalanti earthquakes, central Greece, Marine Geology 170 (1-2) : 3- 26

(1999) Smith, DE., Firth, CR., Brooks, CL., Robinson, M. and Collins, PEF., Relative sea level rise during the main postglacial transgression in NE Scotland, 2001 (Volume 92) Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 90 1- 27

(1996) Collins, PEF., Fenwick, IM., Keith-Lucas, DM. and Worsley, P., Late Devensian river and floodplain dynamics and related environmental change in northwest Europe, with particular reference to a site at Woolhampton, Berkshire, England, Journal of Quaternary Science 11 (5) : 357- 375

(1995) Worsley, P., Gurney, SD. and Collins, PEF., Late holocene ‘mineral palsas’ and associated vegetation patterns: A case study from Lac Hendry, Northern Québec, Canada and significance for european pleistocene thermokarst, Quaternary Science Reviews 14 (2) : 179- 192

(1995) Worsley, P. and Collins, PEF., The geomorphological context of the Brimpton Late Pleistocene succession (south-central England), Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 106 (1) : 39- 45

Book Chapters

(2008) Buckingham, S. and Collins, PEF., Food. In: Buckingham, S. and Turner, M. eds. Understanding Environmental Issues. SAGE Publications Ltd 121-

(1999) Cundy, AB., Collins, PEF., Turner, SD., Croudace, IW. and Horne, D., 100 years of environmental change in a coastal wetland, Augusta Bay, southeast Sicily: evidence from geochemical and palaeoecological studies. In: Black, KS., Paterson, DM. and Cramp, A. eds. Sedimentary processes in the intertidal zone. Geological Society of London Special Publication. (139) : 243- 254

(1999) Collins, PEF., Kennet Valley. Contribution to Gibbard PL: The Thames Valley, its tributary valleys and their former courses. In: Bowen, DQ. ed. A Revised Correlation of Quaternary Deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report. (23) : 51- 53