TEACHING & OUTREACH
I approach teaching and scientific communication as different expressions of the same underlying task: making complex scientific knowledge understandable without removing the assumptions, uncertainty, and physical reasoning that give it meaning.
My aim is not simply to simplify scientific information, but to make its structure visible — how observations become evidence, how models are used, how variability differs from long-term change, where uncertainty enters, and what conclusions the available evidence can and cannot support.
Explore my teaching approach, educational resources, and developing outreach work:
Teaching approach
My teaching approach is centred on understanding mechanisms before applying formulas or methods. I try to make explicit not only how a scientific approach is used, but why it works, which assumptions it relies on, and what its limitations mean for interpretation.
Understanding before abstraction
Equations, models and computational tools become more meaningful when they remain connected to the physical or ecological processes they represent. I therefore favour explanations that move from conceptual understanding to mathematical formulation and, where appropriate, to data analysis and modelling.
The objective is not simply to obtain the correct result, but to understand what that result represents and under which conditions it remains valid.
Derivation over memorisation
Whenever possible, I emphasise deriving relationships from fundamental principles rather than memorising equations as isolated pieces of information. Once the reasoning behind a formulation is understood, the equation emerges as a consequence of that reasoning.
More importantly, this provides a way to reconstruct knowledge. A forgotten expression does not necessarily mean lost knowledge if the underlying principles are understood well enough to derive or reason towards it again.
Connecting disciplines
Environmental problems rarely respect disciplinary boundaries. Physics, ecology, atmospheric science, environmental measurements, statistics and modelling often describe different parts of the same system.
I therefore try to make those connections visible, helping students relate observations and mathematical representations to the environmental processes they are intended to describe.
From principles to application
Ultimately, the purpose is to learn how to apply science to real problems, rather than only reproduce material presented in a textbook or lecture. This means identifying the relevant principles, deciding which assumptions and approximations are appropriate, selecting suitable methods, and interpreting the result in the context of the system being studied.
Teaching experience
My university teaching experience spans physics, environmental science, ecology, and methodological training across undergraduate programmes in science, engineering, and architecture. This has included teaching foundational physics, ecological processes from organisms to communities and ecosystems, and methods for studying natural systems.
Physics & physical foundations
Teaching fundamental physics and its application to engineering and architectural problems.
Ecology & environmental science
Teaching organismal, population and community ecology within Biology and Environmental Sciences programmes.
Systems thinking
Teaching systems ecology and the interpretation of ecological processes as interacting components of environmental systems.
Methods for studying natural systems
Teaching approaches used to observe, characterise and interpret the natural environment.
This breadth of teaching experience has reinforced my preference for connecting fundamental principles with the real systems and problems in which they are applied.
Learning materials
I am gradually developing a collection of educational and methodological resources emerging from teaching, research, and scientific outreach. The aim is to make complex environmental and atmospheric concepts easier to explore while preserving the physical reasoning, assumptions, and limitations behind them.
Conceptual explanations
Clear explanations of physical and environmental processes, equations, assumptions, and scientific reasoning.
Methods & computational resources
Tutorials, code examples, workflows, and methodological notes developed around environmental data analysis and modelling.
Visual learning resourcesApp Access
Figures, diagrams, and schematic explanations designed to make complex relationships easier to understand without oversimplifying them.
Materials will be added progressively as they are developed and prepared for reuse.
Science outreach
Scientific misunderstanding does not always arise because information is absent. Scientific results can be communicated accurately while still losing essential context about uncertainty, scale, representativeness, modelling, and the conditions under which conclusions are drawn.
My approach to outreach therefore focuses not only on what science says, but also on how we know, how strongly we know it, and what the available evidence actually allows us to conclude.
Atmospheric science as shared knowledge
I am developing an outreach programme centred on how atmospheric science is understood outside specialist communities. It approaches atmospheric science not only as technical expertise, but as a form of shared knowledge encountered through weather, air quality, seasonal light, environmental change, education, media, and everyday conversation.
The aim is to make the structure behind scientific knowledge more visible while preserving complexity rather than removing it.
What can become obscured
Uncertainty, variability, scale, representativeness, models, attribution.
How I approach it
Conceptual clarity, scientific context, dialogue, and explanation without distortion.
How it can be shared
Written explainers, visual resources, teaching materials, public talks, discussions, and digital resources.
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