Nick is an Ecologist with a wide-ranging interest in wildlife conservation and, especially, in the impact of management on species and habitats. His work spans plant, invertebrate, bird and mammal assemblages and the interactions between these. He also carries out work on individual species, and these have included rare or threatened taxa ranging from Narrow-headed Ant to Scottish Wildcat. Nick works closely with conservation practitioners, land managers, NGOs and agencies to produce outputs that have conservation policy and management relevance. Some recent work has focussed on providing policy and practical advice for responding to the threat from tree diseases. including Ash Dieback and Chronic Oak Decline. Nick also recently spent two years as part of the Conservation Evidence group at the University of Cambridge, working on a synopsis of effectiveness of actions for mammal conservation.

Nick has worked in a wide range of roles in both conservation practice and research. He spent several years as a nature reserve warden and site manager before completing a PhD (University of Aberdeen, 2001-05) on biodiversity responses to moorland restoration. Subsequently, he managed the North-East Scotland Biological Records Centre (2005-07) and carried out research at the James Hutton Institute (formerly Macaulay Institute) in Aberdeen (2007-14). Nick then worked on a range of freelance ecological contracts (2014-17), carried out reserach on upland bird assemblages for Newcastle University (2017-18) and worked within the Conservation Evidence group at the University of Cambridge (2018-19). He joined SRUC as a Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation Management in January 2020.

Nick leads delivery of the following units/modules:

Campus-based

Classification & Identifcation of Organisms

Wildlife Management

Ecological Surveying

Conservation Management Planning

Field Study Skills

Habitat Management

Distance Learning

HNC: Classification & Identification of Organisms

MSc: Advances in Land Management

MSc: dissertation module for Wildlife & Conservation Management MSc

Nick is Programme Leader for the part-time MSc in Wildife and Conservation Management and is Director of Studies for third-year students on this programme. He is also Director of Studies for HND-year Wildlife & Conservation Management students at Craibstone.

Nick supervises honours projects and MSc dissertation projects on the Wildlife & Conservation Management programme.

Current PhD supervision:

2021-2025: Rochelle Kennedy, Sustaining biodiversity through mixed farming systems. In partnership with University of Stirling and The Mammal Society. Funded by SRUC.

2022-2026: Rob Hughes, Peatland afforestation: impacts and restoration. University of the Highlands & Islands. Funded by RSPB and carried out in partnership with Forest Research and SRUC.

2022-2026: Vicky Graves, Interactive effects of moorland management and wilding on predator/prey relations. In partnership with Newcastle University. Funded by SRUC.

2023-2027: Claire Stainfield, Sustainability of Seal Tourism in the Ythan Estuary. Funded by SRUC.

Completed PhD students:

2014-2018: Lisa Malm. The impacts of habitat modification on avian food web structure and resilience. Newcastle University. Funded by the Macaulay Development Trust, Newcastle University, University of Hull and British Trust for Ornithology. Lisa is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at Umeå University, Lund, Sweden

2014-2018: Ainoa Pravia, Evaluating peatland management and restoration for multiple outcomes. University of the Highlands & Islands. Funded by the James Hutton Institute and University of the Highlands & Islands. Ainoa is now a Research Entomologist with Forest Reseach at Roslin, Scotland.

2009- 2016 (part-time): Gabor Pozsgai, Long-term dynamics in ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages. University of Aberdeen. Funded by James Hutton Institute. Gabor is now a Post-doc Researcher at Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, University of the Azores.