Professor Mike Wood

I am Professor of Applied Ecology at the University of Salford and Director of the Ecosystems & Environment Research Centre.

The primary focus of my research is environmental pollution (especially environmental radioactivity) and its impacts on wildlife and people. I have spent the last two decades working on the development of the international environmental radiation protection system and conducting underpinning radioecological research across a variety of locations, including extensive work within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Over the past few years, I have also developed a research focus on food security and public health impacts of inorganic pollutants in rice-based agricultural systems. This includes (i) the potential use of varietal selection to reduce dietary lead exposure in Zamfara, Nigeria; and (ii) the derivation of guideline values for maximum permissible arsenic concentrations in paddy soil and irrigation water used for rice cultivation in South Asia.

I am a Chartered Radiation Protection Professional, Council member of the Society for Radiological Protection and Editorial Board member for the Journal of Radiological Protection. I have been an invited expert for various International Atomic Energy Agency and European Commission activities in the areas of radiation protection and risk communication. My research in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has received extensive media coverage and I have led the development of various innovative approaches to public engagement and education, including Virtual Chernobyl (http://virtualchernobyl.com/). My contributions to radioecology and radiation protection have been recognised through prestigious awards, including the Times Higher Education Research Award (2016) and the Society for Radiological Protection’s Founders’ Medal (2018).

I deliver research-led teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. I have led modules on topics such as ‘environment and sustainability’, ‘consultancy’, ‘environmental decision making’ and ‘environmental investigation and remediation’. I am also Programme Leader for the UNIGIS postgraduate distance learning programme, specialising in the environmental applications of Geographical Information Systems.

In addition to these teaching activities, I supervise research projects undertaken by students at BSc, MSc and PhD level. Recent supervisory roles PhD research on radiation impacts on free-ranging wildlife and on contaminants within rice cropping systems, and MSc research on the influence of radiation on large mammal populations in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.