Dr Rupert Hough

Dr Rupert Hough is an environmental / soil scientist with expertise in risk modelling and exposure assessment. Rupert obtained his PhD from Nottingham University in 2002 and subsequently, worked as a Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, managing an EU-funded investigation into the carcinogenic risks from arsenic in drinking water in Central and Eastern Europe. Rupert joined Cranfield University's Integrated Waste Management Centre in 2005 as a BBSRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellow. In this post, he was project manager for a ca. £1M Government-industry LINK consortium researching the optimisation of biopile processes for weathered hydrocarbons within a risk management framework. The research aimed to deliver improved stakeholder confidence in engineered biopiling when applied to weathered hydrocarbon wastes.

Research Interests

In his current position, Rupert is part of the management team for the Soils Department at The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen. In this role, he coordinates WP3.2 "Risk-Based methods to Assess Soil Quality", part of Programme 3 funded by The Scottish Executive. Dr Hough is leading the development of the soil monitoring scheme for Scotland.

Rupert's most recent publications

• The impact of exposure metric choice for cancers related to arsenic in drinking water in central Europe., Fletcher, T.; Leonardi, G.; Hough, R.L.; Goessler, W.; Gurzau, E.; Koppova, K.; Rudnai, P.; Vahter, M., (In press) 2010 Joint Conference of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) and the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), Seoul, Korea, 28th August to 1st September 2010.

• The risk of peat erosion from climate change: land management combinations: an assessment with bayesian belief networks., Hough, R.L., Towers, W. & Aalders, I., (In press) Human and Ecological Risk Assessment.

• Developing methods to detect change in the soil resource of a country with a Northern temperate boreal climate (Scotland)., Lilly, A.; Hudson, G.; Hough, R.L.; NSIS Re-Samling Programme Team, (In press) 19th World Congress of Soil Science: Soil Solutions for a Changing World, Brisbane Australia, 1st-6th August 2010.

• The impact of construction activities on Scottish peat wetlands., Barreto, D.; McDougall, J.; Aalders, I.; Hough, R.L., (2010) Scottish Government Higher Education Research Team Visit, Edinburgh Napier University, 4th June 2010

• Degradation of yew, ragwort and rhododendron toxins during composting., Hough, R.L.; Crews, C.; White, D.; Driffield, M.; Campbell, C.D.; Maltin C., (2010) Science of the Total Environment, 408, 4128-4137.

• Lifetime exposure to arsenic in residential drinking water in Central Europe., Hough, R.L.; Fletcher, T.; Leonardi, G.S.; Goessler, W.; Gnagnarella, P.; Clemens, F.; Gurzau, E.; Koppova, K.; Rudnai, P.; Kumar, R.; Vahter, M., (2010) International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 83, 471-481.

• Development and application of a multi-criterion analysis of soil quality indicators., McKenzie, B.M.; Black, H.I.J.; Aalders, I.; Hough, R.L., (2010) Soil Properties Dynamics under Different Land Uses, Uruguayan Society of Soil Science and Uruguayan Branch of the International Soil Tillage Research Organization, Uruguay, 12th-14th July 2010.

• Considerations for Scottish soil monitoring in the European context., Aalders, I.H.; Ball, B.; Black, H.I.J.; Campbell, C.D.; Griffiths, B.; Hopkins, D.; Hough, R.L.; Lilly, A.; Mckenzie, B.; Rees, R.M.; Sinclair, A.; Towers, W.; Watson, C., (2009) European Journal of Soil Science, 60, 833-843.

• WP3.2 and WP3.3 Mid Term Review., Campbell, C.D.; Hough, R.L.; Towers, W., (2009) Scottish Natural Heritage.

• Risk assessment of application of composted wastes to land., Hough, R.; Booth, P.; Rhind, S.; Avery, L.; Bacon, J.; Campbell, C.D.; Crews, C., (2009) WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme).