Dr Richard Hodgkins

  • PGT Physical Geography Programme Leader (Geography and Environment)
  • Reader in Climate Futures
  • 2024 Reader in Climate Futures, Loughborough University
  • 2021 Certified Carbon Literacy Facilitator, The Carbon Literacy Trust
  • 2018 Teaching Excellence Programme, Advance HE
  • 2018 Professional Development Course for External Examiners, Advance HE
  • 2017 Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, Advance HE
  • 2006 Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University

Richard’s early-career research challenged simplistic assumptions about the hydrological role of glaciers in Arctic regions which would have held back our ability to interpret and forecast their behaviour in the 21st century. Lately, he has become particularly interested in how we bridge between global projections of climate change and their probable local and regional consequences in the near future, how we can make that an easy task for non-experts, and how it can be communicated in a meaningful way to a general audience. Richard has managed the Loughborough University Campus Weather Station for 17 years as a community facilities management and research resource. Data from the station are used to develop weather and climate literacy through relating inexpensive local sensors to professional data services, and to generate story-lines for local and regional futures to support public understanding and community adaptation options.

Richard has delivered teaching and supported learning on the BA/BSc Geography, BSc Geography Joint/Combined Honours, MSci Geography, MSc Environmental Monitoring Research and Management, MSc Climate Change Science and Management and MA Climate Change Politics and Policy. He is Loughborough University’s main provider of Carbon Literacy training for certification. He has also led the following accreditations:

  • 2016: Royal Geographical Society accreditation for BA/BSc Geography, BSc Geography with Economics and MSci Geography.
  • 2017: Institution of Environmental Sciences accreditation for the MSci Geography programme.
  • 2024: Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) accreditation for the MSc Environmental Monitoring Research and Management and MSc Climate Change Science and Management programmes.
  • 2024: Community for Environmental Disciplines in Higher Education (CEDHE) accreditation for the MSc Environmental Monitoring Research and Management and MSc Climate Change Science and Management programmes.
  • 2024: Carbon Literate Educator, Bronze-level accreditation for the Department of Geography and Environment, Loughborough University: one of only 15 such accredited institutions globally.
  • 2023–      Mustafain Haider, Modelling the Impact of the Newhurst ERF on
     the Urban Health Index (UHI) of the East Midlands.
  • 2018–23  Guy Tallentire, Fjord meltwater and sediment delivery in a fast-changing, high-Arctic environment.
  • 2014–19  James Smith, Bream as biogeomorphic agents and ecosystem engineers: implications for fine sediment transport in lowland rivers.
  • 2011–15  Eleanor Darlington, Meltwater delivery from the tidewater glacier Kronebreen to Kongsfjorden, Svalbard: insights from in-situ and remote-sensing analyses of sediment plumes.

Selected Publications

  • Hodgkins, R., To, L.S., Matthews, T. 2024. The IPCC Reports and HE Geography: Opportunities Lost and Found. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, doi: 10.1080/03098265.2024.2333293.
  • Martindale, L., Cannone, C., Niet, T., Hodgkins, R., Alexander, K., Howells, M. 2023. Empowering Tomorrow’s Problem Solvers: Nexus Thinking and CLEWs Modelling as a Pedagogical Approach to Wicked Problems. Energies 16(14), 5539, doi:10.3390/en16145539.
  • Tallentire, G., Shiggins, C., Rawlins, L., Evans, J., Hodgkins, R. Observing relationships between sediment-laden meltwater plumes, glacial melt and a retreating terminus at Blomstrandbreen, Svalbard. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 44(13), 3972–3992, doi:10.1080/01431161.2023.2229492.
  • § Nowak, A., Hodgkins, R., Nikulina, A., Osuch, M., Wawrzyniak, T., Kavan, J., Łepkowska, E., Majerska, M., Romashova, K., Vasilevich, I., Sobota, I., Rachlewicz, G. 2021. From land to fjords: The review of Svalbard hydrology from 1970 to 2019. In: Moreno-Ibáñez, M., et al. (eds) State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2020, Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System, Longyearbyen, 176–201, doi:10.5281/zenodo.4294063. [peer-reviewed report]
  • Hodgkins, R., Bullard, J. 2019. Students as Partners in a Current, Research-Informed Curriculum. In Walkington, H. Ed. Handbook of Learning and Teaching in Geography, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. [book chapter]
  • Hodgkins, R. Polar Feedbacks in a Changing Climate. In Nuttall, M., Christensen, T., Siegert, M. Eds Routledge Handbook of the Polar Regions, Abingdon, Routledge. [book chapter]
  • Brandon, M., Hodgkins, R., Björnsson, H., Ólafsson, J. 2017. Multiple melt plumes observed at the Breiðamerkurjökull ice face in the upper waters of Jökulsárlón lagoon, Iceland. Annals of Glaciology, doi:10.1017/aog.2017.10.
  • Wilby, R., Clifford, N., Luca, P., Harrigan, S., Hillier, J., Hodgkins, R., Johnson, M., Matthews, T., Murphy, C., Noone, S., Parry, S., Prudhomme, C., Rice, S., Slater, L., Smith, K., Wood, P. 2017. The ‘dirty dozen’ of freshwater science: detecting then reconciling hydrological data biases and errors. WIREs Water, e1209, doi:10.1002/wat2.1209.