Dave Reay (@keelingcurve) is Professor of Carbon Management & Education at the University of Edinburgh. He directs the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) and is an advisor on climate change for the Scottish and UK Governments. Dave’s latest project involves managing his small farm on the west coast of Scotland to regrow native tree species and trap a lifetime’s carbon.
Dave studied Marine Biology at Liverpool University and graduated in 1994. He went on to gain a PhD with the British Antarctic Survey and Essex University studying the response of Southern Ocean algae and bacteria to global warming. After gaining his doctorate he continued working as a post-doc at Essex, investigating the impact of land-use on the soil methane sink. In 2001 he moved to Edinburgh University to investigate emissions of the greenhouse gas ‘nitrous oxide’ from agriculture, then carbon fluxes in forests, and went on to become a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Fellow examining greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands and agriculture. In 2008 Dave became the university’s first lecturer in carbon management and became a senior lecturer in 2009, a Reader in 2013, and was appointed Chair in Carbon Management & Education in 2014. He is designer and editor of the climate change science website Greenhouse Gas Online and of the Southern Ocean: Antarctic Seas and Wildlife website. He enjoys running (on an annual basis), Test Match Special, and writing stories for his daughters.