I am interested in the intersection of archaeology and biological conservation and restoration in/of wetland environments, especially in Scotland. This has two main facets. The first attempts to utilise archaeological information to improve approaches to conservation and restoration by understanding where and what impacts humans have had in wetland environments in the recent and deeper past. The second aims to improve the recognition and safeguard tangible cultural heritage which is threated by conservation and restoration itself.

This work takes the form of a range of typical archaeological methods including desk-based assessment, survey and excavation that can be applied in conservation and restoration contexts. I have particular expertise in the investigation of prehistoric Scottish artificial islands known as crannogs and the landscape transformations of the 18th and 19th centuries, central to which were the drainage (and other hydrological controls) of large swathes of bogs and fens as well as lochs and river floodplain.