Paul Raven
Ecologist
Paul’s Ph.D at UCL (1985) monitored the ecological effects of environmentally-sensitive flood alleviation works on the River Roding in Essex. His post-doctoral study at the Polytechnic of Central London chronicled the biological recovery of the same river following a major insecticide pollution incident.
After working at the Department of Environment for Northern Ireland, he was appointed as the NRA’s national Conservation Officer in 1991, and subsequently became Head of Conservation and Ecology at the Environment Agency.
Paul led development of River Habitat Survey, specifically to carry out the first UK-wide assessment of the physical character of rivers (1994-6). He also played a leading role in technical and policy work implementing the EU Habitats Directive and Water Framework Directive. After taking early retirement in 2011, he and Nigel Holmes wrote Rivers, published in 2014 as part of the British Wildlife Collection series. His main interest continues to be fluvial morphology and how rivers and their wildlife are affected by human activity.
