Dr Jon McCalmont

Biography

After a career in forestry I studied Conservation and Land Management for a BSc as a mature student at Aberystwyth University. Following this, I completed a PhD in 2014 studying the greenhouse gas impacts of land-use change from grassland agriculture to 2nd generation perennial biomass cropping (Miscanthus). I remained at Aberystwyth as a PDRA for a further 4 years, working across several EU wide collaborative projects based around the commercial roll-out of sustainable energy crops. My research interests primarily focus on the environmental impacts of land-use change and in 2018 I expanded my research experience into South-East Asia, with a PDRF position at Exeter University measuring the carbon impacts of tropical peat forest conversion to oil palm plantation in Malaysian Borneo. I am currently working within the Environmental Modelling Group at Aberdeen University as part of the Netzero+ project, administered by Exeter University, which considers the potential for expansion of UK woodland to remove atmospheric carbon and mitigate climate change.