Matthew Hill graduated from Loughborough University in 2011 with a first class Honours degree in Geography. He completed his PhD at Loughborough University, which examined the macroinvertebrate diversity of pond habitats and quantified the relative influence of local environmental and spatial parameters influencing community structure across a range of pond types. Matt’s PhD also provided direct evidence of the conservation value of ponds, and practical management recommendations at a local and landscape scale. The PhD was supervised by Professor Paul Wood and Dr David Ryves. After completing his PhD, Matt moved to the University of Worcester to undertake postdoctoral research with Dr Victoria Milner. This research examined the biodiversity and the organisation of metacommunities in intermittent rivers. In particular, this research focused on the total biodiversity (incorporating lotic, ponding and terrestrial taxa) of intermittent rivers to inform conservation and management strategies, and the community assembly processes driving metacommunity structure in intermittent rivers. Matt joined the University of Huddersfield as a Lecturer in Geography in April 2018.    

Matt is an ecohydrologist whose research focuses on aquatic systems, ranging from meta-ecosystem structure and functioning, to the biotic and abiotic processes influencing taxonomic and functional biodiversity in aquatic systems. Specifically, Matts research focuses on the landscape-scale biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning of aquatic habitats in urban areas.

Matt also has research interests in biodiversity conservation and management. In particular, he examines the landscape-scale conservation and management of aquatic networks, and how conservation policy and practice in urban areas can be adapted to reflect the multifunctionality of pond networks.

Ongoing research projects include: (1) quantifying the spatial dynamics of pondscapes using small unmanned aerial systems and structure from motion photogrammetry; (2) freshwater metacommunities in urban landscapes and (3) examining the importance of domestic garden ponds for wildlife conservation and aquatic biodiversity.

Current posgraduate research students

• Melanie Milin: Aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in an intermittent river network: implications for freshwater biodiversity conservation.