Professional summary

Chris is an environmental data analyst working in the Land, Soil & Coast team at Bangor. His role entails applying GIS, modelling and data analysis of environmental data, particularly large-scale, long-term monitoring data, as well as spatial data on climate, land cover, soils and terrain in support of project teams across the organisation. His key areas of interest include soil health and land degradation processes, riverine and catchment systems, and spatial modelling of ecosystem services at the soil-freshwater interface.

Prior to starting at UKCEH in 2020, Chris completed a PhD in fluvial geomorphology and briefly supported research in river systems under the project, ‘Erosion Hazards in River Catchments: Making Critical Infrastructure More Climate Resilient’. Currently, Chris's work mostly supports large research programmes including the delivery of UK as well as internationally focussed national capability, and large European projects. He is currently working on the following projects: The African Union Soil Observatory (AUSO) project [lead contact from UKCEH]; AI4SoilHealth [WP3: Novel soil health indicators for Europe]; AgZero+ [WP1: A national digital farmland observatory, leading Task 10]; and, The International science for Net Zero Plus programme [Project 2C: Net Zero Plus trade-offs in sub-Saharan Africa, leading Task 1].

In 2023, Chris established the UKCEH Soils Network which runs regular webinars for soil scientists across the organisation to share their research, connect and foster future collaborations.

Selected publications

Robinson David A. et al. , (2024), Five decades' experience of long‐term soil monitoring, and key design principles, to assist the EU soil health mission. European Journal of Soil Science, 75, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13570

Feeney Christopher J. et al. , (2024), Benchmarking soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration provides more robust soil health assessment than the SOC/clay ratio at European scale. Science of The Total Environment, 951, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175642

Thomas A. et al. , (2024), Topsoil porosity prediction across habitats at large scales using environmental variables. Science of The Total Environment, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171158

Feeney Christopher J. et al. , (2023), Development of soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural landscapes. Science of the Total Environment, 886, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723025949

Feeney Christopher J. et al. , (2023), Agricultural practices drive elevated rates of topsoil decline across Kenya, but terracing and reduced tillage can reverse this. Science of the Total Environment, 870, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723005405

Robinson D.A. et al. , (2022), Analytical modelling of soil porosity and bulk density across the soil organic matter and land-use continuum. Scientific Reports, 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11099-7

Feeney C.J. et al. , (2022), Multiple soil map comparison highlights challenges for predicting topsoil organic carbon concentration at national scale. Scientific Reports, 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05476-5

Feeney Christopher J. et al. , (2022), Forecasting riverine erosion hazards to electricity transmission towers under increasing flow magnitudes. Climate Risk Management, 36, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096322000468?via%3Dihub=#!

Bentley Laura et al. , (2023), Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on ecosystem services (“QEIA”). Report-3 theme-6: carbon sequestration. https://randd.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=21327

Other Publications

Feeney, C.J., Chiverrell, R.C., Smith, H.G., Hooke, J.M. and Cooper, J.R., 2020. Modelling the decadal dynamics of reach‐scale river channel evolution and floodplain turnover in CAESAR‐Lisflood. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(5), pp.1273-1291.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/esp.4804

Thomas, A., Bentley, L., Feeney, C., Lofts, S., Robb, C., Rowe, E.C., Thomson, A., Warren-Thomas, E. and Emmett, B., 2023. Land degradation neutrality: Testing the indicator in a temperate agricultural landscape. Journal of Environmental Management, 346, p.118884.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118884