Dr. David Martin Cooper

After a degree in mathematics from the University of Lancaster, David took an MSc in biometry at Reading University before working at ARCUS, a predecessor of BIOSS, at Edinburgh for two years, advising on the design and analysis of agricultural experiments. He then took a PhD at the University of Wales, receiving a CASE award with ICI Runcorn studying the real-time detection of changes in time series of industrial process variables. David then joined the Institute of Hydrology at Wallingford, where, apart from brief spells at Princeton and Australian National Universities, he spent his career until 2007 when he moved to CEH (later UKCEH) Bangor.

Early in his career David contributed to flood forecast modelling, later moving into water quality modelling. Because of his statistical background he also worked on a wide variety of projects requiring statistical skills. His career has been largely as a scientist rather than a manager, but includes project management up to European level. In 2023 David retired from UKCEH and became a UKCEH Fellow.