Room: 406 Westbury Mount     Phone: 01248 382864
E-mail: [email protected]
Google Scholar, ResearchGate

Jan is a professor in the School of Ocean Sciences and specialise in the field of marine benthic ecology. For his PhD he studied the adaptive value of migrations and nursery use for the intertidal bivalve Macoma balthica at the Department of Marine Biology at Groningen University, and he received the Annual VLIZ North Sea Award 2002 from the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for his PhD thesis. After completing his PhD in 2002, he started a postdoc at Bangor University, where he studied the impact of bottom trawling on the functioning of benthic invertebrate communities. He joined the lecturing staff in SOS in 2006 and was promoted to Reader in 2013. He was awarded a Personal Chair in 2017.  JGH has published >130 peer reviewed papers since 2001. His grant capture since 2006 totals over £13M.

His research broadly examines the effect of human disturbance on benthic ecosystems, including fishing and climate change. He has a broad interest in other topics and has been working on research ranging from cattle trampling wader nests on saltmarshes to acoustic monitoring of cetaceans. His research is focussed on gaining a quantitative understanding of the effect of disturbance (such as exploitation and climate change) on the biodiversity and functioning of marine benthic communities, and on how such effects can be mitigated. JGH aims to increase understanding of ecosystem functioning and distribution patterns by comparing empirical data with predictions of ecological models. Much of this research has focused ont the effect of bottom trawling on benthic ecosystems.

Research Areas

• Marine Conservation and Resource Management
• Marine Ecology

PhD student supervision

Ongoing

1. Lorna McKellar – Thresholds for good state
2. Jonathan Heath – Benthic impacts of anchoring
3. Amber Thomasson – Organic carbon and bottom trawling
4. Tom Leven – Sustainable scallop fisheries.
5. Amrei Grunder – Trawling and biogeochemistry
6. Emma Doherty – Fish in restored habitats.

 Completed

1. Alistair Feather. Solving the conflict between commercial shellfish fisheries and shorebird conservation in Morecambe Bay and the Duddon Estuary. Co-supervisor with Line Cordes. 2017-2020.
2. Adam Delargy. Science to underpin a strategy for sustainable scallop fisheries in Welsh waters. Co-supervisor with Michel Kaiser. 2016-2019.
3. Martyn Kurr. 2011-2014. NERC algorithm. Chemical defences in seaweeds. Co-supervisor with Andy Davies.
4. Elwyn Sharps, 2011-2014. Salt marsh management for breeding birds. KESS funded. June 2011 to September 2014.  Lead supervisor, with Martin Skov.
5. Timothy Whitton. 2010-2013. University of Wales funded. Spatial and temporal patchiness of cockles. Co-supervisor, with Chris Richardson and Stuart Jenkins.
6. Holly Whiteley. 2009-2013, NERC funded. Benthic productivity in marine protected areas. Lead supervisor, with Kirsten Ramsay
7. Hanna Nuuttilla. 2009-2012. Static acoustic monitoring of cetaceans. Bangor 125 funded. Co-supervisor with John Turner.
8. Andrew Johnson, 2008-2011, NERC funded. Identification of fish habitats. Co-supervisor with Stuart Jenkins and Hilmar Hinz. Viva June 2012.
9. Gwladys Lambert, 2008-2011, CEFAS/DEFRA funded. Impact of fishing on structural seabed fauna. Lead supervisor, with Michel Kaiser. Viva 7 December 2011
10. Thomas Davies, 2007-2010, NERC funded. Extinction proneness and functionality in marine benthic ecosystems. Lead supervisor, with Stuart Jenkins and Steve Hawkins. Viva May 2011
11. Ana Queiros, 2006-2010, FCT funded. Effects of biological invasion on diversity and ecosystem functioning of benthic communities impacted by fishing. Co-supervisor with Michel Kaiser.
12. Gareth Johnson, 2006-2009, BangorUniversity funded. Facilitation and biodiversity in marine benthos. Lead supervisor, with Michel Kaiser and Kirsten Ramsay.

I have a range of research interests in which PhD projects could be developed. Please contact me by email in the first instance regarding any of the following areas: benthic ecology, sustainable fisheries, seabird ecology, ecological impacts of climate change.