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Nicholas Midgley

Nicholas Midgley

Senior Lecturer

School of Animal Rural & Environmental Sciences

Staff Group(s)
Environment

Role

Dr Midgley is the Course Leader for BSc Geography (Physical) and Personal Tutor for first year, second year and final year cohorts. He is the Module Leader for:

  • Geographical Fieldwork (the focus of this module is fieldwork in the Almería region of Spain)
  • Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
  • Quaternary Environments (the focus of this module is fieldwork in north Wales)
  • Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology

In addition Dr Midgley also contributes to the Global Environmental Issues, Principles and Practice in Geography, and Dissertation modules.

Dr Midgley is also the Natural Environment Research Group Leader and co-chair of the School Ethics Committee.

Career overview

Dr Midgley undertook his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University and subsequently worked as a Lecturer in the same department before completing a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and joining Nottingham Trent University.

Research areas

Dr Midgley's research interests include UAV aerial surveying (with Structure-from-Motion image processing), TLS surveying (for surface change over time), lake bathymetric survey, sedimentology, subsurface structure (using ground-penetrating radar) and geomorphology with recent (since 2010) overseas research undertaken in Falkland Islands (2022), Norway (2022), Iceland (2022, 2019, 2017, 2013 and 2010), Italy (2017), Svalbard (2014 and 2012) and Sweden (2013).

To assist with drone/UAV use for teaching and research purposes, Dr Midgley has held a UK CAA Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO) (2015—2020) and now holds a UK CAA A2 class Certificate of Competence (A2 CofC) (2020—2025) for UAV use in the A2 UAV category.

Recent postgraduate research students:

  • Thomas Clewer (2022—date) Global assessment of fire management on peatland environments
  • Anne Stefaniak (completed 2021) Debris-covered glaciers: Assessing dynamics of European Alpine and Nepalese Himalayan examples.
  • Guaduneth Chico León (completed 2020) An investigation of the potential of geospatial technologies to monitor and quantify changes in peatland surfaces.
  • Dora Vataroglou (completed 2018) Colonisation of the glacier foreland of Svínafellsjökull in SE Iceland by Lupinus nootkatensis.
  • Toby Tonkin (completed 2016) Structural characteristics of lateral-frontal moraines developed at Arctic and alpine glaciers.

Opportunities to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD exist and further information may be obtained from the NTU Doctoral School.

External activity

Dr Midgley has undertaken reviews for the following journals: Geomorphology, Remote Sensing, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, and others.

Sponsors and collaborators

Dr Midgley is currently collaborating with colleagues at:

  • University of Derby
  • University of Dundee
  • Loughborough University
  • University of Sheffield

Publications

Select recent publications:

Midgley, N.G., Tonkin, T.N., Graham, D.J., Cook, S.J. (2018) Evolution of high-Arctic glacial landforms during deglaciation. Geomorphology, 311, 63–75.

Midgley N.G., Tonkin T.N. (2017) Reconstruction of former glacier surface topography from archive oblique aerial images. Geomorphology, 282, 18–26.

See all of Nicholas Midgley's publications...

Press expertise

  • Using UAV/drones to undertake aerial surveys
  • Glaciers
  • Glacial sediments
  • Glacial geomorphology
  • Ground-penetrating radar use in glacial settings
  • Glacier mice (jöklamýs or jökla-mýs)

Course(s) I teach on