Professor Richard Burns is an internationally-recognised environmental microbiologist who was at UKC from 1972 until 2014.
After his PhD at the University of London, Bedford College Richard was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis and then a lecturer in soil microbiology at University of California, Berkeley. He arrived at UKC in 1972 to join the fledgling Biological Laboratory as a lecturer in microbiology, rose through the ranks, was appointed Professor of Environmental Microbiology in 1989, and was Head of Department for a period in the 1990s. He was also a visiting lecturer at Warwick University and the University of London, Wye College for a number of years. Prof. Burns initiated an MSc in Soil Fertility along with Wye College and set up the Bioscience Erasmus exchange programme with universities in Germany, France and Italy. At various times he has held honorary appointments in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Japan.
Richard served on many British, European and International committees including the: ARC, BBSRC, MAFF, NERC, Society for General Microbiology, Society of Chemical Industry, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, International Union of Soil Science, Interactions of Soil Minerals with Organic Components and Microorganisms (ISMOM), NERC/BBSRC Soil Science Advisory Committee (chairperson), EPSRC Review College, and European COST Actions. He was a member of many BBSRC Visiting Groups. At various times he has been a member of the Editorial Boards of: Agrochimica, Soil Biology & Biochemistry (Chief Editor 1999-2018), Microbial Ecology, Biology and Fertility of Soils, Science of Soils, and Soil Science.
Richard was co-founder of the successful series of international conferences Enzymes in the Environment that took place in Granada, Spain, 1999, Prague, Czech Republic 2003, Viterbo, Italy 2007, Bad Nauheim, Germany, 2011, and Bangor, Wales, 2015. From 2009-2014 he was a member of the USA National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network ‘Enzymes in the Environment’. He was a consultant for a number of agrochemical companies, the paper industry, and environmental businesses concerned with cleaning soil, water and industrial effluent.
Richard has published many books and papers on such topics as: soil and water pollution; bioremediation of soil; biotreatment of industrial wastes; microbial community activities in biofilms; enzyme regulation and activity in soils and sediments; molecular microbial ecology, stress responses of soil properties, and the problems of studying complex heterogenous systems. His publications of all sorts number in excess of 200. He has collaborated with researchers in many European counties including Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden and Belgium. Many of his more than forty former PhD students and postdoctoral fellows now hold senior positions in industry and academia.
Professor Burns has received a number of awards including:
In 2004 Richard moved to the University of Queensland, Australia where he was appointed Research Professor and was involved in teaching and administrative duties. He collaborated in successful research programmes with the Universities of Adelaide as well as both Lincoln and Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2014 Richard ‘retired’ and moved from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast where the local university invited him to assist their research and academic staff in writing and publishing papers. He was pleased to accept this challenge and is currently Professor of Academic Communication at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Griffiths University. Richard is still active in research and is currently involved in a project concerning tissue engineered jellyfish-like pseudo-organisms for aquatic detoxification
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