The BEYOND team brings together leading experts in hydrology, biogeochemistry, and environmental science to address critical water and land-use challenges. Combining innovative monitoring, advanced modelling, and applied research, they work to understand and mitigate impacts on water quality, ecosystems, and sustainable agriculture. With a strong focus on collaboration and real-world solutions, the team bridges research and policy to drive environmental sustainability.
Dr Magdalena Bieroza is a Senior Lecturer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and BEYOND’s coordinator. She is a hydrologist, biogeochemist, and computer scientist focusing on understanding nitrogen, phosphorus, suspended sediments, and organic matter dynamics in headwater streams subjected to human disturbances and remediation. Her work involves in situ measurements of dominant processes with state-of-the-art techniques such as high-frequency water quality monitoring and advanced numerical analysis to detect established and emerging patterns in hydrochemical data such as concentration-discharge relationships and process-based models to establish the relative importance of hydrological, biogeochemical, and management drivers on streamwater quality signals.
Dr. Susana Bernal is a Tenured Researcher at the Center of Advanced Studies of Blanes, Spanish Research Council (CEAB-CSIC). Her research focuses on nutrient biogeochemistry, with emphasis on understanding how hydrology drives the processing and transport of carbon and nitrogen in Mediterranean catchments. Specifically, she studies how climatic conditions influence the contraction and expansion of fluvial networks and the role of headwater streams and their riparian zones as sources or sinks of nutrients. Her work combines a suite of empirical approaches (from laboratory incubations to in situ high-temporal resolution data) to assess shifts in catchment sources, ecosystem pools and fluxes across different hydrological conditions and land uses.
Prof Dr. Roland Bol is a research leader in soil organic matter dynamics and elemental cycles. At the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, IBG-3, Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany). His research is focused on the complex biogeochemistry processes that occur on the landscape scale at the soil-water-air interfaces in natural and agricultural ecosystems, with an emphasis on organic matter, elemental and colloidal fluxes, and the use isotope signatures as tracers of carbon, nutrients and sediments in the environment.
Dr. Rémi Dupas is a Researcher at INRAE, UMR SAS, Rennes, France. His research focuses on the hydrological transfer of chemical elements in agricultural catchments of different sizes. His work is focusing on 1) providing an integrated view of carbon-nitrogen-phosphorus (C-N-P) transfer and transformations, 2) investigating the effect of the spatial configuration of landscape elements, 3) understanding the long-term changes of water resources under the influence of global and local changes. He works with large scale environmental data and detailed monitoring data from our research observatory AgrHyS.
Dr. Ophelie Fovet is a Researcher at INRAE, UMR SAS, Rennes, France. Her research focuses on hydrological and biogeochemical processes that determine the water chemical quality of streams and rivers, especially in the context of anthropised – often agricultural- areas. She uses and develops diverse monitoring and modelling approaches to characterise the transfer, transit times and reaction processes of water and major chemical elements, mainly nutrients (N, P) and carbon (C). She focuses on small headwater catchments (10ha – 100 km2) to medium-scale catchments (1000 km2). She is involved in several observation platforms for research. In particular, she is the scientific coordinator of a research observatory on critical zone AgrHyS.
Dr Miriam Glendell is a Senior Research Scientist at the James Hutton Institute. She is a catchment scientist and modeler interested in understanding the effects of land use on water quality, freshwater biodiversity, soil conservation and carbon management in catchment systems. In her research she designs and apply water quality and quantity models relating to source-transport-fate/impacts of nutrients, pathogens, pesticides and pharmaceuticals to address threats to water resources under current and future climate and land use/land management change. She has a particular interest in research that brings together inter-disciplinary scientists and stakeholders in developing systemic solutions to water quality and water availability challenges.
Phil Jordan is Professor of Catchment Science, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Ulster University in N. Ireland. His research areas focus on the dynamics and fate of macro-nutrients, pesticides and sediments at catchment scale and agri-environmental policy. Much of this work in recent years has been related to the capture and analysis of high-frequency environmental data related to water quality. His research is heavily field-based and applied; he has worked closely with agri-environmental agencies and stakeholders across the island of Ireland and beyond. Current research focuses on diffuse pollution transfers from agricultural land to water and impact in river and lake systems and CO2eq dynamics in upland peat environments and fluvial carbon processes and fluxes.
Professor Mary Kelly-Quinn is an applied freshwater ecologist in the School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin (UCD). Her current research is primarily based on streams and rivers, but she has undertaken projects on lakes, ponds, canals, hyporheic fauna and riparian zones. The focus of her research is on assessment of land-use and other anthropogenic activities on the physical, hydrochemical and ecological quality of surface waters She has also led projects and published on ecosystem services and engaged in research on natural capital accounting. Her research is applied and has contributed to the information needs of the Water Framework Directive.
Dr Per-Erik Mellander is a Senior Research Officer in Catchment Science with Tegasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. He is the lead scientist and manager of the water quality section of the Agricultural Catchments Programme and the Principal Investigator of water quality related projects. His research mostly concerns advancing knowledge in water quality issues (nutrients, pesticides and sediments) for a sustainable environment and food production system under the impacts of changing climate.
Dr Daire Ó hUallacháin is a Principal Research Officer in the Environment, Soils and Land-Use Department, of Teagasc. He has over 20 year’s research experience in agri-environment (with a focus on ecology and water quality). He is the Principal Investigator to a number of studies focussing primarily on Terrestrial & Aquatic Ecology, Water Quality and Mitigation Methods, Sediment Dynamics and impacts on freshwater ecosystems, and Evaluation of agri-environment measures. His applied research focuses on identifying and assessing measures and management practices needed to achieve Biodiversity and Water Quality objectives. His research aims to support policy-makers in making informed decisions and to influence practice amongst wider stakeholders.
Dr Eulyn Pagaling is a Senior Environmental Microbiologist in the Environmental and Biochemical Sciences Department at the James Hutton Institute. Her research focuses on environmental contaminants, using molecular (eDNA) approaches to tackle these challenges. This research includes determining sources and transmission pathways, understanding mechanisms involved in transmission and persistence, and understanding how contaminants can impact the environment. She has co-authored 22 peer-reviewed papers and 17 technical reports. Her research has appeared in several national media outlets, including newspaper articles and an interview for the BBC. She supervises three PhD students and co-line, managing two postdoctoral scientists and one research assistant.
Prof. Dr. Michael Rode is a Deputy head of the Department of Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis at the UFZ and Professor at the University of Potsdam. He is an engineer in agricultural and environmental science and his main research foci are aquatic biogeochemistry and the modelling of river water quality. He investigates how nutrients and sediments are transported into streams and how these matter fluxes are cycled in stream and river networks. New high-frequency monitoring approaches are combined with process-based catchment water quality modelling. His modelling expertise covers hydrological and diffuse source pollution modelling, water quality modelling (receiving water quality models), integrated hydrological modeling, and stream network modelling. He has long term teaching experiences at the University of Potsdam (Germany) and he has been co-ordinator of several national and international research projects.
Prof Marc Stutter is a Researcher at James Hutton Institute, Scotland. His interests across catchment source, transport, freshwater impacts and in-river processes have led to a focus on riparian functions and coupled macronutrient cycles. His applied science involves catchment partnerships, riparian woodland and agricultural pollution mitigation.
Dr. Gabriele Weigelhofer is a Associated-Professor at BOKU University Vienna; Scientific leader of WasserCluster Lunz. Her research focuses on microbial and biogeochemical processes at the water-sediment interface of streams, rivers, and floodplains impacted by agricultural land use, climate change, and hydro-morphological degradation. Specifically, she is interested in the resistance, resilience, and recovery of benthic and hyporheic biogeochemical and microbial structures and processes to stressors and human interventions. Her methodological expertise comprises, amongst others, nutrient and organic carbon analyses (and transformations) in liquids and solids, experiments using isotope tracers (15N, 13C), extra-cellular enzyme activities, microbial analyses, DOM spectrometric analyses, and greenhouse gas measurements, including field sampling, field experiments, and lab experiments.