Dr David Milan

Dr David Milan

Reader in River Science

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Science and Engineering
  • School of Environmental Sciences

Summary

David Milan is a fluvial geomorphologist, and obtained his PhD in 2001 from the Department of Geography, University of Newcastle. Whilst writing up his PhD he worked as an Associate Lecturer in Fluvial and Glacial Geomorphology at the University of Northumbria, and in 2001 obtained a Lectureship in Physical Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Gloucestershire. In 2012 he moved to the Department of Geography, Geology and Environment at the University of Hull, where he is currently Reader in River Science. David recently completed an Institute of Advanced Study Fellowship (2020-21) at Collegium de Lyon, University of Lyon, France.

Recent outputs

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Journal Article

Hydro-geomorphological modelling of leaky wooden dam efficacy from reach to catchment scale with CAESAR-Lisflood 1.9j

Wolstenholme, J. M., Skinner, C. J., Milan, D., Thomas, R. E., & Parsons, D. R. (2025). Hydro-geomorphological modelling of leaky wooden dam efficacy from reach to catchment scale with CAESAR-Lisflood 1.9j. Geoscientific Model Development, 18(5), 1395-1411. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1395-2025

Using geophysical subsurface data for the reconstruction of valley-scale spatio-temporal floodplain evolution: implications for upland river restoration

Schwendel, A. C., Milan, D. J., Pope, R. J., Williams, R., & Thompson, W. (2024). Using geophysical subsurface data for the reconstruction of valley-scale spatio-temporal floodplain evolution: implications for upland river restoration. Geomorphology, 466, Article 109459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109459

Working with wood in rivers in the Western United States

Ockelford, A., Wohl, E., Ruiz-Villanueva, V., Comiti, F., Piégay, H., Darby, S., Parsons, D., Yochum, S. E., Wolstenholme, J., White, D., Uno, H., Triantafillou, S., Stroth, T., Smrdel, T., Scott, D. N., Scamardo, J. E., Rees, J., Rathburn, S., Morrison, R. R., Milan, D., …Aarnink, J. (2024). Working with wood in rivers in the Western United States. River Research and Applications, https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4331

How quickly does wood fragment in rivers? Methodological challenges, preliminary findings, and perspectives

Hortobágyi, B., Milan, D., Bourgeau, F., & Piégay, H. (2024). How quickly does wood fragment in rivers? Methodological challenges, preliminary findings, and perspectives. Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British Geomorphological Research Group, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5877

Correlating floodplain geochemical profiles with archival historical mining records to establish depositional chronologies of river sediment

Parker, A., Milan, D. J., & McEwen, L. (2022). Correlating floodplain geochemical profiles with archival historical mining records to establish depositional chronologies of river sediment. CATENA, 218, Article 106532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106532

Research interests

Dr Milan’s research lies at the interface between fluvial geomorphology and freshwater ecology, and focuses upon monitoring and modelling fluvial dynamics, with special emphasis on sediment transport and associated geomorphic processes in gravel bed and dryland river systems. His research has utilised remote-sensing and has applied LiDAR to assess river bed grain-size, high resolution topographic change, and river habitat. Dr Milan is also involved with applied research into geomorphologically-based Natural Flood Management, assessing impacts of climate change on fluvial systems, and monitoring the impacts of large dams on fluvial processes and fish habitat. Dr Milan has recently conducted work on large wood and carbon dynamics in rivers.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Understanding floods from catchment to coast

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£2,000.00

Started

1 January 2017

Status

Complete

Project

Remote sensing soil processes and health for improved Carbon sequestration

Funder

British Academy

Grant

£9,434.00

Started

1 December 2021

Status

Complete

Project

NERC Discipline Hopping: Quantifying the benefits of recent river restoration upon fish habitat in the Lake District, UK.

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£9,872.00

Started

1 December 2022

Status

Complete

Project

Institute of Advanced Study Fellow

Funder

Collegium de Lyon Universite de Lyon

Grant

£24,806.00

Started

1 September 2020

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Remote quantification of soil composition characteristics using an integrated hyperspectral remote sensing approach

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£46,354.00

Started

1 November 2022

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

David welcomes applications for PhD research in:

- Carbon sequestration in river catchments

- natural flood management

- geomorphic change detection using LiDAR

- geospatial analyses of river channel morphology and roughness

- sediment transport processes in gravel-bed rivers

-large wood in rivers

- siltation of salmonid spawning areas

- monitoring and modelling sediment pathways in river systems

Completed PhDs:

Shona Thomson - "Landscape evolution modelling of dryland rivers"

Jason Stopps - ("Sediment sources and delivery to ecological sensitive instream sites, River Lugg, Herefordshire, UK"

Andrew Parker "Sediment sourcing in a catchment heaviliy influenced by histric metal mining: a case study from the South Tyne, UK"

Current PhD supervisions:

Josh Wolstenholme - "Influence of Natural Flood Management (NFM) on fluvial geomorphologic evolution"

Serena Teasdale- "Sticky Coasts: Characterising the role of biological cohesion in modulating erosion in coastal fringe environments"

Awards and prizes

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2003

Committee/Steering group role

International Scientific Committee for the 4th international conference on integrative sciences and sustainable development of large rivers

2020 - 2021

BSG Chair of Outreach sub committee

2012 - 2015

Journal editorial role

Editorial Board Member “Water"

2022 - 2024

Editorial Board Member "Remote Sensing"

2019

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