Mr Charles Kenny

I am a plant-soil ecologist investigating carbon cycling in the Scottish Highlands. My current work focusses on elucidating the factors influencing the turnover of soil organic carbon under new, native woodlands established in organic, upland soils. Having spent many happy days wandering around the bogs, burns, and beinns of this beautiful region (in all weathers), I am very happy to be gaining a more intimate knowledge of it through my research! Before coming to Stirling, I graduated initially in 2021 with a BSc in Environmental Science (with a year abroad at McGill University, QC, Canada) from the University of Sheffield, receiving the Laverick-Webster-Hewitt Prize for Overall Performance in Environmental Science and the L. R. Moore Prize for Reports and Maps in Field Projects. I then completed an MRes in Ecology and Environment in 2022, also at the University of Sheffield, with a project focussing on the effects of reforestation on carbon storage and floral community structure in the Northwest Highlands.

Broadly, I am interested in the ongoing expansion of native woodlands in the Scottish Highlands, and the ecosystem services, or indeed, disservices, this may bring. I'm currently investigating new woodlands established on organic soils - a system in which, counterintuitively, sequestration of atmospheric carbon via tree biomass production may actually be negated by significant losses of soil carbon. My PhD project seeks to determine the factors influencing carbon cycling within this system, with particular emphasis on dynamics in the 'mycorrhizosphere'.