Departmental Head of Soils and Sports Surface Science | |
|
|
Stephen joined the STRI in 1980 as the Institute's Soil Physicist and is now Head of the Division of Soils and Sports Surface Science. He has co-ordinated research projects for most of the governing bodies of sports in the UK including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the Football Association and Football League, the Rugby Football League and Rugby Union, the England and Wales Cricket Board, the Jockey Club and the British Greyhound Racing Board. He has also received research funding from the United States Golf Association and the Netherlands Golf Federation. He has also carried out a considerable amount of commercial research for product development and assessment. This extensive research programme has lead to over 250 scientific, technical and popular publications and the book Sands for Sports Turf Construction and Maintenance.
Stephen has been a member of many committees involved in the sports turf industry and was leader of the UK delegation covering natural turf surfaces for the European Committee for Standardisation and leader of the CEN golf course task group. He carries out specialist consultancy and testing work on both natural and artificial turf, including projects in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. He is also a Director of the International Turfgrass Society and lectures extensively including recent conferences presentations in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. He has a first-class honours degree in Geography from University College London and his Ph.D research was carried out on soil structure and water movement at the University of Bristol. Stephen is married with two teenage sons. He still plays competitive league cricket and badminton and tennis on a social basis and has the current misfortune to be a Bradford City season ticket holder. |
Relevant ExperienceStephen has carried out research projects for most of the governing bodies of sports in the UK including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the Football Association, the Football League, the Rugby League, the Rugby Union, the England and Wales Cricket Board, the Jockey Club, the British Greyhound Racing Board and Sport England. He has also received research funding from the United States Golf Association and the Dutch Golf Federation. He has also carried out a considerable amount of commercial research for product development and assessment. This extensive research programme has lead to over 270 scientific, technical and popular publications and three books: Sands for Sports Turf Construction and Maintenance (1990), Rootzones, Sands and Top Dressing Materials for Sports Turf (2006) and Handboek Greenonderhoud: Handleiding Voor Het Onderhoud Van Greens (2006), a book of golf green management commissioned by the Netherlands Golf Federation. He carries out specialist consultancy and testing work on soil and construction related projects, including work in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia and the West Indies. Stephen has been an invited speaker at many international conferences including presentations in Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Spain, Poland, Portugal, the USA and Canada. | |
