Skip to main content
School of Geography
  1. School of Geography
  2. People
  3. Academic Staff
  4. Profiles

Professor Geraldene Wharton, BSc Hons (Sheff) PhD (Soton)

Geraldene

Professor of Physical Geography

Email: g.wharton@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 5439
Room Number: Geography Building, Room 111

Profile

I am a river scientist, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers, and a Chartered Geographer (Geomorphologist) with over 35 years’ research experience in hydrogeomorphology. My research on rivers focuses on: 

  • interactions between water, plants and sediments, with special expertise in chalk streams; 
  • entrainment and transport of fine cohesive sediments; 
  • river restoration and integrated catchment management; 
  • physical habitat assessment methods for non-tidal and tidal / estuarine river reaches. 
Bere Stream at Snatford Bridge is one of my study sites in the Frome-Piddle Catchment, Dorset, UK (photo: G.Wharton)
Bere Stream at Snatford Bridge is one of my study sites in the Frome-Piddle Catchment, Dorset, UK (photo: G.Wharton)

Morecombe Bay upper estuary, NW England is a site used in the development of MoRPh Estuaries, a method for assessing and monitoring the physical habitat condition of estuary margins (photo: J. Greef) 

After completing a BSc Honours degree in Geography at the University of Sheffield and a PhD at Southampton University, I held a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship before joining the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London. I have held numerous positions within the School including: Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment lead, Chair of the Environmental Science Examinations Board, Senior Tutor, and Programme Director for the MSc Water and Environmental Management.

My current role is Director of Student Experience and Employability and in 2024 I received a VP Special Prize, with Matthew Halfin (Careers and Enterprise) and Tim Edkins (School of Politics and International Relations) for “developing and implementing a coherent and consistent employability framework across Schools in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences”.

I am a member of the NERC Peer Review College and serve on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Soils and Sediments and River Research and Applications. Past appointments have included: Chair of the Board of Directors of the UK River Restoration Centre; Board Member of the London Waterways Partnership, Canal & River Trust; Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers (Education); Secretary of the Geography Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Back to top