Dr. Paul Kingston, BSc PhD

Academic Biography
Paul Kingston is a graduate of Zoology and Botany from the University of London. His Doctorate, also from the University of London, was awarded for research into the reproduction and larval development of marine bivalve molluscs. Following a three year post-doctoral research post at the Dove Marine Laboratory at the University of Newcastle-upon -Tyne, he was appointed Lecturer in Marine Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Heriot-Watt University. In 1984 he was appointed Assistant Director of the University's Institute of Offshore Engineering (IOE) on a part-time basis, becoming full-time from 1988. With the merger of IOE and the Department of Civil and Offshore Engineering in 1997, he reverted to being a full-time member of academic staff in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Dr Kingston's expertise and reputation have led to his involvement in major developments of public interest. He has had extensive experience in assessing the impact of the oil industry on the marine environment and has worked on most major North Sea petroleum developments including; Brent, Murchison, Hutton, Statfjord, Forties, Magnus, Piper, Alwyn, Cormorant, Dunlin, West Sole, Brae and many others. He led the original marine environmental assessment for the Channel Tunnel Group and was later retained as principal marine environmental consultant by Trans-Manche Link and Eurotunnel during the construction and early operational phases of the project. He was also involved in the assessment of the damage and recovery of Prince William Sound, Alaska after the Exxon Valdez oil spill and led a major study assessing the impact of the Braer in the Shetland Isles. More recently he has been engaged as an independent advisor following the Neptune Aries Oil spill on the Saigon River, Vietnam (1994) and the Maersk Navigator incident off the Vietnamese coast (1996).

Dr Kingston is currently chairman of the ICES Benthos Ecology Working Group, is a member of the UK Technology Foresight Panel Energy Sub-Group and the Environmental Committee of INTERTANKO (International Association of Independent Tanker Owners). He has also served on the ICES Advisory Committee on Marine Pollution and the Scottish Office Ecological Steering Group on the Shetland Oil Spill (ESGOSS).

He currently serves as news editor of the international journal, Marine Pollution Bulletin and is on the Editorial Board of Spill Science and Technology Bulletin.

Research Interests
Dr. Kingston's research interests centre on the structure and dynamics of seabed communities in relation to industrial and domestic marine developments and he is now an acknowledged expert in evaluating the impact of coastal and offshore developments on the benthic environment. An area of special expertise is bridging the gap between science and technology in the interpretation of marine survey data related to biological community structure, chemical contamination, other environmental disturbance. He has also made important contributions to the development of sampling and monitoring technology and methodologies associated with surveys in the marine environment. His current focus of interest is in the long-term fate and effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the marine food chain.

Departmental Duties
Dr Kingston is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences. He is also Course Director for the MSc in Marine Resource Development and Protection and director of two modules for the MSc in Marine Resource Management.

Papers Published
Dr Kingston has published 30 papers and 87 technical reports as well as numerous magazine and news articles.

E-mail: P.F.Kingston@hw.ac.uk
Website: http://www.marinescience.hw.ac.uk/staffDetails.php?staff_id=29