Professor Astley Hastings

Biography

1968-1971       Graduate Apprenticeship with English Electric/Lanchester Polytechnic. Gained a BSc in Mechanical engineering. CEng in 1974.

1971-1972       Postgraduate research (wet steam turbines) at Lanchester Polytechnic.

1972-1973       Schlumberger, Field engineer, Burgos and St Carlos, Spain

1974-1975       Schlumberger, Lead engineer, Siracusa,Crotone & Pescara, Italy.

1975-1977       Schlumberger, Training Center Manager, Livingstone, Scotland

1977-1980       Schlumberger, District Manager Qatar, Doha, Qatar.

1980-1981       Schlumberger, Product Development Engineer, Paris, France.

1981-1985       Schlumberger, South American Interpretation Manager. Caracas, Venezuela.

1986-1989       Schlumberger, Principle Scientist, Schlumberger DRC, Ridgefield, Ct, USA.

1989-1993       Schlumberger, Marketing Director United Kingdom. Aberdeen.

1993-1995       Schlumberger, Marketing Manager Europe & FSU. Hannover, Germany

1995-1998       Schlumberger, Corporate New Technology Manager, Paris, France.

1999-2003       Schlumberger, Evaluation Services Manager - North Africa, Algeria

2003-2004       Schlumberger, Operations Manager-N Africa. Hassi-Messaoud, Algeria.

2004-2005       MSc. Environmental Science – University of Aberdeen.

2004-2008       PhD in Systems Biology –University of Aberdeen

2008-2014        Research Fellow –University of Aberdeen

2014-2017        Senior Research Fellow –University of Aberdeen

2017-present    Reader –University of Aberdeen

Research Overview

Currently a reader in environmental science in the Institute of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Aberdeen conducting research into the GHG emissions and environmental  impact and its mitigation from land use, low carbon energy and transport infrastructure and also on greenhouse gas removal using afforestation and bioenergy carbon capture and storage. Decomissioning and reuse of offshore energy assets and the impact on the environment.

Current Research

UKERC  - 4 – Theme 3.

NERC-ADVENT – Impact of low carbon electricity generation on ecosystem services and natural Capital.

NERC-ADVANCES – Landscapes decisions. - Impact of temporal and spatial scale on land use simulations

NERC-FAB-GGR – GHG removal using BECCS and afforestation.

EU-GRACE - Developing Miscanthus and Hemp as a Bioenergy Feedstock for the bio-economy

EU-EcoWinery - Building a tool to calculate GHG emissions from Wine production

NDC - Estimating GHG emissions from Decomissioning

NDC - Decomissioning bundles

DDC - Curtin - The environmental impact of decomissioning subsea structures with residual NORM and Hg on the marine environment.

EU-VERIFY - Building a methodology to quantify European GHG emissions

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Collaborations

Jatropha growth and soil carbon modelling with Prof. Meenu Saraf University of Gujarat, India.

Miscanthus biomass growth and use Aberystwyth - Hoenheim, Zagreb - Piacenza - INTA - Braunscheig

GGR with  Exeter, UEA, CRU, Leeds and Aston.

Low carbon infrastructure impact on the environment - UEA - UCL - Imperial - Leeds - Lancaster - CEH - Southampton - Davis - Sydney.

Decomissioning - Curtin

GHG emissions quantification - The EU GHG group.

Funding and Grants

UKERC  - 4 – Theme 3.

NERC-ADVENT – Impact of low carbon electricity generation on ecosystem services and natural Capital.

NERC-ADVANCES – Landscapes decisions. - Impact of temporal and spatial scale on land use simulations

NERC-FAB-GGR – GHG removal using BECCS and afforestation.

EU-GRACE - Developing Miscanthus and Hemp as a Bioenergy Feedstock for the bio-economy

EU-EcoWinery - Building a tool to calculate GHG emissions from Wine production

NDC - Estimating GHG emissions from Decomissioning

NDC - Decomissioning bundles

DDC - Curtin - The environmental impact of decomissioning subsea structures with residual NORM and Hg on the marine environment.

EU-VERIFY - Building a methodology to quantify European GHG emissions

Teaching Responsibilities

Course co-ordinator Marine EIA masters course

Lecture on GHG emissions and mitigation

Environmental modelling