About

I have a BSc (Hons) in Geography from Loughborough University and an MSc in Urban Water Engineering and Management from the University of Sheffield. I gained my PhD in Water Engineering from the University of Sheffield in 2012, with research on ‘Laboratory investigations into processes causing discoloured potable water’. After completing my PhD, I worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher at University of Sheffield before joining the water industry working as a water quality Strategy Analyst. I then moved back into academia working as a Research Associate at Loughborough University on a project funded by Kingfisher Homes to review spatial energy efficiency. In 2014 I joined Sheffield Hallam University as a Lecturer in Geography and GIS. Since then, I have taught on all three of the Geography and Environment undergraduate courses as well as MSc GIS. Between 2015 and 2020 I was the MSc GIS course leader and took over as BSc Geography course leader in 2020. Since completing my PhD my research has focused on all aspects of water engineering particularly potable drinking water and river quality, as well as spatial data analysis.

Teaching

Department of the Natural and Built Environment

College of Social Sciences and Arts

Geography and Environment

Courses taught:

BSc Geography
BSc Environmental Science
BA Human Geography
MSc GIS
MSc Environmental Science

Modules taught:

Introduction to Physical Geography
Introduction to Environmental Science
Fieldwork and Professional Skills in Geography
Research Methods in Geography, Environment and Social Sciences
Advanced GIS
Atmospheric and Water Quality
Dissertation
Applied Research Methods
GIS and Spatial Analysis
GIS and Statistical Modelling
Open Source and Online GIS
Applied Research Methods
Major Research Project 

Research

Selected Publications:
Douterelo, I., Sharpe, R. L., Husband, S., Fish, K. E., & Boxall, J. B. (2019). Understanding microbial ecology to improve management of drinking water distribution systems. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 6(1), e01325.

Hawkins, A., Sharpe, R., Spence, K., & Holmes, N. (2018). Inappropriate flushing of menstrual sanitary products. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Water Management (pp. 1-18). Thomas Telford Ltd.

Goodchild, B., Sharpe, R., & Hanson, C. (2018). Between resistance and resilience: a study of flood risk management in the Don catchment area (UK). Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 20(4), 434-449.

Sharpe, R., Biggs, C., & Boxall, J. (2017). Hydraulic conditioning to manage potable water discolouration. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Water Management. Institution of Civil Engineers.

Fish, K., Collins, R., Green, N., Sharpe, R., Douterelo, I., Osborn, A., & Boxall, J. (2015). Characterisation of the physical composition and microbial community structure of biofilms within a model full-scale drinking water distribution system. PLoS ONE, 10(2), 3209-3212.

Mounce, S. R., Sharpe, R., Speight, V., Holden, B., & Boxall, J. (2014). Self-Organizing Maps For Knowledge Discovery From Corporate Databases To Develop Risk Based Prioritization For Stagnation.

Mounce, S. R., Sharpe, R. L., Speight, V & Boxall J. B. (2014). Knowledge discovery from large disparate corporate databases using self-organising maps to help ensure supply of high quality potable water. 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, HIC 2014, New York City, US

Douterelo, I., Sharpe, R., & Boxall, J. (2014). Bacterial community dynamics during the early stages of biofilm formation in a chlorinated experimental drinking water distribution system: implications for drinking water discolouration. Journal of applied microbiology, 117(1), 286-301.

Furnass, W. R., Collins, R. P., Husband, P. S., Sharpe, R. L., Mounce, S. R., & Boxall, J. B. (2014). Modelling both the continual erosion and regeneration of discolouration material in drinking water distribution systems. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 14(1), 81-90.

Douterelo, I., Sharpe, R. L., & Boxall, J. B. (2013). Influence of hydraulic regimes on bacterial community structure and composition in an experimental drinking water distribution system. Water research.

Mounce, S. R., Douterelo, I., Sharpe, R. L. and Boxall, J. B. (2012). A bio-hydroinformatics application of self-organizing map neural networks for assessing microbial and physico-chemical water quality in distribution systems. Proceedings of the 10th HydroInformatics conference Hamburg, Germany, July.

Fish, K. E., Sharpe, R. L., Green, N. H., Osborn, A. M. and Boxall, J. B. (2011). Visualising and Quantifying the Matrix of Drinking Water Biofilms. Proceedings of IWA Biofilm2011: Processes in Biofilms Shanghai, China, 27-30 October

Publications

Other activities

Dr Sharpe has experience of working in Water and Energy Sciences in both academia and industry. Her main focus is to develop industry applied research to areas of immediate concern in changing environments. Her expertise lies in innovative science that brings together multi-disciplinary knowledge, research and statistical methods.

Postgraduate supervision

I am currently supervising two PhD students:

Mia Rafalowicz-Campbell: Active travel

Karuna Pimparasan: Optimisation of strategies using spatial approaches to manage flood risk in Thailand.

If you are interested in conducting research in water engineering or GIS/ spatial analysis please get in touch.