I’m a Reader in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, and an Ecological Modeller with Atlantic Salmon Trust.
I spend a lot of time chasing after plankton and their predators, and their predators’ predators, with mathematical models—although at heart I’m rooting for the plankton to escape. There are two main themes running through my current work: first, given that climate-related changes in the ocean, atmosphere, and rivers can push on a marine ecosystem by a dozen separate pathways simultaneously, which of those pathways are the crucial ones? Second, what is the role of biological complexity (diversity, adaptability, behaviour, life history) in large-scale patterns in the ocean, and the lives that zooplankton and seabirds and salmon are able to make for themselves as we shift the baselines?
Before oceanography (PhD, Univ of Washington, 2005) I studied comparative religion (MA, Univ of Colorado, 1998), with a focus on cross-cultural perspectives on the place of humans in the natural world and the history of British and American nature writing. I taught environmental humanities and animal studies at the Univ of Washington 2001–2013, and I remain very interested in First Nations responses to natural and historical unpredictability, mainly in anthropological and mythic/literary registers.
I also make art out of paper and code, with a studio at The Briggait. Have a look at origamiplankton.org or my Instagram.
In a slightly earlier phase of life, I travelled a lot and took a lot of photos. These days my flickr stream is fixed in amber but I’m keeping my stream of consciousness up to date on are.na.
Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, Livingstone Tower, 26 Richmond St, Glasgow G1 1XH, UK
neil.banas at strath.ac.uk
Twitter (mostly abandoned)
Instagram (mostly origami sea slugs)