John McManus BSc, PhD, DSc, FRSE, graduated from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, University of London. He lectured first in the University of Dundee, transferring to the University of St Andrews in 1988 and became Professor in 1992. John McManus has published more than 200 scientific papers mainly on sediment transport and deposition in lakes, rivers, estuaries and coastal environments. In addition, two books have been published on the history of coal mining in Fife. "Mining between Ceres and St Andrews" (Windfall Books, 2010) and "Coal Mining in the East Neuk of Fife" (Dunedin Academic Press, 2017) and he continues to research the history of the Coal Mining industry in the east of Scotland.