Over the years, the Al Ain Chapter has been blessed with a number of members who have made substantial written contributions to the group. This page acknowledges those contributions and provides links to the various papers.
Phil Iddison
This modest engineer has a passion for food! During his many years in the
Gulf, Phil has explored his personal interest in food, amassing a wealth of
knowledge and experience which he has generously shared with others around the
world. For the past few years, the Al Ain chapter of the Emirates Natural History
Group has benefited from his studies. In addition to researching and preparing
articles, Phil volunteers to lead members of the Al Ain chapter through the
souq, explaining and identifying the curious specimens of fish, the unusual
vegetables, the unknown greens and other offerings. In addition, Phil has prepared and presented papers at the Oxford
(University) Symposiums in recent years. We are pleased to be able to offer
complete copies of these papers, including bibliography and footnotes. In the spring of 2000, Phil was among the presenters at the Second Arab Gulf
Conference on Folklore and Oral History organized by the Zayed Center for
Heritage and History in Al Ain. His paper is among the articles available here.
The papers:
Mike Gillett, the 'reluctant lepidopterist'
For a number of years, beginning with his first Newsletter article in August,
1992, Mike Gillett introduced, explained and make sense of the world of beetles,
butterflies and even hedgehogs! He served the Al Ain chapter of the Emirates Natural History Group as a
correspondent and organizer of the Al Ain Meloid Survey of 1994-95. Most importantly, he reminded members of the organization's original purpose:
to observe and record the natural history of the UAE. Many of the following articles were published in the ENHG Al Ain Newsletter. More of Mike's contributions can be found in Tribulus.
Laurence Garey
Laurence Garey has worked in brain research throughout his career,
in the Universities of Oxford, California at Berkeley and Lausanne in
Switzerland, Imperial College London, the National University of Singapore,
and the UAE University. He qualified in medicine at Worcester College, Oxford, and St Thomas’
Hospital, London, and obtained a doctorate in Oxford, based on research
on the mammalian visual system. He worked in neuroanatomical research in
Oxford, Berkeley, Lausanne and Singapore, before returning to London in 1990. His research interest is on the structure, development and pathology of the
human brain, especially the cerebral cortex. For some years he has been active
in research on the pathophysiological basis of schizophrenia. He is interested in the history of neuroscience, and has translated a
number of biomedical science books from French, including Neuronal Man
by Jean-Pierre Changeux (1985), The Population Alternative by Jacques
Ruffié (1986), The Paradox of Sleep - The Story of Dreaming (1999) and
The Castle of Dreams (2008) both by Michel Jouvet, and Helmholtz by Michel
Meulders (2009) and from German the famous Localisation in the Cerebral
Cortex by Korbinian Brodmann, written in 1909. Another major interest is the history of aviation. He is a private pilot
and has much enjoyed exploring the aviation heritage of the UAE and Oman.
He and his wife Josette came to the UAE in August 2000 and, during their stay in Al Ain,
made many significant contributions to the chapter, the ENHG as a whole, and the community of
individuals interested in different aspects of the natural history of the UAE and northern Oman.
They moved to Switzerland in July 2004 where he lives on the shore of Lake Geneva.
His articles include:
See also Laurence's home page
Geoff Sanderson
For several years Geoff shared his enthusiasm and expertise for plants with
members of the group. Unfortunately his work took him up the road to Dubai so we don't have the opportunity to enjoy him in the field anymore. The following articles are posted on this website: