News

2024

June

• Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry User Group (SIMSUG) meeting 2024.
  
  SIMSUG 2024 (18th–20th June 2024) will be held at the British Geological Survey. Please find here the registration form. Deadline for registration is 1st May and the abstract deadline is 1st June (please email aggip@bgs.ac.uk). Please note there is no registration fee as all costs have been covered by our sponsors (Elementar UK Ltd, Elemtex Ltd, Sercon Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Elemental Scientific Lasers). Each person who will attend needs to complete the registration form and numbers will be capped at 65 attendees (so early registration is advised!). Please contact Aggie with any enquiries.
  
  Best wishes,
  
  The Stable Isotope team at the British Geological Survey

2023

November

• 2734.1023 – Prof G E A Swann (Geography): Developing sponge oxygen Isotopes for paleoclimate research – £19950
  2735.1023 – Prof M J Leng (Biosciences): Decadal-scale variability in the East Asian Monsoonal during the last glacial period: siderite oxygen isotope analyses from Lake Suigetsu, Japan – £35700
  2736.1023 – Dr V N P Panizzo (Geography): Assessing anthropogenic impacts to biogeochemical cycling at a protected tropical wetland (Loktak Lake, India) – £32550

May

• 2644.0423 – Dr L McAusland (Biosciences): Determining the existence of nocturnal foliar water uptake in the crop plant, Triticum aestivum, using 18O enriched water – £30450

2022

May 2022

• Congratulations to Dr Jack Lort on successfully defending his thesis entitled 'The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants'. Jack was supervised by Dr Christopher Vane (BGS), Dr Darren Beriro (BGS) and Professor Matt Jones (UoN). His work was also supported by Prof. Russel Thomas (WSP) and Chris Taylor (National Grid). He is now an environmental public health scientist working on finding solutions for variety of contaminated sites across the UK.

March

• Congratulations to Dr Joanna Tindall on successfully defending her thesis entitled 'Lacustrine oxygen isotopes as tracers of past climate change in NW Europe'. Joanna was supervised by Professor Jonathan Holmes (UCL) and Professor Ian Candy (Royal Holloway), working with Professor Melanie Leng (BGS). She is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham.

January

• Congratulations to Hannah O’Regan (Department of Classics and Archaeology) on being promoted to Professor of Archaeology and Palaeoecology. Hannah has a huge range of research interests and expertise, including human-non-human animal interactions (particularly bears), the effects of pollution on human health, migration, cave archaeology, Quaternary palaeontology, and human evolution. Hannah represents archaeology and classics on the CEG management board. Very well deserved Hannah!
• Congratulations to those who received National Environmental Isotope Facility funding at the Autumn 2021 meeting for the following research projects. Panizzo, V N, Burson, A, McGowan, S, Lacey, J, and Sun, M. (Geography). Understanding long-term environmental impacts to inform sustainability in Lake Victoria, Kenya (£18k). Jones, M, Mills, K, and Hunt, L. Investigating changes in the stable carbon isotope systems of Ugandan crater lakes (£22k).

2021

December

• Congratulations to Dr Haydar Martinez Izquierdo Dyrzo (Geography) on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Exploring Holocene Lake Palaeoclimatic records in the Maya Northern Highlands and the central Mayab. Haydar was supervised by Professors Matthew Jones and Sarah Metcalfe (University of Nottingham) and Melanie Leng (BGS).

November

• Congratulations to Dr Belinda Kaninga on the successful defence of her PhD thesis entitled: Bioavailability of heavy metals in soils that are in close proximity to mine tailings in Copperbelt, Zambia. Belinda was supervised by Benson Chishala (University of Zambia), Godfrey Sakala, (Zambia Agriculture Research Institute-ZARI), Michael Watts (BGS) and Scott Young/Murray Lark (University of Nottingham). Belinda was funded by a Royal Society-DFID project to strengthen African scientific capacity in soil geochemistry. Belinda returns to employment as a research scientist at ZARI.

September

• Congratulations to Dr Linghan Zeng (Geography) on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Anthropogenic impacts on shallow lake ecosystems in the middle Yangtze floodplain since the 19th century. Linghan was supervised by Suzanne McGowan and George Swann (University of Nottingham) and Melanie Leng (BGS).

July

• Policy brief: Water quality monitoring in the Red River Delta (Vietnam): how to improve water resource management in the region by McGowan, S . University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute. This work was funded by RCUK/ UKRI-NAFOSTED grant numbers NE/P014577/1] including investigators Do Thu Nga, Trinh Anh Duc, Luu Thi Nguyet Minh, Le Thi Phuong Quynh (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Minh Tien Tran (Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences), Virginia Panizzo, Melanie Leng, Chris Vane (Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, University of Nottingham-British Geological Survey).

June

• Congratulations to those who received National Environmental Isotope Facility funding at the Spring 2021 meeting for the following research projects.
• IP2384-0321 Dr HJ O’Regan (Archaeology): When did the cows come home? A multi-isotope exploration of local and regional grazing patterns in Bronze Age Lincolnshire (£37k).
• IP2416-0421 Prof MJ Leng (Biosciences): Central Mediterranean rainfall and global marine circulation patterns during the Last Glacial and Holocene (£16k).

April

• The following abstract was presented by CEG staff (UoN and BGS coauthors) at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna, Austria
  Virginia Panizzo, Lucy Roberts, Nga Do, Sarah Taylor, Michael Watts, Elliott Hamilton, Suzanne McGowan, Duc Trinh, Melanie Leng, and Jorge Salgado. Transport and storage of anthropogenic contaminants in the Red River Delta, Vietnam. EGU21–7247 | vPICO presentations | BG4.3/CL1.20/SSP1.5
• Melanie Leng, Director of the Centre of Environmental Geochemistry, has been included in Reuters' Hot List, a list of the top 1000 most influential climate scientists in the world, with 444 publications and over 13 500 citations to her name. Mel's ranking of 522nd in the world puts her in the top 100 climate scientists in the UK.
  The Reuters Hot List was created by ranking scientists based on the number of papers published, the field citation ratio and a measure of each paper’s reach. It's not a list of the 'best' or 'most important', but the most influential.

2020

November

• Congratulations to those who received National Environmental Isotope Facility funding at the Autumn 2020 meeting for the following research projects.
• IP2314-0920 Dr M D Jones (Geography): Reconstructing lake levels and palaeohydrology from the middle–upper part of the Lake Lisan Formation, Dead Sea Basin, Jordan
• IP2316-0920 Prof M J Leng (Biosciences): Investigating the onset and evolution of Lake Ohrid during the early Pleistocene

October

• Congratulations to Dr Felix Phiri on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Quantifying selenium deficiency and potential utilisation of urine as a biomarker for large scale selenium and zinc surveys in Malawi.

  Felix was supervised by Alex Kalimbira (Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources), Benson Chilima (Community Health Sciences Unit), Martin Broadley (University of Nottingham) and Michael Watts (BGS). Felix studied part-time and returns to his role as the Director of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the Ministry of Health in Malawi.

September

• Congratulations to Dr Fiona Sach on the successful defence of her PhD thesis entitled: How does Environmental Geochemistry Affect Elephant Movement? Fiona was supervised by Michael Watts (BGS), Simon Langley-Evans and Lisa Yon (University of Nottingham). Fiona was funded by the NERC Envision DTP, BGS University Funding Initiative and BGS. Fiona is now employed by the Zoological Society of London as a Proposal Development Manager.
• Congratulations to Dr Elliott Hamilton on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Novel methods for the assessment of chromium species bioavailability. Elliott was supervised by Michael Watts (BGS), Scott Young and Liz Bailey (University of Nottingham). Elliott was funded by BGS. Elliott undertook his PhD as a part-time student employed by BGS.
• Congratulations to Dr Grace Manzeke-Kangara on the successful defence of her PhD thesis entitled: Variation in Bioavailable Zinc and Iron in Zimbabwe and their effects on crop productivity and quality. Grace was supervised by Paul Mapfumo, Florence Mtambanengwe (University of Zimbabwe), Martin Broadley (University of Nottingham) and Michael Watts (BGS). Grace was funded by a Royal Society-DFID project to strengthen African scientific capacity in soil geochemistry. Grace is now employed as a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham.
• Congratulations to Dr Saeed Ahmad on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Geochemical dynamics and bioavailability of iodine and selenium in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Saeed was supervised by Liz Bailey and Scott Young (University of Nottingham) and Michael Watts (BGS). Saeed was self-funded with support from the University of Nottingham. He is currently employed by the University of Nottingham Library services.

August

• Congratulations to the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, the BGS and other partners on their Micronutrient Action Policy Support (MAPS) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This project is led by Dr Louise Ander, based in BGS Inorganic Geochemistry and at the University of Nottingham.

  Micronutrient deficiencies are a widespread global problem, especially in sub–Saharan Africa and south/southeast Asia. The scale and impact of micronutrient deficiencies are unequally distributed within nations because of geographical, socio–economic and dietary factors, and a lack of information at the sub–national level makes it hard to select potential interventions for different population groups. This project will develop a tool to visualise both the scale and geographic distribution of micronutrient deficiencies, and will inform which food system interventions will have the greatest impact and cost–effectiveness in different regions.

  This project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the BGS lead for MAPS project activities is Dr Andy Bean. Find out more at micronutrient.support as we build up project resources.

May

• Press release: Science is helping us to understand why African elephants move between landscapes. Scientists are beginning to understand how African elephants adapt their movement patterns in search of essential nutrients in their diets, a problem which is leading elephants to live closer to human activity.

2019

November

• Grant win: Royal Society International Collaboration Award for 3 years entitled 'Dynamics of Environmental Geochemistry and Health in a Lake–wide Basin'. This project will encompass a partnership between BGS, the University of Eldoret School of Environmental Sciences with additional partners from the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Plymouth School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Loughborough School of Geography and Environment and the Kenya Marine Fisheries and Research Institute. This new project builds on previous work under the BGS–ODA programme of work, see:
  • Geochemistry and Health in the Kenyan Rift Valley
  • Aquaculture: Pathway to food security in Kenya
• Congratulations to Savannah Worne on the successful defence of her PhD entitled Investigating Bering Sea oceanographic response to the Milankovitch orbital cycle climatic shift during the middle Pleistocene. Savannah wrote her thesis by paper and these have been published so far:
  • Worne, S, Kender, S, Swann, G E A, Leng, M J, and Ravelo, A C. 2019. Coupled climate and subarctic Pacific nutrient upwelling over the last 850,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 522, 87–97.
  • Kender, S, Ravelo, A C, Worne, S, Swann, G E A, Leng, M J, Asahi, H, Becker, J, Detlef, H, Aiello, I W, Andreasen D, and Hall, I R. 2018. Closure of the Bering Strait caused Mid–Pleistocene Transition cooling. Nature Communications. 9, 5386.
  • Swann, G E A, Kendrick, C P, Dickson, A J, and Worne, S. 2018. Late Pliocene marine pCO2 reconstructions from the Subarctic Pacific Ocean. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 33, 457–469.
  • Savannah was supervised at Nottingham by Profs George Swann and Sarah Metcalfe, at Exeter by Dr Sev Kender and undertook her isotope analysis at the BGS with Prof Melanie Leng.

October

• Research funding: Congratulations to the following members of Geography and Archaeology staff who have received National Environmental Isotope Facility funding at the Autumn 2019 meeting for the following research projects:
  
  • IP–1943–1119: M Jones and L Hunt (Geography), K Mills and M Leng (BGS) – 2,000 years of hydrological change in Africa: implications for future climate scenarios.
  • IP–1948–1119: S McGowan (Geography), J Lacey and A Marriott (BGS) – Understanding long–term environmental conditions to inform sustainable aquaculture development in Lake Victoria, Kenya
  • IP–1949–1119: H O'Regan, C Loveluck and F Moore (Archaeology), A Lamb and J Evans (BGS) – A multi-isotope study of human movement and diet in Middle Saxon East Anglia.

July

• The following papers (with CEG members) were presented at the 20th Congress of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), Dublin.
• Charlotte Briddon, Suzanne McGowan, Sarah Metcalfe, David Taylor, Wayne Bannister, Melandro Cunanan, Melanie Leng. Assessing the impact of aquaculture in the Philippines using palaeolimnology.
• Jonathan Dean, Melanie Leng, Finn Viehberg, Asfawossen Asrat, Melissa Chapot, Andrew Cohen, Alan Deino, Verena Foerster, Janna Just, Henry Lamb, Helen Roberts, Frank Schäbitz, Martin Trauth, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Christine Lane, Céline Vidal. A 600 kyr hydroclimate record from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia, and implications for Anatomically Modern Human dispersal out of Africa.
• Jack Lacey, John Boyle, Charlotte Briddon, Stefan Engels, Mushrifah Idris, Melanie Leng, Melody Li, Suzanne McGowan, Keely Mills, Virginia Panizzo, David Ryves, Muhammad Shafiq, Christopher Vane, Lara Winter. Understanding human–driven ecosystem change in a tropical Southeast Asian wetland.
• Jack Lacey, John Boyle, Charlotte Briddon, Stefan Engels, Mushrifah Idris, Melanie Leng, Melody Li, Suzanne McGowan, Keely Mills, Virginia Panizzo, David Ryves, Muhammad Shafiq, Christopher Vane, Lara Winter. Middle–Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental change and anthropogenic impact in tropical Southeast Asia: a multi–proxy lacustrine record from Tasik Chini, Malaysia.
• Charles Maxson, John Tibby, Cameron Barr, Jonathan Tyler, Melanie Leng, Jonathan Marshall, Glenn McGregor, Cameron Schulz. A Holocene isotope hydroclimate record from Blue Lake, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, subtropical Australia.
• Congratulations to Dr Tim Gregory (postdoctoral researcher at the British Geological Survey) who has been successful in securing a NanoPrime proof–of–concept grant. Tim will be using a combination ofscanning electron microscopyand time of flight secondary ionisation mass spectrometryto constrain the nature of uranium–bearing phases in primitive meteoritic material; the samples are some of the oldest rocks in the Solar System. This work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and will be conducted at the University of Nottingham’s Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre in collaboration with Dr Matt Horstwood (BGS) and David Scurr (nmRC UoN).

June

• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within Biosciences and Geography who have received National Environmental Isotope Facility funding at the Spring 2019 meeting for the following research projects:
• IP-1918-0619: Prof M Leng - Stable C Isotope Analyses Coupled to XRF Core Scanning through a UK Black Shale Giant
• IP-1924-0619: Dr J Pike (Cardiff), Prof G Swann and Prof M Leng - Holocene diatom and sponge spicule oxygen isotope ratios from the west Antarctic Peninsula: exploring seasonal and depth related isotope offsets using paired samples
• Melanie Leng, Director of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (and Chief Scientist for Environmental Change Adaptation and Resilience at the BGS, and Professor of Isotope Geosciences at the University of Nottingham) has been awarded an MBE in this year’s Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to environmental science. The list, which has been published annually since 1917, recognises those who have contributed to the British Empire. MBE, or Member of the British Empire, is bestowed upon those who have made a considerable contribution to the community through their line of work.

April

• Congratulations to Dr Stuart Young on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: The ecology of immune variation in wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus). Stuart was supervised by Jan Bradley (University of Nottingham) and collaborated with Angela Lamb (BGS) on stable isotope analysis. Stuart is now working as a Programme Officer for the IUCN Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group based at Chester Zoo. A paper on Stuart's work has just been published in Functional Ecology:
  
  Taylor, C H, Young, S, Fenn, J, Lamb, A L, Lowe, A E, Poulin, B, MacColl, A D C, and Bradley, J E. 2019. Immune state is associated with natural dietary variation in wild mice Mus musculus domesticus. Functional Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13354.


• The following abstracts were presented by CEG staff (UoN and BGS coauthors) at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna, Austria
  
  • Melanie Leng, Philip Barker, Heather Moorhouse, Jack Lacey, Christian Wolff, Maarten Van Daele, Thijs Van der Meeren, and Dirk Verschuren. DeepCHALLA – a 250,000 year record of hydroclimate from equatorial East Africa using diatom and organic isotope data, European General Assembly, EGU2019–2363
  • Jack Lacey, John Boyle, Charlotte Briddon, Stefan Engels, Mushrifah Idris, Melanie Leng, Melody Li, Suzanne McGowan, Keely Mills, Virginia Panizzo, David Ryves, Muhammad Shafiq, Christopher Vane, and Lara Winter. Middle to Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental change and anthropogenic impact in tropical Southeast Asia: a multi–proxy lacustrine record from Tasik Chini, Malaysia, European General Assembly, EGU2019–5743
    
    For CEG/Blogs http://environmentalgeochemistry.org/blogs.html
• Congratulations to Prof Melanie Leng who has been appointed to sit on the European Science Foundation College of external reviewers for a 3 year period.

January

• Australian Research Council award: Congratulations to Melanie Leng for her contribution to the successful Australian Research Council grant: "East Australian climate extremes through the Holocene". The project aims are to document climate variability in eastern Australia over the Holocene (the last ~11,500 years) and seeks to develop Australia's two highest–resolution Holocene climate records using novel techniques (including isotopes) to infer past rainfall, temperature and evaporation. In particular the plan is to determine the frequency, duration and causes of megadroughts in eastern Australia, of which little is known. Expected project outcomes include improved decision making capacity for natural resource management, and planning. Mel is a Partner Investigator with the University of Adelaide Chief Investigators (Dr John Tibby and Dr Jonathan Tyler).

2018

December

• Research funding: Congratulations to Suzanne in Geography who has received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding (37k) for PhD student Charlotte Briddon at the December 2018 meeting for the following research project:
  IP-1859-1118: Prof S McGowan and Prof S Metcalfe (Nottingham) – Assessing the impact of aquaculture in the Philippine using palaeolimnology.
• Research funding: Prof Colin Snape (UoN) and Dr Chris Vane (BGS) and others have won a Directed NERC Unconventional Hydrocarbons grant entitled "An integrated assessment of UK shale resource distribution based on fundamental analyses of shale mechanical and fluid". The project aims to better understand shale gas resource, locating where the sweet spots are and their relationship to geological and engineering controls. The project will generate new interoperable data sets and also utilise new data released from industry. BGS and UoN will measurements and experimental research approaches to identify the prospectivity of these shales are the origin of the organic matter (kerogen type) contained in the shales and the diagenetic pathways the organic matter undergoes (maturity analysis). These two variables combined dictate the amount and type (oil, dry/wet gas) of hydrocarbons that can be generated by the source rock.

October

• Congratulations to Dr Rowan Dejardin on the successful defence of his PhD thesis entitled: Reconstructing oceanographic conditions through the deglacial and Holocene (ca. 15 ka) at the sub–Antarctic island of South Georgia. Rowan was supervised by George Swann (University of Nottingham), Melanie Leng (University of Nottingham/NGS) and Sev Kender (University of Exeter).
• Congratulations to Dr Joe Emmings on successfully defending his PhD research: Controls on UK Lower Namurian Shale Gas Prospectivity: Understanding the Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Organic Matter in Siliciclastic Mudstones. Joe was supervised by Mike Stephenson (BGS) and Melanie Leng (University of Nottingham/BGS) and Sarah Davies (Leicester University)

September

• Congratulations to Dr Joe Emmings (CEG Research Fellow at the BGS) who has been successful in securing a NanoPrime proof–of–concept grant funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) for research at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (University of Nottingham). The work will focus on resolving the nanoscale structure of 'amorphous' organic matter in ancient black shales using FIB–SEM and TEM, involving collaboration with co–applicants Dr Jan Hennissen (BGS) and Dr Chris Parmenter (University of Nottingham).

August

• Congratulations to Dr Holly Miller who has been successful in securing a Newton Advanced International Fellowship – Holly Miller co–Applicant (with project partners: Jane Evans, Angela Lamb, Simon Chenery and Julian Henderson). The grant focuses on building capacity for sustainable archaeological science and heritage in Turkey.
• Congratulations to Dr Holly Miller who has been appointed an Assistant Professor within the Department of Classics and Archaeology (and she is also a Visiting Research Associate at the BGS). Holly's research has two primary strands (1) human–animal–landscape relationships, and what they can reveal about past societies and (2) object biographies, and the expression of human culture and identity in prehistory. These two strands are increasingly linked by shared concerns of health and wellbeing, and the ideology that human, (non–human)animal and environmental experiences must be considered together to be meaningful. Both have resonance for contemporary issues. Holly works on animal remains, stone tools and beads to understand more about the past. She is a zooarchaeologist with expertise in isotope geochemistry and lithic analysis. In particular, her work is focussed on the Epi–Palaeolithic – Iron Age of the Near East.
• New Appointments: Welcome to new PhD students David Osbourne, Fiona Moore, Catrin Fear and Robert Francis within the Department of Classics and Archaeology and are funded through Midlands 3 cities.

July

• Congratulations to Tracey Coffey, Sharon Egan, Suzanne McGowan, Murray Lark, Odipo Osano, Christopher Aura, Andrew Marriott, Greg Sambrook Smith, Iseult Lynch and Stefan Krause on their successful GCRF Multidisciplinary Challenge–led Research Project Aquaculture in Lake Victoria – Challenges for the industry. This project combines the experience and expertise within the University of Nottingham with that of the Inorganic Geochemistry department at BGS, the University of Eldoret, the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute and the University of Birmingham. This project addresses the intensification of the aquaculture industry in Kenya and highlights the major risks to its sustainability. The overarching aim is to identify key pollutants at the "environment: fish: human" interface and to highlight the potential risks to livestock production, animal and human health, food security and the environment. The project's novelty lies in its holistic approach to pollution analysis across this interface, and its potential impact on food security and the animal/human health implications of exposure to each pollutant, with clear health, societal and economic impacts.
• Congratulations to Camilla Bertini for the successful defence of her PhD thesis on "Trade and glass production in Early Medieval Italy, England, and Denmark (late 6th - 11th century AD): compositional and isotopic analysis". Camilla from the Dept. of Archaeology was supervised by Julian Henderson and Chris Loveluck (UoN) with extensive support from Jane Evans and Simon Chenery at BGS, under the auspices of CEG.
• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within Archaeology and Geography who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Spring 2018 meeting for the following research projects:
  
  • IP-1810-0618: Prof J Henderson - The investigation of the earliest use of limestone as a glaze flux using strontium isotopic approach.
  • IP-1812-0618: Dr M Jones and Prof S Metcalfe - Isotope hydrology of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
  • IP-1815-0618: Prof M Leng, Prof S McGowan, Dr V Panizzo - Understanding human-driven ecosystem change in tropical Southeast Asia.
  • IP-1832-0618: G Swann - Constraining biogeochemical cycling in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea through the Mid Pleistocene Transition.

June

• The following abstracts were presented by CEG staff (UoN and BGS coauthors) at the joint International Paleolimnology Association and International Association of Limnogeology (IPA–IAL) conference at Stockholm University in Sweden to "unravel the past and future of lakes". The conference ran from 18–21 June 2018.
  
  • Leng, M , Anderson, J, Osburn, C, Fritz, S, Law, A, and McGowan, S. S05–O05 – A landscape perspective of Holocene organic carbon cycling in coastal SW Greenland lake–catchments. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Mackay, A W, Seddon, A, Leng, M, Heumann, G, Morley, D, Piotrowska, N, Rioual, P, Roberts, S, and Swann, G. S05–O06 – Holocene carbon dynamics at the forest – steppe ecotone of southern Siberia. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Zeng, L, McGowan, S, Swann, G, Leng, M, and Chen, X. S06–O06 – Interactive effects of hydrology and nutrient pollution on two shallow freshwater lakes in the middle Yangtze floodplain. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Panizzo, V, Swann, G, Mackay, A, Pashley, Va, and Horstwood, M. S07–O06 – Modelling silicon supply during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e) at Lake Baikal. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Briddon, C, McGowan, S, Metcalfe, S, Taylor, D, Banniste, W, Cunanan, M, and Leng, M. S16–O01 – Assessing the impact of aquaculture in the Philippines using palaeolimnology. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Lacey, J, Leng, M, Engels, S, McGowan, S, Panizzo, V, Mills, K, Ryves, D, Vane, C, Gowing, C, Briddon, C, Winter, L, Li, M, Shafiq, M, and Idris, M. S16–P06 – Understanding human–driven ecosystem change in a tropical Southeast Asian wetland: a multi–proxy lacustrine record from Tasik Chini, Malaysia. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Panizzo, V, Engels, S, McGowan, S, Len, M, Mills, K, Idris, M, and Shafiq, M. S16–P08 – Seasonal biogeochemical monitoring at Tasik Chini, Malaysia: a case study of a tropical flood pulse wetland. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.
  • Lacey, J, Leng, M, Francke, A, Vogel, H, Zanchetta, G, and Wagner, B. S27–P08 – A 1.4 million–year palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from Lake Ohrid using stable isotopes. IPA–IAL2018, Stockholm, June 2018.

  The book of abstracts can be downloaded from here.

• Congratulations to Thuy Duong Thi from the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology who has gained NAFOSTED funding for a 3 month research internship to visit the School of Geography (Suzanne McGowan and Ginnie Pannizo) and BGS (Melanie Leng). The internship is part of the research being done under a Newton Fund RCUK-Partnerships Call grant to work on "Assessing human impacts on the Red River system, Vietnam, to enable sustainable management". The project aims to provide an updated, detailed and process-based overview of macronutrient fluxes and pollutant distribution, to fill in knowledge gaps of C, N, P and Si processing and produce an improved model using Materials Flow Analysis for scenario planning in the Red River Delta, Vietnam.
• Congratulations to CEG and Anne McLaren Fellow Dr Ginnie Panizzo on being promoted to Assistant Professor within the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham. Ginnie is also a Visiting Research Associate at the BGS.

May

• Congratulations to Professor Martin Broadley (Biosciences, UoN) and Dr Louise Ander (Inorganic Geochemistry, BGS) were announced as winners of the BBSRC Innovator of the Year 2018 International Impact category for their work on GeoNutrition: spatial aspects of hidden hunger.

April

• New appointment: Welcome to Dr Joe Emmings who has joined the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry group as a BGS Research Fellow in Shale Gas Geochemistry. Joe is interested in understanding ancient marine biogeochemical processes, by integration of sedimentology and organic and inorganic geochemistry. Specifically in understanding the link between palaeo–bottom water redox state (oxic, ferruginous, euxinic) and ultimately the composition of mudstones. The application of this research lies in understanding the resource potential of unconventional hydrocarbon source rocks, and understanding ancient marine basins as a sink for key nutrients. This research follows on from Joes PhD research at the University of Leicester and BGS. Joe has also worked as an engineering geologist, with focus on understanding modern marine sedimentary processes as geohazards to infrastructure such as pipelines.

March

• Research funding: Michael Watts (BGS) and Martin Broadley (UoN) have won a Royal Society International Exchange grant with the Copperbelt University in Zambia entitled 'Risk of Exposure to mine tailings in the Zambian Copperbelt'. The aim of this work is to exchange knowledge to further the understanding of environmental exposure, particularly in populations in proximity to mine tailings in an African setting.

January

• Research funding: Hannah O’Regan was awarded funding for Of Fire, Ice and People: Peak District lead production, human health and the environment over the last two millennia, UoN RPA grant. Includes isotope component – Sr, O and Pb - for 26 individuals to examine movement and pollution in the Peak District through time (with Jane Evans and Angela Lamb).
• Research funding: Hannah O’Regan was awarded funding for Migration Narratives an archaeological perspective UoN Research priority area (RPA) grant. This includes an isotope component – analysing Sr and O for fifteen individuals from two Roman sites excavated by UoN archaeology (Doghole Cave and Venta Icenorum) (with Jane Evans and Angela Lamb).
• Congratulations to Dr Andrea Snelling who has recently started as a Daphne Jackson Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, University of Nottingham: Assessing the role of biogeochemical cycling in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea through the Mid Pleistocene Transition. Andrea will be using diatom silicon isotope analysis to constrain aquatic productivity and nutrient availability/supply to test the interconnectivity between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea and assess whether nutrient leakage played a key role in governing subarctic biogeochemical cycling. Andrea’s analytical work will be undertaken at the British Geological Survey.

2017

December

• Congratulations: BBSRC GCRF Foundation Award 'GeoNutrition - tackling hidden hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa' is examining soil-crop transfers of micronutrients, and how these may impact on diets in Ethiopia and Malawi. This project is led by Rothamsted Research, but includes a number of CEG staff from UoN, led by Prof. Martin Broadley and Dr Louise Ander at BGS.
• New Funding: Congratulations to Professor Martin Broadley (UoN) and the project team for the newly announced award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The £4.4m Geonutrition project focus will be on micronutrient deficiencies in Ethiopia and Malawi. This research will involve a multi–disciplinary international team examining the evidence for the occurrence and reasons for mineral micronutrient deficiencies, and agricultural biofortification strategies which can be used to alleviate these problems. Dr Louise Ander is the BGS staff member on this project.
• Congratulations to Dr Michael Watts who was recently elected to the post of President of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Michael has been involved in the SEGH for nearly 15 years as a member of the European board and active on the International board via his role in redesigning the website since 2010.
  More information
• Sunday 10th December, 9pm. A BBC1 documentary 'Attenborough and the Giant Elephant': presented by David Attenborough who investigates the remarkable life and death of Jumbo the elephant – a celebrity animal superstar whose story is said to have inspired the movie Dumbo. The documentary included staff from both University of Nottingham (Holly Miller) and the BGS (Angela Lamb).

November

• Congratulations to Leslie Bode for defending her PhD thesis: In search of a local Palaeoenvironmental Record: Combining Archaeobotany and stable carbon isotopes to investigate water stress at the Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV in the Azraq Basin, Jordan. This thesis employs two approaches to investigate water stress at the early and mid Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV in the Azraq Basin, Jordan. Firstly, the archaeobotanical analysis explores the local environment by using the ecology of identifiable charred seeds to indicate water availability (autoecology). Included alongside this is a seed catalogue, which presents the unique archaeobotanical assemblage recovered through sampling. Secondly, to further explore the local palaeoenvironment and due to the potential broad hydrological tolerances ofsome species, stable carbon isotope δ13C analysis of the archaeobotanical remains isused to track changes in water stress during the occupation of the site. These analyses provide a complementary approach to traditional archaeobotanical studies. Combined,these data offer considerable insight into questions about the local environment, particularly water stress, and the potential use of plants during the occupation of Kharaneh IV. The results presented here demonstrate that Kharaneh IV experienced variable water stress throughout its occupation, with a drying out of the site coincident with the end of occupation. This signature of drying is found within both the isotopic and autoecological analyses, providing multiple lines of evidence for this pattern. This thesis serves as a case study for the usefulness and inferential power of multi–method approaches that combine archaeobotanical and isotopic analysis. Leslie was jointly supervised by staff in the Department of Archaeology, the School of Geography (at University of Nottingham) and the BGS.
• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within the School of Geography who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Autumn 2017 meeting for the following research projects:
  
  • IP-1767-1117: Prof S McGowan (Nottingham) – Assessing the impact of aquaculture in the Philippines using palaeolimnology
  • IP-1768-1117: Prof S Metcalfe and Dr M Jones (Nottingham) – Climate and human agency in the settlement of the Mayab region (Mesoamerica)
  • IP-1773-1117: Dr J Pike (Cardiff) and Dr George Swann (Nottingham) – Late Quaternary Antarctic ice sheet discharge: exploiting the sediment diatom silica archive
  • IP-1786-1117: Dr G Swann and Dr A Snelling (Nottingham) – Constraining biogeochemical cycling in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea through the Mid Pleistocene Transition

October

• New editor for Nature Scientific Reports. Congratulations to Prof Melanie Leng who has been appointed on to the editorial board of Nature Scientific Reports. Nature Scientific Reports sits within the nature family of journals and covers all areas of the natural sciences. The journal is open access and continuous online publication enables articles to be published swiftly. The journal has over a million article page views per month. Scientific Reports currently has an Impact Factor of 5.228 (2015).

September

• Congratulations to Melanie Leng who has been invited to sit on the Australian Research Councils “Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage’s (CABAH) Centre Advisory Committee” for a 2 year term. The CABAH funds research to safeguard Australia’s national heritage, transform research culture, connect with communities and inform policy. By tracking the natural and human history of Australia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia, they aim to fill vast gulfs of knowledge to protect Australia’s assets. The CABAH is funded by substantial grants from the Australian Research Council, the NSW Government, and participating universities, museums, and organisations.

July

• Congratulations: GCRF-NERC funding 'Conservation Agriculture to improve agricultural productivity'. This project will consolidate on the joint Royal Society-DFID soil geochemistry project (led by Prof Martin Broadley; UoN and Dr Michael Watts; BGS) and provide a measured impact of long term Conservation Agriculture research projects by African partners to evaluate benefits for soil-moisture retention, impact on groundwater recharge and reduction in loss of soil-nutrients. Headed by Prof Murray Lark, with a team of staff from both BGS and UoN. Other partners include academics and government scientists, agri-industry in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• Congratulations! Fiona Sach was awarded 1st prize in her year group for a presentation at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences postgraduate conference. The presentation was about Fiona's PhD which is looking at the question "Are Land Use Decisions of African Elephants based on Environmental Geochemistry?". The project is focusing on the Phalaborwa mine in South Africa and if the unique geochemistry surrounding the mine is attracting the elephants to the area and providing them with minerals which the elephants require. Unfortunately when the elephants enter the mining area, they cause human elephant conflict which risks elephant and human life and causes loss of income.
  More about Fiona’s project.

June

• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within the Schools of Geography who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Spring 2016 meeting for the following research projects:
  
  • IP-1711-0517: Dr J Dean (Hull) and Prof M Leng (Nottingham) - Did the African Humid Period termination in southern Ethiopia really take ~1000 years?
  • IP-1727-0517: Dr S McGowan, Dr G Swann, Prof M Leng (Nottingham) - How have hydrological impoundments and eutrophication changed organic matter cycling in shallow freshwater ecosystems of the Middle Yangtze Basin?
  • IP-1733-0517: Dr J Pike (Cardiff), Dr G Swann and Prof M Leng (Nottingham) - Tracing icebergs around East Antarctica - an indication of past ice sheet dynamics?
  • IP-1740-0517: Dr G Swann and Prof M Leng (Nottingham) - Reconstructing upwelling, nutrient supply, and the efficiency of the biological pump in the Bering Sea since the middle Pleistocene, using diatom silicon isotope records.

May

• New Funding: Congratulations to staff in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry who have won an NERC Newton Fund institutional links grant (Mexico): Valuable wetlands – mapping of wetland ecosystem services for climate regulation. The project combines on the ground collection, laboratory measurement and upscaling using satellite and modelling to provide an integrated tool for assessing the economic value of wetland forests. The project is led by Dr Sofie Sjogersten (UoN) and includes assessment of wetland carbon by Rock–Eval with Dr Christopher Vane (BGS) and application of remote sensing by Dr Doreen Boyd (UoN) and co–workers.

April

• New appointment: Melanie Leng has been invited to join the Editorial Board of Quaternary Research. Quaternary Research is an international journal devoted to the advancement of the interdisciplinary understanding of the Quaternary Period. They aim to publish articles of broad interest with relevance to more than one discipline, and that constitute a significant new contribution to Quaternary science.
• New Funding: Congratulations to staff in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry who have won an AHRC grant: Exploring the Easter E.G. – Shifting Baselines and Changing Perceptions of Cultural and Biological Aliens. The project is a collaboration between PI Dr Naomi Sykes UoN, Dr Phillip Shaw (University of Leicester) and Prof Gregor Larson (University of Oxford). The project will focus on the animals associated with Easter – the brown hare, rabbit and chicken. These animals are all "alien" to Britain and the project seeks to understand their origins and domestication, including the application of stable isotope analysis in collaboration with Dr Angela Lamb (BGS/UoN) and Dr Holly Miller (UoN/BGS).
• New Funding: Congratulations to staff in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry who have won an AHRC grant: Going Places: Empowering Women, Enhancing Heritage and Increasing Chicken Production in Ethiopia. The project seeks to address the position of women in Ethiopia and the role that chicken production has within this. The project is led by Dr Naomi Sykes (UoN/BGS) and includes the application of stable isotope analysis in collaboration with Dr Angela Lamb (BGS/UoN) and Dr Holly Miller (UoN/BGS).

March

• New Funding: Congratulations to staff in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (Suzanne McGowan and Michael Watts) who have won a NERC Standard Grant to work on: "Ecological effects of glacial dust deposition on remote Arctic lakes" with the Loughborough University (John Anderson and Joanna Bullard). This grant brings together a dynamic team with complementary skills and experience, notably in dust dynamics, Arctic limnology (in particular, experimental limnology, algal ecology and nutrient dynamics) and geochemistry. The proposal builds on these four complementary research strands to allow an integrated analysis of dust particle size and deposition rates, its chemical composition and its ecological effects in nutrient–limited lakes.
• Visiting Researchers: The CEG have two Commonwealth Scholarship Council–UK Professional Fellows visiting from Kenya and Zimbabwe in April for two months. This is part of the Royal Society–DFID Capacity building project.
• Research News: Diriba Kumssa has recently been welcomed to the Magnesium Network (MAG-NET): Integrating Soil-Crop-Animal Pathways to Improve Ruminant Health project as a new post-doctoral research associate within the team. This project is funded by a BBSRC-NERC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC) grant (2016-2020), collaborating across the School of Biosciences and School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at UoN, Inorganic Geochemistry at BGS and the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University. Project PIs are Professor Martin Broadley (School of Biosciences, UoN), Dr Louise Ander (Inorganic Geochemistry, BGS) and Alan Lovatt (IBERS, Aberystwyth University).
• Research News: MSc student Jonathan Craggs (UoN Geography) will be working with Organic Geochemistry Facility at BGS from mid-April to July to assist in the development of the measurement and modelling of dermal bioavailability of organic compounds in soils for human health risk assessment of brown field land. Jonathan's research will address how to consistently apply soil to artificial skin as well as tackle the effect of time on the transfer of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from soil into and through humans via the skin. This student project augments a programme of industry led research into human exposure to potentially harmful organic compounds in soil and is supervised by a joint BGS/UoN team (Paul Nathanial, Chris Vane, Darren Beriro and Mark Cave) with additional industrial steer from WSP-PB and National Grid Property Holdings.
• PhD position: Measuring and modelling the dermal bioavailability of organic compounds in soil for human health risk assessment of brownfield land (fully funded fees and stipend for UK/EU applicants).
  More information

February

• New Funding: Congratulations to staff in the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry who have won a Newton Fund RCUK-Partnerships Call grant to work on Assessing human impacts on the Red River system, Vietnam, to enable sustainable management. The grant is headed by Suzanne McGowan at the University of Nottingham. The project aims to provide an updated, detailed and process-based overview of macronutrient fluxes and pollutant distribution, to fill in knowledge gaps of C, N, P and Si processing and produce an improved model using Materials Flow Analysis for scenario planning in the Red River Delta, Vietnam.

January

• New appointment: Congratulations to Jack Lacey who has been made Treasurer of the Quaternary Research Association. The QRA – is an organisation comprising archaeologists, botanists, civil engineers, geographers, geologists, soil scientists, zoologists and others interested in research into the problems of the Quaternary.

2016

December

• New Visiting Research Associate: Congratulations to Dr Kara Bogus (IODP, Texas A&M University) who has been appointed as a Visiting Research Associate at the British Geological Survey within the Stable Isotope Facility and the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. Kara is an organic geochemist and her research interests are in formation and alteration of marine kerogen; organic matter diagenesis and preservation; geochemical composition of organic microfossils and sources of variability; development of organic microfossil composition as a kerogenproxy. Kara will be working with Sev Kender and Melanie Leng on reconstructing Bay of Bengal palaeoceanography since the Miocene.
• Research funding: Congratulations to the staff in Geography who have secured a NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Autumn 2016 meeting for the following research project:
  
  • IP–1674–1116: Dr S Kender and Dr G Swann – Investigating sea ice and Bering Sea palaeoceanography during the middle Pleistocene global climatic shift.

November

• Visiting Research Associate: Congratulations to Prof Paul Nathanail (School of Geography) who has been made a Visiting research Associate with the British Geological Survey. Paul is Professor of Engineering Geology and Managing Director of Land Quality Management Ltd. His research, teaching and consultancy interests span the spectrum of risk based contaminated land management and sustainable urban regeneration.
• Darren Beriro has been awarded a prestigious NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship to improve the understanding and utilisation of NERC geoscience by the brownfield redevelopment sector in the UK. The Fellowship starts in December 2016 and lasts for 3 years. Darren will work with landowners, developers and geoenvironmental consultants through a series of workshops and one-to-one shadowing projects. CEG science that is part of the project includes bespoke analytical methods that estimate the human exposure of potentially harmful chemicals in soil and assist with the source apportionment of chemicals present in hazardous waste.
  For further information contact darrenb@bgs.ac.uk
• The British Geological Survey, University of Nottingham and WSP | PB are jointly supervising two exciting PhD studentship opportunities that are currently being advertised by the Envision and STARS doctoral training schemes. Each will be fully funded for home/EU applicants and will focus on different aspects of the dermal bioavailability of organic soil contaminants and will form part of a programme of work funded by National Grid Property Holdings. The first of these studentships is entitled: "Measurement and modelling human dermal bioavailability of potentially harmful organic soil contaminants"
  More information
• Postdoctoral researcher post: A 2 year 9 month researcher position is available to work on the 'Magnesium Network (MAG-NET): Integrating Soil-Crop-Animal Pathways to Improve Ruminant Health' project funded by the BBSRC/NERC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC). This interdisciplinary role will include experimental and sampling work on forage grasses, as well as assisting with on-farm veterinary audits, and integrating datasets from across the project. The post will be in the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, working closely with the academic partners, BGS and IBERS (Aberystwyth University), as well as industry partners. For further information please contact Prof Martin Broadley. Applications must be made through the University of Nottingham portal by the closing date of 28th November 2016.
• Postdoctoral researcher position: A 3 year researcher position is available to work at BGS, in conjunction with the School of Biosciences University of Nottingham, using stochastic spatial modelling techniques to quantify how plant root systems modify the physical structure of the soil during their development, and how plant and microbial processes in soil combine to control the dynamics of soil structure. For further details please contact Prof Murray Lark. Applications must be made through the UK Shared Business Services Ltd by the closing date of 20th November 2016.

October

• PhD position: A PhD available through Envision DPT on Biological and biogeochemical proxy calibration of deglaciating environments in Antarctica. For further details, please contact Prof James Scourse (j.scourse@bangoe.ac.uk). This project will provide an excellent and rare opportunity for the student to participate in research cruises and fieldwork in Antarctica. This research is collaboration between the Universities of Bangor and Nottingham, the British Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey. Applicants should make their applications through the Envision website online application by 10am on Friday 6th January 2017.
• PhD position: A PhD available through Envision DPT on: Reconstructing 2000 years of hydrological change in Africa – implications for future climate scenarios. For further details, please contact Dr Keely Mills (kmil@bgs.ac.uk) or Dr Matt Jones (matthew.jones@nottingham.ac.uk). As part of this studentship the successful candidate will have the opportunity to undertake fieldwork in Uganda, and develop research links with colleagues based in overseas institutions. This research is collaboration between the British Geological Survey and the University of Nottingham (the combined Centre for Environmental Geochemistry). All applicants should make their application through the Envision website online application by 10am on Friday 6th January 2017.

September

• The following abstracts were presented by CEG staff at the International Conference in Palaeoceanography, held between 27th August and 4th September 2016 in Utrecht, Netherlands.
  • Dejardin, R, Allen, C, Kender, S, Leng, M, Peck, V, Swann, G. A multiproxy palaeoceanographic record of the deglacial and Holocene from the Subantarctic island of South Georgia (P–118). International Conference in Palaeoceanography, August 2016, Urecht, Netherlands.
  • Detlef, H, Sosdian, S, Hall, I R, Lear, C H, Kender, S, Leng, M J, Belt, S T. Mid–Pleistocene oceanography in the Bering Sea – Insights from deep ocean temperature, continental ice volume, and sea ice records (P–467). International Conference in Palaeoceanography, August 2016, Urecht, Netherlands.
  • Pike, J, Swann, G, Leng, M, Snelling, A. A Holocene record of giant iceberg calving from the Amery Ice Shelf, Prydz Bay (P–545). International Conference in Palaeoceanography, August 2016, Urecht, Netherlands.
  • Worne, S, Kender, S, Swann, G, Stroynowski, Z, Leng, M. Investigating sea ice, productivity and intermediate water evolution in the Bering Sea over the Mid–Pleistocene Transition (0–1.2 Ma) (P–592). International Conference in Palaeoceanography, August 2016, Urecht, Netherlands.
• The following abstracts were presented by CEG staff at the International Geological Congress help between 27th August and 4th September 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Bogus, K A B, Fox, L R, Kender, S, Leng, M, and the Exp. 354 science party. Stable isotopes from planktonic and benthic foraminifera: preliminary results from IODP Expedition 354 (Bengal Fan). International Geological Congress, 2016, Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Kender, S, Ravelo, A C, Hall, I R, Leng, M J, Becker, J, Worne, S, Aiello, I W, Asahi, H, and Andreasen, D. Oceanographic and climate changes during the Mid Pleistocene uncovered from Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean sediment cores. International Geological Congress, 2016, Cape Town, South Africa.

June

• Research Funding: Congratulations to staff within Geography who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Spring 2016 meeting for the following research projects:
  • IP–1619–0516: Dr G Swann & Dr K Hendry (Bristol) – Oxygen isotope systematics of deep–sea sponges from the North Atlantic.
  • IP–1623–0516: Dr J Dean and Prof M Leng – Climate change and human dispersal over the past 115 000 years in east Africa.

May

• Visitors: Through May the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry hosted four PhD students for a training secondment as part of the Royal Society–DFID Capacity building project (2015–2020) with partners in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in addition to a senior laboratory technician from the University of Zimbabwe funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Their supervisory team (comprising of leading scientists from paired Agricultural Research Institutes and Universities from each country and a nutritional health scientist from Addis Ababa University) also attended for a shorter period of project planning, progress presentations and discussion of future funding opportunities. This leg of the secondment included a symposia involving four instrument manufacturers who demonstrated equipment appropriate for the African environment, as well as a research symposia, with presentations from 18 PhD students, technical staff and a Royal Society administrator. The Royal Society–DFID Capacity building project is headed by Michael Watts (BGS) and Martin Broadley (UoN).

March

• Research News: Well done to Profs Ritz, Mooney, Bennet (UoN) and Dr Murray Lark (BGS) who have won a BBSRC responsive mode grant to work on the interaction of crop roots and soil microbes in the dynamics of soil structure. It will be an exciting new application of special modelling methods.
• Research News: We have recently gained funding to undertake a project entitled 'Are land–use decisions of African elephants based on environmental geochemistry?' via three sources: PhD student from the NERC Envision DTP, Hermes travel bursary and the Royal Society International Exchange scheme. The project is based on a CEG collaboration between the Inorganic Geochemistry and Stable Isotopes teams at BGS and Schools of Biosciences and Veterinary Science at the University of Nottingham. The collaboration is further strengthened by partners in five UK zoos and with partners in South Africa with a history of working with elephants in Kruger park.
• Research News: Congratulations to Jack Lacey for successfully defending his PhD thesis: "Late Quaternary Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction from Lake Ohrid." Jack did his PhD within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry at the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey and was supervised by Prof Melanie Leng and Dr Matthew Jones.

February

• Research funding: Congratulations to the staff in Geography (and BAS) who have secured a NERC Radiocarbon Facility grant from the Autumn 2015 meeting:
  
  • 1944.1015: Rowan Dejardin (PhD student), Dr Sev Kender, Prof Melanie Leng, Dr George Swann (and Dr Vicky Peck and Dr Claire Allen, both BAS) – Assessing Holocene variability in oceanographic conditions around the Subantarctic island of South Georgia.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Stefan Engels (UoN) who has been appointed as a Visiting Research Associate at the British Geological Survey. Stefan's research aims are to better understand natural and anthropogenic processes that drive environmental change in the recent past through materials deposited in lake sediments. In his current project Stefan combines classic palaeoecological proxies and novel geochemical techniques to investigate recent human impacts (including pollution, land development, invasive species, hydrological modification and climate change) on Asian lakes and wetlands.
• Press release: Exploring the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean since the last Ice Age. A team of researchers have discovered that the increased levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere during the last ice age did not result from reduced density of the deep ocean as previously thought. In the first study of its kind, the team, made up of researchers from The University of Nottingham (Dr Sev Kender), the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey, were able to disprove the theory that the CO₂ (that came from the depths of the ocean), was released because deep water became less dense, able to overturn, and ventilate its dissolved carbon to the atmosphere. The full research paper 'Evolution of South Atlantic density and chemical stratification across the last deglaciation' can be found online at NERC – Science of the Environment.

January

• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within the Schools of Geography and Biosciences who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Autumn 2015 meeting for the following research projects:
  • IP–1579–1115: Prof M Leng (Nottingham) – Has millennial or rapid environmental change forced endemic evolution over the last 1.2Ma?
  • IP–1582–1115: Dr B Lomax – Carbon isotope analysis as a tool to study genome duplication and angiosperm diversification.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Dr Kara Bogus who has been appointed as a Post Doctoral Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (School of Geography, University of Nottingham and British Geological Survey). Kara is an organic geochemist and her research interests are in formation and alteration of marine kerogen; organic matter diagenesis and preservation; geochemical composition of organic microfossils and sources of variability; development of organic microfossil composition as a kerogenproxy. Kara will be working with Sev Kender, Melanie Leng and Simon Chenery on reconstructing Bay of Bengal palaeoceanography since the Miocene.
• The following abstracts (including CEG staff) were presented at the Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion Meeting, Royal Holloway University of London, 6th–8th January:
  • Mackay, A, Seddon, A, Leng, M J, Morley, D, Rioual, P, Swann, G. Isotopic evidence for abrupt cool events in central Asia during the Holocene and Last Interglacial.
  • McClymont, E L, Sanchez Montes, M L, Elmore, A C, Müller, J, Kender, S, Greaves, M, Leng, M J, Elderfield, H. Evolution of Sea surface and Intermediate Water Temperatures through the Pleistocene: Implications for the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.
  • Nichols, M, Kender, S, Woods, M, Zalasiewicz, J, Leng, M J. Inferring the Holocene of the Central Irish Sea Thermocline using stable isotope proxy data from benthic foraminifera.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Matthew Jones on his lead editorial role in the special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews on Water Isotope Systematics, and his paper in the volume on Comparisons of observed and modelled lake δ18O variability with Melanie Leng, Suzanne McGowan, Carol Arrowsmith and Hilary Sloane from the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry.

2015

December

• PhD position: Proxy-data climate-model comparisons using lake-isotope records of the last 2000 years. This project brings together the paleoclimate data and modelling communities to test ways of comparing data on past climate change with modelled scenarios of that climate. The studentship will involve i) the production of new proxy time series for climate change in the UK over the last 2000 years using lake isotope records ii) the use of isotope enabled climate models to produce past climate change scenarios for the same time period and iii) the development of proxy system models to allow proxy-data climate-model comparisons. The project will be based at the School of Geography, University of Nottingham (lake coring, proxy system model development), the Directorate of Climate and Landscape Change at the British Geological Survey, Keyworth (climate modelling) and the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility, BGS (isotope analysis) in collaboration with scientists from Loughborough University and the University of Liverpool. The studentship will also include a one month training programme at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Further information please contact Dr Matthew Jones (University of Nottingham).

November

• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Keely Mills (BGS) who has been appointed as a Honorary Research Fellow within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, School of Geography, University of Nottingham. Keely will be collaborating within the CEG on how lake ecosystems have responded to past climate changes from a multi-disciplinary perspective and on understanding how resilient these often vulnerable but ecologically important freshwater resources may be to future climate changes. She is a main collaborator in the "Centre for Environmental Geochemistry - Asian Wetland" theme, a project aimed at investigating human impact in sensitive part of Asia where there has been recent extreme pressure from urbanisation, pollution, mining and agriculture.
• PhD position: Are land-use decisions of African elephants based on environmental geochemistry? The project will explore the role of environmental geochemistry in land use decisions by wild African elephants. This is a unique, interdisciplinary project involving environmental geochemistry, plant science, and animal health to address research questions which have important and practical implications for wildlife health and conservation. For further information contact Dr Michael Watts (British Geological Survey), Dr Lisa Yon (University of Nottingham, School of Veterinary Medicine & Science), or Professor Martin Broadley (University of Nottingham, Dept. Plant Nutrition).
• Research news: Dr Liz Bailey from the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham has been appointed as Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey. Liz is a specialist in environmental geochemistry and works on urban risk assessment, soil iodine and selenium geochemistry, dynamics of uranium, thorium and heavy metals and Global Food Security.

October

• New Appointment: Welcome to Pat Whitelaw who has just started a PhD within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (Faculty of Engineering). Pat’s research project aims to improve our estimation of the UK shale gas reserve. The research will use high pressure water pyrolysis that simulates shale gas generation in the deep sub-surface right through the gas generating window and then provide an understanding on how the gas is retained within the shale. This line of research builds on the new methodology to understand the effects of pressure on oil and gas generation supported by the oil industry. Patrick is being supervised at Nottingham by Colin Snape and at BGS by Chris Vane and Clement Uguna.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Beckie Draper who has just started a PhD with BGS, University of Nottingham and CEH. Beckie will be working on nanoparticle dynamics in soils and she is beingsupervised by Andy Tye (BGS), Scott Young and Liz Bailey (UoN), and Steve Lofts and Claus Svendsen(CEH). This project was awarded via the STARS CDT.
• Research News: Professor Martin Broadley (School of Biosciences, UoN) and Dr Louise Ander (Inorganic Geochemistry, BGS) are the CEG principal investigators on a recently awarded BBSRC-NERC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC) grant Magnesium Network (MAG-NET): Integrating Soil-Crop-Animal Pathways to Improve Ruminant Health. This is a £1.1M total grant, collaborating across the School of Biosciences and School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at UoN, Inorganic Geochemistry at BGS and the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University. The project will run from January 2016 – December 2019.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Olivier Humphrey who has just started a PhD within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (School of Biosciences and BGS). Olivier’s research project aims to improve our understanding of soil-iodine dynamics and iodine bioavailability to plants. This line of research builds on previous co-operation between BGS and the University of Nottingham and will inform strategies to tackle iodine deficiency, which affects around 2 billion people worldwide. Oliver is being supervised at Nottingham by Scott Young, Neil Crout and Liz Bailey and at the BGS by Michael Watts and Louise Ander.

September

• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender (School of Geography and the BGS) on his contribution to the Nature Geoscience paper: A record of spontaneous subduction initiation in the Izu–Bonin–Mariana arc. Nature Geoscience. The University of Nottingham press release: Scientists discover how tectonic plates collide.

July

• Stable Isotope Research Geochemist: We have a 3 year fixed term appointment for a research geochemist within the Stable Isotope Facility, BGS, primarily to conduct collaborative research in stable isotope mass spectrometry that comprises areas including hydrochemistry, biogeochemistry, soil science, pollution, sedimentary processes, and human-landscape interactions. Closing date 1.9.15.
  More information

June

• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Edward Joy (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) on his appointment as a Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (BGS).
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Munir Zia (Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, Pakistan) on his appointment as a Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (BGS).
• Research funding: Congratulations to staff within the School of Geography and Department of Archaeology who have received NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility funding at the Spring meeting for the following research projects:
  • Dr Matthew Jones, Dr Alexandra Livarda and Leslie Bode - Palaeobotanical and palaeoenvironmental investigations of hunter-gatherers at Kharaneh IV, Azraq Basin, Jordan.
  • Dr George Swann and Prof Melanie Leng - The effects of differential dissolution on the O isotope composition of diatom silica.
  • Dr Sev Kender and Prof Melanie Leng - North Sea Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM): carbon release rates and environmental impacts.
• PhD success: Congratulations to Dr Edward Joy who has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Dietary mineral deficiencies in Sub-Saharan Africa". Edward was supervised by Prof Martin Broadley, Prof Colin Black, Dr Scott Young (Biosciences, UoN), Dr Louise Ander, Dr Michael Watts (Inorganic Geochemistry, BGS).
• New Appointment: Welcome to Dr Andy Marriott who has been appointed as an analytical chemist within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (Inorganic Geochemistry, BGS). Andy’s research interests are in the application of biogeochemical structures in identifying natal origin of marine and freshwater fish and on the bioaccumulation of toxic heavy metals in fish tissue and their effects on food security in developing countries.

May

• New Appointment: Welcome to Dr Lyndsey Fox who has been appointed as a Post Doctoral Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (School of Geography, University of Nottingham and British Geological Survey). Lyndsey is a micropalaeontologist and palaeoeanographer and has just returned from IODP Expedition 354 Bengal Fan collecting sediment cores to investigate past changes in the ocean. Lyndsey will be working with Sev Kender, Melanie Leng and Simon Chenery on reconstructing Bay of Bengal palaeoceanography since the Miocene.
• Research Fellowship: Applications are invited for a Research Fellow (Asian wetland research) to be based at the University of Nottingham (School of Geography) and the British Geological Survey. The post is within the combined Centre for Environmental Geochemistry which has a range of world class facilities for palaeoenvironmental change research including geochemical and isotope laboratories. Closing date: 7th July 2015.
  Apply now
  
• Research News: Congratulations to Prof Melanie Leng who has been made an Associate Editor with the Journal of Paleolimnology. This journal provides a vehicle for the rapid dissemination of original scientific work dealing with the reconstruction of lake histories, and studies of river, wetland, peatland and estuary systems. It continues to be a major repository for papers dealing with climatic change, as well as other pressing topics, such as global environmental change, lake acidification, eutrophication, long-term monitoring, and other aspects of lake histories ontogeny.

April

• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Jonathan Dean (BGS) on his appointment as an Honorary Fellow within the School of Geography (UoN).
• PhD position: "Iodine in soils: geochemical dynamics and availability to crop plants" with University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. Closing date 30.4.15.

February

• PhD position: "Can reduced tillage mitigate against climate change?" with University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. Closing date 1.3.15.
• PhD position: "Understanding Shale Gas Formation and Storage" with University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. Closing date 8.5.15.

January

• Research news: Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender who has been invited to take part in the IODP MagellanPlus Workshop "Drilling the Cretaceous–Palaeogene tropical South Atlantic" in Newcastle 2-4 February 2015. This meeting will be exploring an IODP proposal aimed at understanding the rifting history of the South Atlantic and the evolution of the oceans including Ocean Anoxic Events.
• Research news: Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender who has been invited to take part in the ICDP workshop "Coring North Sea Cenozoic (CONOSC)" in Utrecht 18-21 March 2015. The meeting will focus on developing a full proposal to core the southern North Sea to reconstruct past climatic change over NW Europe, including Eocene hyperthermals.
• PhD success: Congratulations to Dr Darren Beriro for successfully defending his PhD thesis 'Gene Expression Programming Models of Bioaccessible Benzo[a]pyrene in Coking Works Soils'. Darren was supervised at University of Nottingham by Paul Nathanail and Bob Abrahart, and at the BGS by Mark Cave and Joanna Wragg. Darren now works at the BGS as an environmental geochemist focussing on data interrogation, modelling and meaning.

2014

December

• Outreach: Jonathan Lewis and Melanie Leng. Snail shells provide detailed records of environmental change. Climatica.
• Research news: Abida Usman has joined CEG as a PhD student working on "Source apportionment of urban contaminants". Her supervisory team is Dr Scott Young and Dr Liz Bailey (Biosciences, UoN) and Dr Louise Ander and Dr Simon Chenery (BGS).
• PhD position: "Characterisation of Iron bioavailability from African soils" with University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey.
• PhD position: "Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during the last greenhouse" with University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey.
• PhD position: "Development of Reference Doses for Mixtures: Risk Assessment of Cadmium, Iron and Zinc Interactions" with The James Hutton Institute, University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey.
• Research news: Prof Julian Henderson from the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, has been appointed as Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey. Julian’s research interests include understand the sources and roles of geological and environmental materials such as sand, plants or clays in the production and trade of ancient materials including glass and pottery and investigating the impact of ancient mining and material production on the environment both in the past and in the present.
• Research News: Congratulations to Prof Chris Richardson (Bangor), Simon Chenery and Phil Hollyman (joint PhD student) on their successful application to the NERC Ion Microprobe Facility for elemental and isotope data in support of the project: "Assessing the timing of growth increment formation in the statoliths of the common whelk Buccinum undatum".
• Research News: Congratulations to Judith Garforth who recently successfully defended her PhD entitled ‘Lability and solubility of Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in UK soils’. The project was a joint CEH (Lancaster) - BGS – University of Nottingham studentship, and Judith was supervised by Dr Steve Lofts (CEH Lancaster), Drs Scott Young and Liz Bailey (UoN) and Dr Andy Tye (BGS).

November

• Research News: Uguna, C.N., Carr, A.D., Snape, C.E., Meredith, W. 2015. High pressure water pyrolysis of coal to evaluate the role of pressure on hydrocarbon generation and source rock maturation at high maturities under geological conditions. Organic Geochemistry, 78, 44-51.
• Research News: Congratulations to Prof Julian Henderson (with Prof Jane Evans and PhD student Jingyi Shen et al.) on their successful application to the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities for isotope data in support of the project: “Provenance and Technology of ceramic glazes in northern China and the Middle East (7th-13th Centuries AD)”.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Matthew Jones (with Prof Sarah Metcalfe, Prof Melanie Leng, Dr Steve Noble et al) on their successful follow up application to the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities for isotope data in support of the project: “A new way of life? The earliest farming communities of highland SW Iran”.
• Research News: Congratulations to Prof Melanie Leng (with Dr Sev Kender, Dr George Swann, PhD student Rowan Dejardin et al.) on their successful application to the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities for isotope data in support of the project: “Determining if changes in the position of the Southern Westerly Wind belt impact the South Georgia marine ecosystem”.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr George Swann (with Dr Suzanne McGowan, Prof Melanie Leng, PhD student Mark Stevenson et al.) on their successful follow up application to the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities for isotope data in support of the project: “Biological and geochemical records of Holocene carbon cycling Disko Island, western Greenland”.
• Research news: Congratulations to Dr Naomi Sykes from the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham who has been appointed as a Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey. Naomi works closely with Dr Angela Lamb and Prof Jane Evans on a variety of isotope-based zooarchaeology projects including the recently awarded AHRC grant: Changing Scientific and Cultural Perspectives on Human-Chicken Interactions.

October

• Research news: Congratulations to Dr Simon Chenery on his appointment as Honorary Research Fellow within the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham. Simon has worked on pottery, flints and teeth with archaeologists across the UK. His current research collaboration with Prof Julian Henderson and Prof Jane Evans is on provanancing and understanding the geochemical characteristics of source materials for Middle Eastern ancient glasses.
• Research news: Congratulations to Dr Angela Lamb on her appointment as Honorary Research Fellow within the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham. Angela’s appointment is due to her role in heading stable isotope-archaeology collaborations within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry and her research with Dr Naomi Sykes and Dr Holly Miller on the AHRC grant: Changing Scientific and Cultural Perspectives on Human-Chicken Interactions.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Jonathan Dean who has been appointed as a Post Doctoral Research Associate (at the BGS and in association with the School of Geography) on NERC Standard Grant: A 500,000–year environmental record from Chew Bahir, south Ethiopia: testing hypotheses of climate-driven human evolution, innovation, and dispersal. Jonathan is currently working as an Isotope Apprentice within the BGS and will transfer to this new post in March 2015.
• Research news: Congratulations to Rob Ward (Director of Science for Groundwater, BGS) on his appointment as Honorary Professor within the School of Geography. Rob is responsible for managing an integrated programme of research addressing groundwater protection, management and impacts of environmental change at the BGS. His personal research interests include assessing the risks to groundwater from shale gas exploitation, groundwater pollution by nitrates and emerging contaminants, the impacts on groundwater from extreme climate-driven events, and developing better links between science outcomes and policy/decision making.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Matt Jones (with Prof Sarah Metcalfe and Prof Melanie Leng) on their successful application to NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities on "A new way of life? The earliest farming communities of highland SW Iran".
• Congratulations to a team of soil scientists including researchers at the University of Nottingham and the BGS for the successful bid to host a soils Centre for Doctoral Training(CDT). The CDT aims to equip a new generation of soil scientists with up-to-date skills and understanding the complexities of soil ecosystems and the role they play in the wider environment. Sacha Mooney (UoN), Murray Lark and Andy Tye (BGS) contributed to the writing of the Consortium bid led by Lancaster University.
• Research News: Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender from the Centre of Environmental Geochemistry who has won a NERC-IODP small grant to work on reconstructing deep Pacific Ocean circulation since the Oligocene. The project will analyse Nd isotopes in fossil fish teeth collected during IODP Exp. 351 to the Philippine Sea.
• NERC news: Planet Earth magazine features the launch of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry in their autumn 2014 edition.
• New Appointment: Dr Clement Uguna, a geochemist from University of Nottingham, has been appointed to work as a Research Fellow at BGS within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. He will be assessing UK shale gas reserve using high water pressure pyrolysis technique to simulate shale gas generation. His research will be conducted both at the Organic Geochemistry Facility at the BGS and in the Faculty of Engineering (University of Nottingham).
• Promotion: Congratulations to Dr Angela Lamb who has been promoted to the position of Senior Scientist within BGS, in part, for her role in heading the stable isotope-archaeology collaboration within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. This includes her work with Dr Naomi Sykes and Dr Holly Miller on the AHRC grant: Changing Scientific and Cultural Perspectives on Human-Chicken Interactions.

September

• Research news: Dr Barry Lomax from the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham has been appointed as Visiting Research Associate within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey. Barry’s research interests include palaeopolyploidy and plant genome size over geological time, plant responses to CO₂, and sporopollenin chemistry as a palaeoclimate proxy.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Rowan Dejardin who has just started a PhD within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (School of Geography). Rowan’s thesis research is concerned with understanding past variations in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its impact on South Georgia ice sheet extent over the Holocene.

August

• Outreach: Jonathan Dean, Melanie Leng and Anson Mackay. Can isotopes help define the Anthropocene? Climatica.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Jack Lacey who has recently moved to the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry within the School of Geography to complete his PhD research. Jack is working on how components deposited in lake sediments record aspects of climate and environmental change, especially around the Mediterranean.
• New Appointment: Welcome to Dr Sev Kender who has been appointed as a Research Fellow within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry (School of Geography) and also as an Honorary Research Fellow with the British Geological Survey. Sev is a Micropalaeontologist and Palaeoeanographer and has just returned from an IODP expedition off the coast of Japan, in the Philippine Sea, collecting sediment cores to investigate past changes in the ocean.

July

• Research news: A cross-sectional study of the association between arsenic consumption from private drinking water supplies and measured biological levels in the population of Cornwall, UK – Project Update July 2014. Further information

June

• Fellowship scheme: The Anne McLaren Fellowship scheme offers 3-year Fellowships for female researchers in STEM subjects, linked to an established academic post within the University of Nottingham and includes the opportunity for international mobility across the University's Campuses in the UK, Malaysia and China. Fellowships include the opportunity to apply for research and childcare costs. The Centre for Environmental Geochemistry will support applications that fall within the remit of the scheme and the Centre. Please contact Melanie Leng.

• Research news: Dr Andrew Tye – Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nottingham
• Research Project: A new research project has begun to examine the history of chickens, involving archaeological records to investigate the history of the world’s most widely established livestock species, originally descended from the wild jungle fowl of South East Asia. The project, entitled "Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions", was made possible with the help of a £1.94 million grant from the AHRC under the Science In Culture Awards Large Grants call. Researchers from Nottingham University, as well as universities of Bournemouth, Durham, Leicester, Roehampton and York, will be examining when and how rapidly domesticated chickens spread across Europe and the history of their exploitation for meat and eggs. Research methods will include stable isotope analysis at the BGS Stable Isotope Facility, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham within the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. For more information see this issue of Nature.

May

• Research news: SOIL editorial role for Dr Barry Rawlins

April

• Research news: Dr Barry Rawlins – Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham
• NERC Press Release: New Centre for Environmental Geochemistry to open in Nottingham
• Research news: Dr Virginia Panizzo (School of Geography) appointed as a Visiting Research Associate, British Geological Survey

March

• Research news: Visiting Research Associate from the Department of Archaeology appointed to the British Geological Survey
• The Organic Geochemistry Laboratory at BGS has taken delivery of a new Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (LCMS). The LCMS will be used to identify the presence of specific organic compounds in environmental change and pollution studies. Please contact Dr Christopher Vane for more information.

February

• Research news: Dr Christopher Vane - Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham
• Research news: Visiting Research Associates from School of Biosciences appointed to the British Geological Survey
• Research news: Visiting Research Associate from the Faculty of Engineering appointed to the British Geological Survey
• Research news: Dr Michael Watts - Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham
• Press release: Cementing a partnership between Nottingham and the British Geological Survey