We are a well-integrated cluster working at the cutting edge of research into past global environmental change. Our work is characterised by the innovative use of a range of techniques that includes foraminifera, pollen, diatom, sedimentological and stable isotope analyses, along with optical, radiocarbon and other dating methods. These are used in a complementary, multiproxy framework, along with calibration based on multivariate statistics, to investigate issues of past climatic and environmental change.
A major focus of our most recent research has been the improved understanding of rapid environmental transitions, notably during periods - such as the Late-Glacial/Holocene transition - when the Earth System has readjusted to abrupt climatic shifts. Another key period for which we have been collectively setting the international scientific research agenda is the late Holocene, whose study allows actual and projected 21st-century warming and sea-level rise to be put into a longer context. Our work is intrinsically interdisciplinary in character, linking the biological and physical sciences, along with science-based archaeology.
