Dr Martha Hall
Profiles

Dr Martha Hall

Marine Institute Project Manager

School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Biography

Biography

I provide project development and management that helps to champion and deliver on the strategic priorities of the Marine Institute. As part of this, I collaborate with the University's other Strategic Institutes, academics and Research Centres across the University's marine portfolio, as well as Professional Services (e.g., Marketing, R&I). I also work with external partners, most notably from Marine Research Plymouth.
Throughout 2023, I also still provide ongoing project management of the FISH INTEL project, which I joined in 2022 and is an international partnership aimed at influencing fisheries management across the English Channel, supported by the ERDF via the EU Interreg FCE programme.
I previously worked as a Project Assistant with the University of Exeter, before becoming a technician at South West Water (GIS network mapping & water quality testing). I returned to the University in 2018, working as Technician (Physical Geography and Environmental Sciences) in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. I later also worked as Senior Technician, taking on the role of manager of the Consolidated Radio-isotope Facility (CORiF) until 2022.
Through my technical roles with the University, I supported many research projects and actively participated in fieldwork and workshops for the ERDF-funded ReCon Soil project, run by the Sustainable Earth Institute. Between 2019 and 2023, I provided key analytical support to the C-SIDE project, a NERC-funded national partnership investigating carbon storage in saltmarsh habitats, as research technician in CORiF. I became qualified in Project Management (PRINCE2 Practitioner) in 2021. 

Qualifications

2008 - 2013 PhD in Geological Sciences (marine vertebrate palaeontology; Chondrichthyes), University of Plymouth (UK)
2006 - 2008 MSc in Biogeology (Earth Sciences), Utrecht University (NL)
2003 - 2006 BSc in Biology, Utrecht University (NL)
Research

Research

Research interests

Biogeosciences"Biogeosciences is a field of science in which global, regional and local ecosystems are viewed in the context of a changing System Earth. The variation in spatial and temporal scales studied within the domain of Biogeosciences makes it a key discipline for a better understanding of our planet in the past, the present and the future. Understanding changes on various temporal scales will play a crucial role in our understanding of socially relevant issues in the years ahead. The challenge in Biogeosciences is to effectively combine expertise from biology and earth sciences in truly collaborative research." Darwin Center
Vertebrate palaeontology
Fossil dentitions, including tooth morphology and enameloid microstructure (using Scanning Electron Microscopy).
Publications

Publications

Journals
TAYLOR, A., KALNINS, A., KOOT, M.B., JACKSON, R., TOLOZA, A., SAID AHMED, H., GODDARD, R., BLAKE, W.H. (2023), Portable gamma spectrometry for rapid assessment of soil texture, organic carbon and total nitrogen spatial patterns in agricultural soils. Journal of Soils and Sediments. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03488-w

ROWNEY, F., FYFE, R., BAKER, L., FRENCH, H., KOOT, M.B., OMBASHI, H., TIMMS, R. (2023), Historical anthropogenic disturbances explain long-term moorland vegetation dynamics. Ecology and Evolution, 13(3): 17pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9876

PAIJMANS, J.L.A. et al. (2017), Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats Based on Ancient Mitogenomics, Current Biology, 27(21): 3330-3336. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.033 (in Acknowledgements)

ROMANO, C., KOOT, M.B., KOGAN, I., BRAYARD, A., MINIKH, A.V., BRINKMANN, W., BUCHER, H. and KRIWET, J. (2016), Permian–Triassic Osteichthyes (bony fishes): diversity dynamics and body size evolution. Biological Reviews, 91(1): 106-147. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12161

ENAULT, S., GUINOT, G., KOOT, M.B., CUNY, G. (2015), Chondrichthyan tooth enameloid: past, present, and future, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 174(3): 549–570. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12244

KOOT, M.B., CUNY, G., ORCHARD, M.J., RICHOZ, S., HART, M.B. and TWITCHETT, R.J. (2015), New hybodontiform and neoselachian sharks from the Lower Triassic of Oman, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 13(10): 891-917. DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2014.963179

KOOT, M.B., CUNY, G., TINTORI, A. and TWITCHETT, R.J. (2013), A new diverse shark fauna from the Wordian (Middle Permian) Khuff Formation in the interior Haushi‐Huqf area, Sultanate of Oman. Palaeontology, 56(2): 303-343. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01199.x

Conference Papers
GARRETT, E., SMEATON, C., GEHRELS, W.R., BARLOW, N., BLAKE, W., KOOT, M.B., MILLER, L., HAVELOCK, G., MCMAHON, L., LADD, C., AUSTIN, W. (2023), Sedimentation and carbon accumulation rates in UK saltmarshes. EGU General Assembly 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12459

Other Publications
Personal

Personal

Conferences organised

FISH INTEL project closing conference for partners and stakeholders, University of Plymouth (Mar 2023)
55th Annual Meeting Palaeontological Association, Plymouth (UK, Dec 2011)
Postgraduate Society short conference series (6x), University of Plymouth (2009–2011)