I am a Senior Lecturer in physical geography and co-director of the St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities.

My PhD training was in Quaternary science - studying the geological history of the most recent part of the geological record, the last ~2.6 million years, which encompasses the dramatic climatic changes of the Ice Ages and the rise of humans as an agent of change on the planet. I was trained in pollen analysis and related palaeoenvironmental techniques and have a publication record in environmental change and human-environment interactions in ecosystems ranging from the sub-arctic to the tropics.

Much of my work concerns questions of environmental management and long-term sustainability of socio-ecological systems, and has contributed to policy-making and other impact agendas around sustainable development. I also have a track record of expertise in the development and functioning of tropical peatlands, including their palaeoecology and geochemistry; quantitative regional-scale synthesis and analysis of environmental data; and long-term (Holocene and older) perspectives on environmental change and human impacts. 

My current interests are in:

• Tropical peatland science, management and conservation
• Lateglacial and Holocene environmental change
• Long-term interactions between people and the environment
• The carbon cycle and the Earth system
• Quaternary Science, including pollen analysis.

I have published research based on fieldwork in Greece, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Sweden, Peru, and the Republic of Congo, as well as in the UK.

I convene GG1001 "Welcome to the Anthropocene", GG4245 "Biogeography and the Earth System", and SD5031 "Contemporary Environmental Issues". I am particularly enthusiastic about field and lab teaching, including teaching research and quantitative data analysis methods, and I frequently co-lead residential field classes. I also contribute to various modules at Sub-Honours and Masters level and supervise dissertations.