Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Professor of Physical Geography
- Dept of Geography
- Faculty of S&HS
I was educated at Honley High School, West Yorkshire, and Hertford College, University of Oxford. I was lecturer and then reader at Kingston University (1988-2000) prior to coming to UCL (2000-present)


My research is concerned with the reconstruction of climatic and environmental change on timescales ranging from centuries to millions of years. I use natural ‘archives’, mainly lake sediments, to generate quantitative information about the past. My recent work has focussed firstly, on climate variability in low-latitude regions and secondly, on rapid climate change. My interest in low-latitude regions began with my doctoral work in Northern India and I have subsequently undertaken research into effective precipitation and monsoon variability in the Northern Neotropics, in North and West Africa and in Western China. My work on rapid climate change events has included investigation into the causes and impacts of the abrupt cooling that affected the northern hemisphere around 8200 years ago, a climatic event that has attracted considerable scientific and policy interest.
I teach environmental and climate change across the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum.
01-JAN-1988 – 31-AUG-2000 | Lecturer and then reader | Geography | Kingston University, United Kingdom |
2019 | Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy | Higher Education Academy | |
1988 | Doctor of Philosophy | University of Oxford | |
1983 | Bachelor of Arts (Honours) | University of Oxford |