Keynote Speakers

Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands

 Assistant Professor, Marine Geology and Paleoclimatology  

Session: Proxy Development and Optimization 

 As a paleoclimatologist with a geo(chemical) background, my main research aim is to improve the information about (past) climate and environment we can obtain from (fossil) shells. I use a combination of growth experiments, geochemical techniques and data analysis to achieve this. Finding the limitations of the (time)scales of information molluscs record in their shells and the depths of time over which they preserve this information is what drives my interest in sclerochronology. My ambition is to use shells as unique archives for understanding the variability of ancient climates and environments different from today, perhaps even on hourly timescales. 

Website 

Cambridge University, UK

Professor, Evolutionary Malacology

Session: Biomineralization & Kinetics

Liz Harper is Professor of Evolutionary Malacology at the University of Cambridge (UK). Shell microstructure and mineralogy in both molluscs and brachiopods are major strands of her research. Most of her work is focused on modern taxa but fossils can be included! Liz aims to use a range of different biological and geological techniques to understand the variability of microstructures and mineralogical make-up of shelled organisms and to assess the potential to track these as signals in phylogeny, environmental adaptation and sclerochronology.

Website

Griffith University, Australia

Senior Lecturer, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

Session: Fisheries Ecology, Management & Conservation 

Vincent is an ecologist with a broad interest in how ecological processes can be used to achieve better conservation and management of threatened communities. As an expert with the use of stable isotopes as an ecological tool, he has used novel approaches to examine ecological interactions from species to ecosystems. Vincent has strong interests in fisheries management, with a particular focus on sharks and rays. He strives to develop novel methodologies to answer or improve on numerous research issues using emerging technologies like drones and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Vincent has studied a variety of environments, from terrestrial aquaria to coral reefs to remote seas in Tasmania.

Website

University of Milan, Italy

 Researcher, Department of Earth Sciences 

Session: Paleobiology, Paleoecology & Evolution 

 Dr. Gaia Crippa is a researcher at the University of Milan (Italy), where she completed a PhD in Earth Sciences in 2011. Her work focuses on the systematic and paleoecological analysis of marine mollusks from Italian geological contexts to Omani archaeological settings, spanning from the Pliocene to the Holocene. She specializes in the microstructural study of bivalve shells and in the application of sclerochronology to reconstruct paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic, and paleoseasonality changes during key intervals of the Earth’s history. She also collaborates with other researchers on the use of brachiopod shells as archives of seasonal variability in the geological past. 

University of Albany, SUNY, USA

Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Session: Paleoclimates and Paleoenvironments

Sujata Murty is an Assistant Professor at the University at Albany whose research interests involve the integration of paleoclimate, physical oceanography, and modeling perspectives to examine long-term climate and ocean dynamics. Sujata received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research focuses on using geochemical proxy

records from Indo-Pacific corals to reconstruct past changes in surface ocean circulation and climate on seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. Sujata then synthesizes these records with ocean model simulations to examine the drivers of Indo-Pacific climate and ocean variability.

Website

Western Washington University, USA

 Student Engagement Lead and Research Assistant Professor, Marine and Coastal Science Program

Session: Paleoclimates and Paleoenvironments

Dr. Nina Whitney is the student engagement lead and a research assistant professor in

the Marine and Coastal Science program at Western Washington University. Nina

received a B.A. in Geology from Carleton College in 2012, an M.S. in Quaternary and

Climate Studies from the University of Maine in 2015 and a Ph.D. in Geology and

Environmental Science from Iowa State University in 2020. Nina’s research focuses on

reconstructing the past millennium of ocean variability in the western North Atlantic

using isotopes in bivalve shells and high-resolution ocean model output.

University of Burgos, Spain

Research Fellow 

Session: Archaeology

He focuses on understanding the seasonality of the hominin subsistence strategies and

the role of aquatic ecosystems in the dispersal, survival, and cultural resilience of

foragers and first farmers worldwide, with a particular focus on the Iberian Peninsula.

To achieve these goals, he has developed a multidisciplinary approach that combines

analysis of faunal remains with stable oxygen and carbon isotope and trace element

analyses of shell carbonate. This approach provides insight into aquatic resource

collection patterns, as well as on the climate conditions during the past and the impacts

of past climate changes to understand human behaviour and human-environment

interactions.

Website

 University of Exeter, UK

 Professor of Earth System Science, 

Session: Ecosystems and Pollution

James Scourse is Professor of Earth System Science and currently Head of the

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter, UK. James’s research focuses on long-term marine climate and ecosystem change. He is currently leading the European Research Council SEACHANGE Project (2020-2027) investigating human cultural impacts on marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. His group has focused on the development of sclerochronology since the 1990s. Notable research highlights include the first annually-resolved marine climate series covering the last 1000 years (2017) and the discovery of the longest-lived animal known to science (2007, 2013).

Website