My goal as a (paleo)climate researcher is to use natural archives to to understand Earth's climate, with a specific focus on the impact of both natural and anthropogenic forces on its evolution over time. Additionally, I aim to share my findings and experiences on a national to global scale, to promote awareness and inform efforts towards climate change mitigation. Natural forces include variations in solar radiation, volcanic activity, and changes in the Earth's orbit, while anthropogenic forces refer to human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and greenhouse gas emissions. By studying the past, I hope to gain insight into the present and future, and to contribute to efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change. Ultimately, I believe that through interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement, we can work towards a sustainable future in which both human society and the natural world thrive.
2023 PhD thesis: North Sea-Atlantic Exchange project (NoSE)
The objective is to reconstruct trends and drivers of natural and anthropogenic-mediated variability in nutrients, primary productivity and carbon burial on timescales from years to millennia in the Norwegian Trench. We will apply a multi-proxy approach on the sediments. Get in contact if you are interested to keep updated of my current research as I want to enlarge the understanding of the impact of carbon dioxide and key nutrients in high-productive shelf seas worldwide.
2022 Master thesis: Science Expedition Edgeøya Svalbard (SEES)
The outcomes of this integrated research concern multiple countries, since the Arctic plays a crucial role on a global scale. The combined outcomes of this multidisciplinary expedition form the basis for further stakeholder action plans, choices and agreements in the future. Together with Wim Hoek, we focused on the climate history archived in lake sediments. We are curious about the decadal to century scale climate signals that give us a reconstruction beyond the instrumental record of this remote area. During the polar expedition, several news reports were published about the expedition and our contribution. This publicity made me realize that besides sharing objective results, it is also essential to share personal experiences and discrepancies to enforce people and systems in a sustainable direction. Because we need to find a balance between living on Earth and its preservation.
https://www.sees.nl/2022/index.php?nr=194
https://www.polarsteps.com/CecileHilgen/5228370-norway-svalbard-and-jan-mayen
http://www.agora-magazine.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-1-inhoudsopgave.pdf (http://www.agora-magazine.nl/uncategorized/varia/) "Cecile Hilgen schrijft vanuit een persoonlijk perspectief een
verslag van de SEES-expeditie naar Spitsbergen. Ze gaat in op de belangenstrijd op een kwetsbaar en snel veranderend stukje aarde. Dit tegen een achtergrond waarbij klimaatverandering niet alleen fysieke maar ook sociale gevolgen met zich meebrengt, van het individu tot aan mondiaal niveau. Eén ding is duidelijk, er zijn oplossingen nodig om de klimaatverandering beperkt te houden."
Interview after my participation as guest speaker at the Dutch Polar Symposium: https://www.uu.nl/nieuws/het-is-een-misvatting-dat-we-tijd-genoeg-hebben