I am PhD candidate in the Mantle Dynamics & Theoretical Geophysics Group. My PhD project forms part of the TRIGGER project, led by prof. Douwe van Hinsbergen. I am working on plate-kinematic reconstructions, with a focus on the west and south (paleo-)Pacific realms. The main aim of my project is to understand the evolution and destruction of the Phoenix Plate, a conceptual plate that once occupied large regions of the southern Panthalassa Ocean. We combine ocean basin reconstructions with geological data from active margins (Ocean Plate Stratigraphy and Ophiolites). We use paleomagnetism, biostratigraphy and detrital zircon geochronology and provenance to reconstruct the life of an oceanic plate from its birth at a mid-ocean ridge to its demise at a subduction zone.