Senior Lecturer-Researcher Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology

My main research focus is on the impact of past climate change on landscape and vegetation.

I graduated in Physical Geography at Utrecht University in 1990 with specialisation Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology.  I particularly focused on the impact of climate change on fluvial environments under supervision of the late Dr H.J.A. Berendsen.

During my PhD-study: Palaeogeography of Lateglacial vegetations: analysis in time and space (NWO-AWON/GOA), at VU Amsterdam from 1991-1995, I worked under supervision of the late Professor W.H. Zagwijn and the late Dr S.J.P. Bohncke. I learned a lot about (palaeo-) ecology, and the focus of my research changed to: Late Weichselian vegetation development and climate reconstruction.

Standing on the shoulders of giants, I consider myself as a geomorphologist, but also a palynologist, I think I managed to build a bridge between the geomorphological and palynological research communities.

Above this, the international project on Integration of Ice-core, Marine and Terrestrial records (INTIMATE) provided a network with several international researchers outside my own specialism. These involve a.o. marine geologists, geochemists, ice-core geophysicists, biologists, dating specialists, climate modellers on a regional to global scale. Within INTIMATE I have been actively involved in bringing these different disciplines together, e.g. by organising thematic sessions during international congresses and the compilation of Special Issues in high-ranked peer reviewed journals. From this cooperation, the issue of correlation and dating became evident, which is reflected in several papers listed under research output.

Recently, I started new cooperations within the fields of environmental archaeology a.o. related to Late Palaeolithic to Early Medieval climate and environmental change in the Netherlands and NW Europe, but also further abroad (Mexico), and Arctic palaeo-ecology, with projects in Svalbard & Greenland.