Curriculum vitae
Professional experience
- August 2010 - present, lecturer in chronology, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland
- February 2007 - July 2010, research fellow, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland
- October 2006 - September 2008, research fellow, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden. From February 2007 on leave in Belfast
- September 2006 - September 2007, visiting research fellow,
Department of Limnology, Ghent University, Belgium
- February 2005 - August 2006, postdoc, Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, Guanajuato, Mexico
- March - June 2004 and October - November 2003, visiting scientist, CIMAT
- April 2003 - February 2004, postdoc, Botany Department,
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Education
- November 1998 - March 2003, PhD in palaeo-ecology at Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Investigating Holocene sun-climate relationships using numerical C-14 wiggle-match dating of peat deposits. Supervisors Bas van Geel, Henry Hooghiemstra and Johannes van der Plicht
- September 1992 - April 1998, MSc in Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Specialisation: Microbial Ecology
- January - December 1997, Arctic Biology at University of Svalbard, Norway
Grants and awards
- August 2011, EUR 383,000 by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche of France (co-investigator, PI Dr. de Vleeschouwer)
- March 2011, GBP 14,400 by the Royal Society for high-precision C-14 dating of an East African lake
- June 2010, USD 6,000 by PAGES for organising Paleochronology Building Workshop
- March 2010, EUR 5,000 by INQUA for organising Paleochronology Building Workshop (co-investigator, PI David Lowe, INTREPID)
- February 2010, discretionary award for exceptional performance, Queen's University Belfast (GBP 980)
- May 2009, USD 20,000 for research project, National Geographic Society (co-investigator, PI Stephen Jackson)
- April 2008, MEX 100,000 for research project, CONCYTEG, Guanajuato, Mexico (co-investigator, PI Andrés Christen)
- December 2007, GBP 4250 for R workshop from Staff Training and Development Unit at Queen's University of Belfast
- April 2007, 400 EUR for Young Scientist registration fee EGU General Assembly 2007, Vienna, Austria
- November 2006, equivalent of 60,000 EUR by VR (Swedish Research Council) for my research project
- April 2006, 1800 USD from PAGES to attend HOLIVAR 2006 Open Science Meeting, London, UK
- February 2006, shortlisted for NERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (equivalent of 259,000 EUR; I declined because I accepted the Uppsala position)
- November 2005, equivalent of 332,000 EUR by VR (Swedish Research Council) for 4-yr research fellow position at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden
Teaching
- December 17-18 2012, INTIMATE chronology workshop, Oxford University
- November 2011, Chronology workshop, Durham University (invited)
- GAP1002 (Reconstructing Past Environments), GAP2001 (Dating the Past), GAP2030 (Sustaining the Biosphere), GAP3002 (Quaternary Palaeoecology), GAP7047 (Chronology Building), all at School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast
- May 2011, chronology modules at EPD Tilia workshops in University of Liverpool (UK) and CEREGE (Aix-en-Provence, France) (invited)
- March 2011, module at "Quaternary Stratigraphy and Dating Methods", Stockholm University, Sweden (invited)
- August 2010, lectures at "Paleochronology Building Workshop", San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
- May 2010, module at "Quaternary Paleoecology Short Course", University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (invited)
- March 2010, module at postgraduate "Geostatistics Winter School", Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (invited)
- April 2008, lectures at ESF-funded Spring School on Late Quaternary Timescales and Chronology, Piran, Slovenia
- April 2008, lectures and practicals at workshop "Environmental Statistics in R", Queen's University of Belfast
- May 2007, taught age-modelling training workshop at European Pollen Database Open Scientific Meeting, Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, Aix-en-Provence, France
- February 2005 - August 2006, project co-supervisor of software engineer Christian Omar Gomez, CIMAT, Guanajuato, Mexico
- April 2006, teacher at "Statistics Laboratory" course, CIMAT, Mexico
- November 2005, lectures and practicals at Bpeat Workshop, CIMAT, Guanajuato, Mexico
- July 2004, July 2003, lectures and practicals at Chronologies Module
HOLIVAR Training Course,
for PhD and postdoctoral students in palaeoclimatology, Ghent, Belgium and London, UK
- November 2003, assistant at a practical for MSc statistics students at CIMAT, Mexico
- 1999 - 2002, assistant at courses in Geo-ecology, incl. lectures and training MSc students in pollen, non-pollen microfossils and macro-remains, C-14 calibration, C-14 wiggle-match dating, numerical analysis, field work. IBED, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 1996 - 2002, lectures about arctic vegetation to MSc students of diverse backgrounds.
Arctic Centre, Groningen University, The Netherlands
Oral presentations
- November 2012, "Out of Tune: the dangers of aligning fossil proxy archives", Sheffield University (invited)
- July 2012, "bacon and clam: nouvelle cuisine age-depth modelling", 21st International Radiocarbon Conference, Paris France
- November 2011, "Think before you link: dangers of aligning fossil proxy archives", Durham University (invited)
- August 2011, keynote "Absolute dating and uncertainties or think before you link", Lanzhou University, China (invited)
- July 2011, "The pitfalls of tuned proxy archives", XVIII INQUA Congress, Bern, Switzerland
- March 2011, "Out of Tune: the danger of aligning fossil proxy archives", Stockholm University, Sweden (invited)
- December 2010, "Testing teleconnections - chronological uncertainties of independently dated and tuned past climate events", AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA (invited)
- September 2010, keynote "Bayesian techniques for reliable radiocarbon age-depth models", "All At Sea?" Conference, Loughborough, UK (invited)
- December 2009, "High-resolution age-depth model of Lake Challa (SE Africa) 25 kyr BP to present", 11th International Paleolimnology Symposium, Guadalajara, Mexico
- November 2009, "Klimaat, fossielen, rubber en dobbelstenen", Final Symposium Graduate School Centre for Geo-ecological Research ICG, Wageningen, The Netherlands (invited)
- October 2009, "How to date events and alienate your colleagues: Bayesian re-analysis of supposedly simultaneous events", workshop "Dealing with Archaeological Dates", Queen's University Belfast, UK (invited)
- May 2009, "Age-models from peatlands", international research workshop "Peatland Archives of Holocene Climate Variability", Vihula, Estonia (invited)
- September 2008, "Were last glacial climate events simultaneous between Greenland and western Europe?". INTIMATE 10 Conference, Oxford, UK
- June 2008, lecture on age-modelling at Leverhulme-funded melting pot workshop on uncertainties in palaeoclimate reconstruction SUPRA-net, Sheffield, UK (invited)
- July 2007, "Can non-annually dated proxy archives be correlated at decadal scale? A meta-analysis of climate change c. 850 cal BC", XVII INQUA Congress, Cairns, Australia
- April 2007, "Testing the timing of radiocarbon-dated events between proxy archives", EGU General Assembly 2007, Vienna, Austria (invited)
- March 2007, "Millions of age-models instead of just one: quantifying chronological uncertainties using Bayesian statistics". ESF/PAGES EuroCores Workshop "Radiocarbon and ice-core chronologies during glacial and deglacial times", Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Germany
- September 2006, "Lies, damn lies, statistics and palaeoecology",
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics,
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- June 2006, "BioP, Bayesian software for ecological niche modelling",
Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center, Kansas University, US
- May 2006, "BioP, software Bayesiano para modelar nichos ecologicos",
National Institute for Biodiversity Research
CONABIO, Mexico City, Mexico
- April 2006, "A Bayesian framework for age-modelling of radiocarbon dated raised-bog peat deposits",
19th Radiocarbon Conference, Oxford University, UK
- April 2006, "BioP, Bayesian software for ecological niche modelling",
Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University, UK
- June 2005, "C-14 dating of climate events: problems and solutions",
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen, UK
- June 2004, "El dia despues de mañana: usando estadística para reconstruir cambios del clima",
CIMAT, Mexico
- November 2003, "What happened when?: Using statistics to obtain precise chronologies from
C-14 dated archives",
CIMAT, Mexico
- June 2003,
C-14 wiggle-match dating of peat deposits,
HOLIVAR Workshop
Holocene dating, chronologies and age modelling, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- March 2003, "Cambios climáticos durante el Holoceno, producidos por el sol?",
UNAM, Mexico
- January 2002, "C-14 wiggle-match dating: advantages and limitations",
Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion Meeting, "Constructing Quaternary Chronologies", Oxford, UK.
Conferences and workshops
- December 17-18 2012, INTIMATE chronology workshop, Oxford University
- July 9-13 2012, 21st International Radiocarbon Conference, Paris France
- January 2012, PAGES Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme Workshop, Oxford University
- July 2011, XVIII INQUA Congress, Bern, Switzerland
- December 2010, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California (invited)
- September 2010, Neotoma international workshop, Madison, Wisconsin (invited)
- September 2010, "All At Sea?" Conference, Loughborough, UK (invited)
- Aug 17-21 2010, "Paleochronology Building Workshop", San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (co-organiser)
- Dec 15-18 2009, 11th International Paleolimnology Symposium, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Nov 5 2009, final symposium Graduate School Centre for Geo-ecological Research ICG, Wageningen, The Netherlands (invited)
- October 26-29 2009, workshop on carbon accumulation reconstructions from peatlands, Totnes, UK (invited)
- October 3 2009, workshop "Dealing with Archaeological Dates", Queen's University Belfast, UK (invited)
- May 17-21 2009, NSF/PAGES-funded international research workshop "Peatland Archives of Holocene Climate Variability", Vihula, Estonia (invited)
- September 29-30 2008, ESF Final Euroclimate Conference, Presqu'île de Giens, France (invited)
- September 19-22 2008, INTIMATE 10 Conference, Oxford, UK
- June 23-27 2008, Leverhulme-funded melting pot workshop on uncertainties in palaeoclimate reconstruction SUPRA-net, Sheffield, UK (invited)
- April 20-26 2008, ESF-funded Spring School on Late Quaternary Timescales and Chronology, Piran, Slovenia
- April 14-17 2008, workshop "Environmental Statistics using R", Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, UK
- July 28 - August 3 2007, XVII INQUA Congress, Cairns, Australia
- May 7-13 2007, European Pollen Database Open Scientific Meeting, Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, Aix-en-Provence, France (invited)
- April 15-20 2007, EGU General Assembly 2007, Vienna, Austria
- March 19-23 2007, (assisted with age-modelling at) Northern Eurasian palaeoecological database workshop. Jesus College and Oxford University Centre for the Environment, Oxford, UK
- March 5-7 2007, ESF/PAGES EuroCores Workshop "Radiocarbon and ice-core chronologies during glacial and deglacial times". Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Germany (invited)
- June 12-15 2006, HOLIVAR2006 Final Open Science Meeting, University College London, UK
- April 3-7 2006,
19th Radiocarbon Conference, Oxford University, UK
- November 7-10 2005, Bpeat Workshop, Guanajuato, Mexico
- September 2005, National Statistics Forum, Guanajuato, Mexico
- 2003, HOLIVAR Workshop
Holocene dating, chronologies and age modelling, Utrecht, The Netherlands (invited)
- 2002, Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion
Meeting, "Constructing Quaternary Chronologies", Oxford, UK
- 2001, Challenges of a Changing Earth, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2001, conference CLIC (Climate change and variability in Northern Europe), Turku, Finland
- 2000, Quaternary Research Association meeting,
"Millennial Scale Changes", Southampton, UK
- 2000, CLIVAR (Climate variability), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 1999, NAC (Earth Sciences), Veldhoven, The Netherlands
- 1999, European Geophysical Society General Assembly, The Hague, The Netherlands
Attended courses
- September 2009 - June 2010, Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and Teaching (PGCHET), Queen's University Belfast, UK
- April 2009, Research Team Leadership, Queen's University Belfast, UK
- October 2008, Effective Use of Voice, Queen's University Belfast, UK
- October 2008, Small Group Teaching, Queen's University Belfast, UK
- April 2005, GBIF Data Modelling, Mexico City, Mexico
- 2003, ESF HOLIVAR international training course
Quantitative climate reconstruction and data-model comparisons, University College London, UK
- 2001,
Numerical Analysis of Biological and Environmental Data, University College London, UK
- 1999, Physics of Climate, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 1999, IRISEN
(Integrated Regional Impact Studies in the European North), European Union and Abisko Research Station, Sweden
- 1998-2002, Oral Presentation, Scientific Writing and Editing in English, Project Management, Introduction to Geo-Ecological Concepts. All at Graduate School Centre for Geo-ecological Research, ICG, The Netherlands
General
- Scientific publications cited >1,500 times; h-index 24
- Paper reviewer for Science, PNAS, Global and Planetary Change, Quaternary Science Reviews, The Holocene, Journal of Quaternary Science, Quaternary Research, Quaternary Geochronology, Radiocarbon, Journal of Archaeological Science, Boreas, Current Anthropology, Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, Journal of Glaciology, Journal of Paleolimnology, Journal of Applied Statistics
- Proposal reviewer for NERC, NSF
- Member scientific committee, and co-convenor session Statistical Tools, 21st International Radiocarbon Conference, Paris France (July 9-13 2012)
- Academic member NERC Peer Review College (since May 2012)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (since September 2011)
- Occasional assistant at the Young Archaeologists Club, an outreach activity aimed at 8-16 year olds interested in archaeology, Queen's University Belfast
- July 2011, session convenor at XVIII INQUA Congress, Bern, Switzerland
- August 2010, Co-organised "Paleochronology Building Workshop", San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. 27 international participants (10 PhD students)
- July 2010, Blaauw et al. (2010) most read paper of The Holocene
- December 2009, chair general paleolimnology session, 11th International Paleolimnology Symposium, Guadalajara, Mexico
- October 2009 - 2010, Research staff representative School Board, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast
- Only postdoc to be included in the successful QUB Archaeology Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008)
- January 2008, Blaauw and Christen (2005) most cited paper of Applied Statistics
- April 2008, organised workshop "Environmental Statistics using R", Queen's University of Belfast, UK. 20 participants (PhD, staff), invited teachers: Gavin Simpson (University College London, UK), Jari Oksanen (Oulu University, Finland), Roger Bivand (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen, Norway)
- 2007 - present, chair age-modelling working group, European Pollen Database
- February 2006, interviewed by Mexican television (Canal 11) about research activities at CIMAT
- November 2005, organised Bpeat Workshop (lectures, computer practicals, discussion), Guanajuato, Mexico. Participants: Dave Beilman, Keith Bennett, Maarten Blaauw, Andrés Christen, Eric Grimm, Dmitri Mauquoy, Gill Plunkett, Ron Reimer, Zicheng Yu
- July - August 2004, forest scientist (volunteer) at Project Wallacea in Honduras. Fieldwork on forest structure, incl. assisting students (MSc and secondary school)
- July 2004, chair Chronologies Module of HOLIVAR Training Course, Ghent, Belgium
- February 2003, visiting scientist at Departamento de Biogeografía y Sinecología,
Universidad Nacional de México (UNAM), Mexico.
Assisted staff, BA and MSc students with Tilia (palynological software), C-14 chronologies,
and manuscripts
- 2000 - 2003, member of educational commission and PhD students commission of ICG
- 1998 - 2002, member of discussion group "Palaeo-ecology and Chronology" at ICG.
This group meets several times a year to discuss recent topics in palaeo-ecology and chronology
- 1994 - 1999, volunteer for "de Helix", magazine of Department of Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Activities: chair, editor, writing popular scientific stories
Languages
- Dutch (native)
- English, Spanish, Norwegian (fluent)
- German, French, Swedish (basic)
Computer skills
- Operating systems: Linux, Windows, Mac
- Palaeo-ecological software: Tilia
- Programming: R, html, LaTeX
- Other: ArcView
Other
- driving licence
- married to Mayté Segura, daughter Anna Rosalina
- nationality: Dutch
- born: 10 May 1974, Hardenberg, The Netherlands