Dr Matthew Adeleye, Lab Head
Dr Matthew Adeleye, Lab Head
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Dr Adeleye is an Assistant Professor of Physical Geography, Fellow of Girton College, and a UKRI Future Leader Fellow, specialized in palaeoecology, with a background in botany, biology, and natural history. He completed his Bachelor Hons at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, Master's at the University of Victoria, Canada, and PhD at the Australian National University, Australia. He is interested in the use of palaeoecological records to assist in addressing contemporary ecological issues, especially those related to biodiversity. Dr Adeleye is a member of the Cambridge Quaternary and Cambridge Conservation Research Institute.
Cambridge Profile Page l Google Scholar l X (@matt_adeleye) l Research Gate
Current lab members
Post-doc and Technical staff
Dr Helen Essell
Dr Helen Essell
Dr Helen Essell is a Research Associate in Palaeoecology with a background in Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology and Geography. She completed her BA in Geography and MPhil in Holocene Climates at the University of Cambridge, and her PhD in Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen’s University Belfast. Helen is interested in using palaeoecological records to explore the nature, causes and timing of past environmental change, with a view to using understanding gleaned from these analyses to inform conservation and heritage management.
Dr Loretta-Ann Jilks
Dr Loretta-Ann Jilks
Dr Loretta-Ann Jilks is a Senior Field and Research Technician (Palaeoecology) with a background in Palaeoecology, Geography, and Environmental Science. She completed her BSc and Masters by Research (MRes) in Geography at the University of Leicester, and her PhD in Geography and Environmental Science at Northumbria University. Loretta-Ann’s research experience involves the use of palaeoecological techniques (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), macrocharcoal, lipid biomarkers, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis) to investigate Holocene human-environment interactions in tropical environments. Loretta-Ann is interested in the role of humans in shaping, managing, and domesticating both wetland and terrestrial environments, and how management differs across spatial and temporal scales.
Students
Giuliana Duron, Master student
Thesis: Spatio-temporal variability in vegetation communities in ancient Aboriginal landscapes in southeast Australia
Rosie Egelie, Honors student
Thesis: Long-term flora, land use and carbon dynamics in the Great Fen
Past lab members
Sanusi Camara, Master student-completed in 2025
Thesis: The role of Holocene climate on vegetation transitions between savanna and rainforest in West Africa.
Juan Pala Gutierrez, Master student-completed in 2024
Thesis: Evaluating the impact of the 8.2 ka event in the Eastern Mediterranean: the early Holocene palynology of Lake Pamvotis, Greece.
Phoebe Koonce, Master student-completed in 2024
Thesis: Investigating the Impact of Biomass Burning on Tropical Cyclones
Molly Hill, Master student-completed in 2024
Thesis: A 600-year investigation of vegetation shifts, land use, wildfire patterns, and volcanism in South-Central Alaska.
Sophie McSherry, Master completed in 2023
Thesis: An ecological assessment of two distinct landscapes of southern Alaska through observations of floristic change, fire regime and volcanism over the last millennium.
Tom Wright, Master completed in 2023
Thesis: Reconstructing Holocene temperatures and palaeoecology using Coleoptera remains from archaeological and environmental sites across Yorkshire.
Sara Uddin Nusrat, Honors student-completed 2025
Thesis: Human-landscape interraction in East Anglia during the last millennium.
Navneet Basran, Honors student-completed 2025
Thesis: Global changes in vegetation diversity during and after the Younger Dryas.
Taybah Khan-Lodi, Honors completed in 2024
Thesis: Vegetation and climate dynamics in east Anglia during the lateglacial transition.
Jennifer Weston, Honors completed in 2024
Thesis: Human-environmental interactions in Holme Fen, East Anglia during the Holocene.
Dr Josephine Handley, Senior Lab Technician, 2025-2026
Destinie Lambert, SPS STEM Intern -2025
Anni Myllymaki, Research Assistant- 2025
Jennifer Weston, Research Assistant-2024
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