Dr Matthew Adeleye, Lab Head

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.

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Current lab members

Lab staff

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.

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Amy Loughins

Amy Loughins is a Research Assistant in Palaeoecology with a background in Geoscience and Geological Science. She completed her BA in Geoscience at Trinity College Dublin and her MSc in Geological Science at Stockholm University. Her research interests focus on using palaeoecological and sedimentary records to investigate past environmental change and development, with particular interest in understanding long term landscape and ecosystem dynamics.

Students

Brodie Weymouth, PhD student

Brodie Weymouth is a PhD student in Geography with a background in conservation and physical geography. He earned a BA in Geography from the University of Oxford and an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation from Lancaster University. His research interests focus on using paleoecological and sedimentary records to investigate how ecosystems might change due to phosphorus deposition from desert dust and wildfires arriving from outside catchment regions in tropical phosphorus-limited soil regions.

Adrian Puga, Master student

Thesis: Long-term changes in vegetation, fire and Indigenous land use in central Yukon, Canada.

Ella Culton, Master student

Thesis: Assessing long-term ecological dynamics in Ancient Atlantic Rainforests of Kintyre, Southwest Scotland

Alice Mitcheson, Master student

Thesis: Urban palaeocology for conservation, using Cambridge city as a case study

Cyrus Hariri, Master student

Thesis: Long-term ecological assessment of swamp forest in the Minesing Wetlands, Ontario, Canada

Meredith Fletcher, Honors student

Thesis: Long-term vegetation, fire and land use dynamics in Skiddaw blanket bog, Lake District.

Past lab members

Giuliana Duron, Master student - Completed in 2026

Thesis: Spatio-temporal variability in vegetation communities in ancient Aboriginal landscapes in southeast Australia

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.