Postgraduate research students

Drylands cover extensive areas of the Earth’s land surface and continue to expand due to their vulnerability to current climate change. However, these regions not only endure increasing desertification and extreme weather events induced by global shifts but are also impacted by local land use changes and soil degradation, driven by unsustainable management practices. Confronted with these pressing challenges, it is essential to look to the past – exploring ancient and traditional agricultural practices and land cover changes they triggered – to gain critical insights into future shifts and develop strategies for the sustainable management of drylands. As a multifaceted initiative, the AGRI-DRY project aims to address these critical issues and provide comprehensive solutions.

My role within the project primarily centers on the environmental aspects of past landscape changes, with a particular focus on South Africa. As a palynologist, I work with available pollen records to provide a palaeoecological framework for archaeological research, aiming to identify the timing, patterns, and extent of prehistoric land use. Establishing these nature-human interactions of the past – combined with natural environmental changes that served as the background for anthropogenic impacts throughout the Holocene – is the core aim of my research.

Dryland agriculture and Land use; past, present and future resilience [AGRI-DRY] – funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 101120560 and supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/Y03290X/1].

• Professor Nicki Whitehouse