Research interests I use palaeoecological approaches to understanding past environmental change, in particular pollen analysis to understand vegetation dynamics and charcoal to reconstruct fire histories, with a focus on the northern boreal forest. The PLUS group features an ancient sedimentary DNA laboratory; current projects EAGER and ECOGEN apply molecular palaeoecology to archaeological sites and long-term vegetation change. Recent work with the Ecochange (EU) project revised our views of the Siberian mammoth-steppe-tundra vegetation of the Pleistocene Vegetation and fire dynamics in northern ecosystems are closely linked to climate, permafrost, and the carbon cycle; current and recent collaborative work involves palaeoclimate modelling and studies of thermokarst (thaw) lake formation in relation to climate change. The project METHANOL will address the changing flux of greenhouse gases from northern lakes under a changing climate.