My background is geochemistry and physical geography. I am very interested in using isotopes, as well as geochemical and geological approaches more generally, to trace ocean composition,redox conditions and nutrient cycling in deep time. I am especially interested in how life and its physical environment have co-evolved, especially before the Cambrian explosion of animal life. Currently I am working in the project ‘Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition (~650 to ~520 Ma) (PPT)’, which is one part of the Research programme: ‘Biosphere Evolution, Transitions and Resilience’, funded jointly by NERC (UK) and NSFC (China). My part of the project is to look into redox conditions and nutrient cycling in the run up to the Cambrian bioradiations using black shales collected from the famous Doushantuo Formation on the South China Craton. At the same time, I am working on reconstructing the strontium, lithium and possibly molybdenum isotopic composition of early Neoproterozoic seawater, which hopefully will contribute to answering the question: how and when the mysterious ‘boring billion’ ended.

Alongside my research, I am also interested in science communication. I have been managing multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research programmes as part of my job over the past 7 years. Through this experience I have realized the importance of bringing together scientists (not only from one country, but internationally) from relevant fields to train early career researchers and build the science community.