[Aqualist] PhD, Masters and Honours opportunities at the University of Melbourne

[Amy Prendergast]

Dear AQUAlisters,
The School of Geography at the University of Melbourne has a vibrant international research community and offers a wide range of state-of-the art analytical facilities for Quaternary research. The School has recently appointed two new Quaternary researchers (Dr Amy Prendergast, Dr Jan-Hendrik May). We are now seeking research students (Honours, Masters and PhD) with a focus on palaeoenvironmental and geomorphological themes. We seek high-achieving students with a background in Quaternary or environmental science. Available research topics are listed below. We also open to devising new topics to suit a student’s particular interest.
 A little bit about us:
Amy Prendergast is a palaeoclimatologist and archaeological scientist who investigates how past people shaped and were shaped by environmental change. Amy specialises in using carbonate geochemistry to generate high-resolution climate records from archaeological sites. Her research includes palaeoenvironmental proxy development, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, human-environment interaction, seasonal shellfish foraging reconstruction, and natural hazards. It involves both field and laboratory methods. Amy conducts research in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
Jan-Hendrik (Henne) May is a geomorphologist with a focus on Quaternary landscape evolution in the Southern Hemisphere. His main interest is reconstructing the impact that climatic changes have on landscape-scale Earth surface processes utilizing field and laboratory methods as well as remote sensing and GIS.

PhD research topics

·      Was the spread of plant and animal domestication in the Mediterranean influenced by climate change? (Dr A. Prendergast) The domestication of plants and animals and the shift from hunter-forager to pastoral-agricultural lifeways in the Neolithic was one of the biggest changes in the history of humankind. In the Mediterranean, this began at different times and occurred in different ways across the region. This project seeks to characterise the potential influence of rapid climate change events in the Neolithic transition. It will involve generating high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records from archaeological sites across the Mediterranean using carbonate geochemistry. The project can be adapted to Honours or masters with a focus on single site reconstructions.



·      Calibration of new high-resolution sea surface temperature proxies for southeastern Australia using mollusc shell chemistry (Dr A. Prendergast) Mollusc shells have periodic growth increments which allow the reconstruction of chronologically constrained records of palaeoenvironmental variability at unparalleled high temporal resolution. Studying the growth and chemistry of these periodic growth increments is known as sclerochronology. There are few high-resolution marine palaeoenvironmental proxies available for southeastern Australia. Mollusc shell sclerochronology holds great promise for reconstructing quantitative, sub-seasonally resolved sea surface temperature and salinity records from this region via the analysis of shells from Late Pleistocene to Holocene archaeological sites. However, before these archives can be used for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, it is necessary to undertake modern calibration studies to understand how geochemical variations are influenced by local environmental conditions, kinetic and vital effects. This allows the generation of quantitative and reliable proxy records of environmental change. This project will use field and lab-based sclerochronological methods on intertidal mollusc species to calibrate new high-resolution palaeoenvironmental proxies for southeastern Australia.



·      Investigating climate-driven sedimentary dynamics in the subtropical Andes of NW Argentina (Dr J.-H. May) Understanding the response of landscapes to climatic changes is crucial in sustainable development and natural disaster prevention but is often complicated by the wide range of mechanism that control sedimentary dynamics over multiple timescales. This project sets out to explore catchment-wide sedimentary dynamics over Holocene timescales in the tectonically active high-mountain environment of the subtropical Andes by (i) establishing depositional histories in hillslope, valley and alluvial plain settings in the Quebrada de Humahuaca basin, NW Argentina, using stratigraphic, and novel sedimentological and geochemical methods, (ii) developing new luminescence based chronologies for these records, and (iii) linking them in space and time.



·      Reconstructing paleoenvironments and landscape change from desert pavements in Central Australia (Dr J.-H. May) Dust is a key player in Earth’s global biogeochemical cycles and affects important Earth surface processes such as climate and soil formation. However, our understanding of dust dynamics over longer timescales is still limited due to the lack of suitable archives in dust producing regions. Desert pavements provide a novel but so far understudied archive to reconstruct late Quaternary dust deposition and paleoenvironmental change in Australia’s outback. This project aims at exploring the use of dust accumulated under desert pavements in Central Australia to reconstruct late Quaternary dust and landscape dynamics e.g. by (i) establishing dust flux from luminescence based depositional and post-depositional histories, and (ii) investigating variations in transport processes and provenance over time with sedimentological and geochemical methods (also possible as Honours project).

Honours and Masters research topics

·      Using source-bordering dunes to reconstruct the late Quaternary fluvial history of the lower Murray River (Dr J.-H. May) The lower Murray River downstream of Mildura shows a series of fluvial terraces and alluvial plains that attest to episodes of alternating incision and stability. Very little information exists regarding the hydrological and sedimentary characteristics of these paleo-rivers. Here, source-bordering dunes and sand-ramps along the lower Murray offer promising but so far unexplored archives for the reconstruction of fluvial and aeolian processes over time. This project looks at using field work in combination with sedimentological and pedological methods to unravel the depositional history of these archives.


·      Using mammoth teeth for high-resolution reconstructions of paleoenvironments in Central Europe during the LGM (jointly supervised by Dr A. Prendergast and Dr J.-H. May) The global LGM has been characterized the expansion of ice sheets and profound shifts in regional environments and vegetation patterns. While these changes in landscape-scale processes are manifest in the existing pollen and sedimentary records, very little detailed data exists regarding local and seasonal-resolution paleoclimatic conditions during this time. This project aims at testing the use of wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) teeth from southern Germany for the reconstruction of high-resolution environmental and climatic conditions during LGM by applying microscopic, geochemical and sclerochronological techniques.


·      Understanding paleoenvironments and human interactions around a mid-Holocene shell midden in South America’s largest inundation savannah (jointly supervised by Dr A. Prendergast and Dr J.-H. May) Early to mid-Holocene archaeological sites are extremely rare in the Amazon basin. Anthropogenic shell middens provide valuable windows into past human-environmental interactions in the northern Bolivian inundation savannah, and hold clues on the type of existing resources, their seasonal to longer-term variability in the landscape, and their link to the natural and paleoenvironmental dynamics in a tropical riverine environment. This project addresses these questions via developing high-resolution records of paleoenvironmental change and seasonal resource use by applying microscopic, geochemical and sclerochronological techniques to freshwater apple snail shells (Pomacea spp.) from a midden in the Bolivian Amazon.

There are a variety of scholarships available. Please see below for further information on application processes and scholarship information:

·      Doctor of Philosophy in Science (PhD), and a Master of Philosophy in Science (MPhil): http://science-courses.unimelb.edu.au/study/degrees/doctor-of-philosophy-science/fees-scholarships#fees-scholarships (Please note the application deadlines: 31st of October 2018 for domestic applicants, and 30th of September 2018 for international applicants)

·      Master of Geography: http://science-courses.unimelb.edu.au/study/degrees/master-of-geography/overview

·      Bachelor of Science (Degree with Honours)  http://bsc.unimelb.edu.au/overview/bachelor-of-science-honours (Please note the application deadline is the 30th of November 2018)


For more information please send your CV and short bio to:

Dr Amy Prendergast (amy.prendergast at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:amy.prendergast at unimelb.edu.au>), or
Dr Jan-Hendrik May (janhendrikmay at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:janhendrikmay at unimelb.edu.au>

Please circulate to anyone who may be interested.


Many thanks,

Amy & Henne



Dr Amy Prendergast

School of Geography | Faculty of Science | The University of Melbourne

221 Bouverie St, Carlton, 3053, Victoria, Australia

T: +61 3 83448284 M: +61 401208442 E: amy.prendergast at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:amy.prendergast at unimelb.edu.au>

geography.unimelb.edu.au<http://geography.unimelb.edu.au> | https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person782464 | twitter.com/AmyLPrendergast<http://twitter.com/AmyLPrendergast>



I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I work, and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.