CoT Executive Elections – ECR Representative

CoT Executive Elections – ECR Representative

Four candidates have been nominated to run for two ECR Representative positions on the CoT Executive. Below is a short biography for each candidate, and why they would like to be appointed as a ECR representative.

Please follow the Link here to vote

Candidates:

Dr Danielle McLean (University of Oxford)

I am an Early Career Postdoctoral Researcher based at the University of Oxford, where I use tephrochronology to advance our understanding of past climate, hazard events, and human-environment interactions. My research has focused on building tephrochronological frameworks across Japan, Northwest Africa, and more recently, Central America.

I have held the Early Career Representative position on the Commission on Tephrochronology (COT) since 2023, including representing early career researchers at the COT meeting in Sicily last year, where I helped coordinate travel grants, awards, and networking opportunities. If re-elected, I will continue to advocate for our community and ensure our perspectives are heard within COT.

Hanaa Yousif (University of Alberta)

The Canadian Arctic is the most glaciated region in the world outside of Antarctica and Greenland. Ice cores drilled in the Canadian North likely hold rich records of volcanism, yet this remains a largely underexplored area of research, particularly in contrast to the extensive tephra analyses conducted on polar ice cores. My PhD research, based at the University of Alberta, focuses on a detailed and systematic search for (crypto)tephra in Canadian ice core records. I undertake this research primarily as a means to circumvent the challenges associated with ice core chronologies. Prior to this, I completed my Master’s degree at the University of Alberta, where I researched the application of tephrochronology to better constrain chronologies of metal pollution in the Romanian Carpathians.

I am interested in becoming an Early Career Researcher Representative for the Commission on Tephrochronology (CoT) because I am enthusiastic about fostering meaningful connections among early career researchers at an international level. This role presents an exciting opportunity to engage with a global network of peers, something that has been largely absent from my current and past committee work. At the University of Alberta, I am actively involved in the Northern Students’ Association, a student-led group focused on the development, support, and continuation of Northern studies and research. The position at CoT is an exciting way to deepen my engagement with the more volcanological facets of my PhD research.

Eloise Wilkinson-Rowe (University of Oxford)

I am a first-year PhD student at University of Oxford, UK interested in using tephra to constrain explosive eruption histories and chronological records. My project aims to build a robust tephrostratigraphic framework for the NW Africa from marine and archaeological sequences, improving age controls for the timing and dynamics of early human evolution in the region. This will also help to constrain the explosive eruption history of ocean island volcanoes in the North Atlantic (Azores, Canary Islands), which preserve patchy proximal stratigraphies, and improve estimates of eruption frequency and tempo for these volcanic systems. Prior to this, I worked on tephrostratigraphic records from East Africa and Northern Europe during my Master’s and Undergraduate projects at the University of Cambridge, and facilitated tephra data integration efforts for VARDA at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Why would like the position:

I would like to act as a postgraduate ECR representative, to ensure representation of postgraduate students within the COT committee. Research students make up a significant proportion of the tephra community, learning from and contributing to the field, at both COT events and in wider research collaborations. A postgraduate student representative, able to represent the needs, interests, and insights of research students in the field, is important. I am keen to encourage increased engagement of early-career researchers (at under/postgraduate level) with the tephra community through COT and build initiatives that support the progression of research students in the field. A young ECR network for tephra researchers, providing opportunities to interact more frequently between conferences, could help with this. I have been involved in the tephra community as both an undergraduate and postgraduate student and feel increased interactions between students, as very-early career researchers, would significantly benefit the research students as well as the wider community. I am keen to help facilitate this.

Jacob Noble (Keele University)

Jacob holds an MSci in Earth Science from Durham University and an MSc in Geoscience Research from Keele University (both UK institutions). Currently undertaking a PhD at Keele University, his research focuses on the tephrochronology of ‘Iceberg Alley’, part of the Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean. This work forms part of the International Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP) Expedition 382, which aims to develop our understanding of past Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. Jacob also has experience as student representative during his Msc, and he takes seriously the responsibilities of this role to ensure the perspectives of every member is valued.

Why I would like to apply for the position:

I am interested in applying for this position because I would like to become more involved in the work of COT and develop stronger ties with people at all stages working in the field of tephrochronology. I’m also interested in upholding and reinforcing COT’s commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion by ensuring that all members feel heard. I believe my position as a final-year PhD student gives me experience which might be useful to other early-career researchers, and that my previous role as student representative during my master’s will help me succeed in this role.

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