Quaternary Research Association

Congratulations to Cameron Powell who won the postgraduate poster prize at last week's @quaternaryra.bsky.social ADM in Brighton! There was lots of Durham palaeoglaciology research on show, including work by @hollyjenk.bsky.social and Molly Gath. 👇❄️

durhamglaciology.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/d...

Second stop of #QRA2026ADM field trip, Black Rock raised beach and spectacular Quaternary sedimentary sequences c.250ka old, on-lapping c.85Ma old chalk cliffs @quaternaryra.bsky.social

First stop of #QRA2026ADM field trip, beautiful Birling Gap to discuss chalk-flint geology, periglacial processes and Quaternary dry valley deposits @quaternaryra.bsky.social

Marc Dickinson wins the Lewis Penny medal

Congratulations Marc!! 👋👋🦣 @marcdickinson.bsky.social for winning the Lewis Penny Medal for his fab tooth enamel dating work from @quaternaryra.bsky.social. @chemistryatyork.bsky.social

An Alaskan coastal environment with vegetated beach ridges and a calm sea

22-month postdoctoral position in the Durham Geography department working on Alaska paleogeodesy as part of NERC/NSF funded grant. More details here, application deadline is January 8th: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...

QRA ADM Brighton 2026 Welcome to Brighton! The Quaternary: Past Human and Environment Dynamics 5th-8th January 2026

The QRA ADM early bird registration ends on the 30th November! Register now at sites.google.com/view/qraadmb...

QRA ADM in Brighton, abstract submission deadline 10th November!!! Submit your abstracts for a talk or a poster @quaternaryra.bsky.social sites.google.com/view/qraadmb...

And an extra special congratulations to our presentation and poster winners Ellery Littlewood and Sena Inkaya! 🥳

This week we held our postgraduate symposium co-hosted by Reading and Portsmouth Universities. It was two days of fantastic talks by our postgraduate community. We discussed quaternary careers in both academia and industry, and enjoyed keynote talks from Prof Nick Branch and Dr Mark Hardiman.

Just over a week left to register for the QRA PGR symposium hosted by Reading university. Don’t forget to sign up before the 6th August!

SAVE THE DATE!! 5-8 Jan 2026 QRA Annual Discussion Meeting: “The Quaternary - Past Human and Environment Dynamics” at University of Brighton. Website and registration coming soon!! @quaternaryra.bsky.social

Still a couple of spaces on our North Wales @quaternaryra.bsky.social field trip in October 2025. QRA Engineering Group: Field course in engineering geology and sedimentology of glacial and periglacial terrains

We are pleased to announce that this year's QRA Postgraduate Symposium will be held at the @uniofreading.bsky.social from the 27th - 29th August 2025, and is co-hosted by the University of Portsmouth. Tickets can be purchased here: www.eventbrite.com/e/1333917556...

Our new micromorphology guide to the microscale analysis of glacial sediments and processes, edited by the fantastic Emrys Phillips and John Menzies is now available at the QRA bookshop! Get your copy here www.qra.org.uk/bookshop/mic... (don’t forget your members discount!) 📖🔬

We had productive discussions about our latest publications, upcoming grants, and the future direction of the QRA. We couldn’t resist a trip to the Honours Wall, where a ladder was up to add the name of the new Busk Medal recipient: Prof Murray Gray. He joins an impressive list of past QRA winners!

Now available to buy at www.qra.org.uk ….

🧵4/4: Cwm Idwal is a National Nature Reserve in Eryri National Park, N.Wales. The dramatic landscape here has been shaped by glacial activity. You can explore Cwm Idwal via the VR glaciers Cwm Idwal virtual field trip developed by Dr Des McDougall.

🧵3/4: The Norfolk coast is dominated by glacial sediments, in particular till, which was deposited beneath the huge ice sheet that covered the landscape 0.5 million years ago. These tills contain minerals, providing high quality farmland, but are being increasingly eroded due to rising sea levels.

🧵2/4: Lower Bann valley drumlin field, Northern Ireland: the last ice sheet to cover Britain and Ireland moulded the lowland landscape into extensive fields of streamlined hills known as drumlins. Drumlins provide vital clues about the direction of ice flow within former ice sheets. 📷Alex Clark

🧵1/4: Coire Lagain, Isle of Skye is a well-developed glacial cirque, eroded over numerous glaciations. At this site, pioneering glaciologist James Forbes (1809-1868) applied his observations of modern glaciers in the European Alps to the glacial erosional landforms of the Cullins. 📷Dave Evans

Today is the World Day for Glaciers, so we thought we'd showcase some of the excellent glacial landscapes preserved in the UK...🧵

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To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay we asked some women in quaternary science: "What sparked your interst in climate science?"
Here are their responses....🧵1/6

Happy International Women and Girls in Science day from the QRA!

Today we get to celebrate the incredible scientific achievements of the women and girls in our quaternary community.

Comment and tell us about the women and girls who have inspired you! 👩‍🔬

#womeninscience #womeninstem

The assessors commented very positively on the scope and quality of the 11 entries that were short-listed out of 47 eligible papers.

Congratulations to both Sean and Lucy! 🧵 4/4

The runner-up is Lucy Blennerhassett from the Department of Geology at Trinity College Dublin, for her paper “Tephra detection without pre-separation in ashed peat” 🧵 3/4