The Team

Project PI: Dr. Michael J. Henehan

Michael Henehan, a white man with brown hair and beard, smiling in front of a forested background

I’m a Lecturer in Marine Geochemistry in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. I’m an isotope geochemist, with a particular interest in Boron, Lithium and Silicon isotopes, and use these tools to reconstruct past CO2 levels and carbon cycling behaviour.

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Specialist Research Technician: Dr. Emmeline Gray

Emmeline Gray, a white female with brown hair smiling in front of a forested background

Emmeline Gray is a Specialist Technician on the Petrarch Project in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. She did her PhD at the Open University researching Indian Monsoon Driven Productivity and Stratification Changes Across the Plio-Pleistocene, using a multiproxy approach. She has experience in isotope geochemistry, trace element analysis and micropalaeontology.

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PostDoctoral Research Associate: Dr. Sophie Westacott

Sophie, a white lady with brown hair, smiling in the wind in front of a mountainous background.

Sophie Westacott is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate on the Petrarch Project in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. She did her PhD at Yale University on the interplay between changes in the ocean silica cycle through the Phanerozoic and the fossil record of marine silicifiers, particularly radiolarians.

Within PETRARCH, Sophie is leading WP1, calibrating the boron isotope-pH proxy in radiolaria.
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PhD Candidate: Mr. Bernát Heszler

Bernát, a white male with brown hair and glasses, smiling in front of a rocky landscape.

I’m Bernát, a PhD Student on the Petrarch Project at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol from September 2023.
My research focuses on exploring past climate and environmental change, such as understanding larger perturbations in the Earth’s physical and biological systems, specifically climate change during globally warm intervals and oceanic anoxic events.
Within PETRARCH, I will be looking at the geochemistry of Cretaceous microfossils, with the aim of reconstructing long-term CO2 change through the late Cretaceous.
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M/Sci student: Ms. Ellie Chambers

Ellie Chambers, a white female with blond hair smiling in front of some cliffs with her camera.
I’m Ellie, a 4th year Environmental Geoscience undergraduate. This year I will be completing my integrated masters with a research project that will look at characterising boron isotope vital effects in Late Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera.

External Collaborators

Prof. Brian Huber (Smithsonian Institution)
Ms. Giulia Amaglio (Uni. Milan)
Prof. Maria Rose Petrizzo (Uni. Milan)
Prof. Fabien Lombard (LOV)
Prof. Nathalie Vigier (LOV)
Prof. O. Roger Anderson (Columbia University)