Viv Jones

• 1984 - 1987: PhD (NERC) University College London, Department of Geography A palaeoecological study of the post-glacial acidification of the Round Loch of Glenhead and its catchment.
• 1980 - 1983: BSc (Hons) Geography and Botany, University of Liverpool

• 2016 - 2024: Professor in Palaeolimnology, Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London
• 2010 – 2016: Reader in Palaeolimnology,
• 2001- 2010: Principal Research Fellow Part-time.
• 1995-2001: Senior Research Fellow, ECRC, University College London.
• 1987-1995: Research Fellow, ECRC, University College London.

• International Paleolimnological Association, Freshwater Biological Association, British Ecological Society

• 2018 - Present: Editorial Board, The Holocene
• 2013 - Present: Editorial Advisory Board, The Anthropocene Review
• 2008 – Present: Editorial Board, Journal of Paleolimnology

• 2018 - Present: Deputy Chair of the UK Arctic & Antarctic Partnership Steering Committee
• 2010 – 2016: Elected committee member of the International Society for Diatom Research
• 2007 – 2013:  Member of NERC radiocarbon committee
• 2007 – 2010:  Member of ESF proposal review panel
• 2004 – 2007: Member NERC peer review committee
• 2003 – 2010: Secretary of the International Society for Diatom Research

• Recent environmental change in Polar regions with special reference to the Russian Arctic
• Using palaeolimnology to set targets for ecosystem restoration
• Analysis of oxygen isotopes in diatom silica and chironomid chitin
• Holocene and Late-glacial environments
• The carbon cycle in lakes
• Uses of diatoms in a wide range of contexts including forensic context

Much of her recent research has focused on environmental changes in the Arctic, a region already responding to anthropogenic warming and predicted to experience enhanced warming this century. The Carbo-North and SPICE projects provided scenarios of Arctic change under various warming projections, which were presented to stakeholders in town meetings in Usinsk, Pechora, and Naryan Mar in the Komi Republic region. She is one of the few active palaeolimnologists working in Russia and was recently invited to a Department of Energy and Climate Change meeting in Moscow to discuss collaborative research links. She has contributed to several major Arctic palaeolimnological research programmes and is currently a co-investigator on the NERC Arctic programme project (NERC-LAC), leading the Russian aspect of the research.

Another key aspect of her work has been the application of palaeolimnology to conservation. Collaborating with the RSPB at Loch Ruthwen in Scotland, she established a link between historical lake productivity and populations of the rare Slavonian Grebe. This work directly informed research in the Flow Country in Caithness, funded by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), investigating declines in the Common Scoter over the past three decades. This research led to a funded studentship, and former student Dr Hannah Robson now works at the WWT.

More recently, her conservation-focused work with the WWT has expanded to Madagascar, where PhD student Lily Unger has been funded under a NERC CASE award to investigate how lake sediments can inform conservation targets for the Madagascan Pochard, the world’s rarest bird.

Professor Jones remains a committed member of the International Diatom Society, having served as Secretary and currently serving as a committee member. She has taught diatoms to undergraduates, master’s students, PhD students—including many international students—and professionals, running courses for organisations such as the Environment Agency.

She is currently collaborating with colleagues from the National Museum of Wales, the Natural History Museum, and other institutions to produce a Diatom Flora of the British Isles.

• 2018 - 2023: Lily Unger (NERC CASE (WWT)) Using palaeolimnology to determine restoration targets for the Madagascan Pochard
• 2015 - 2019: Emma Levin (EPSRC, Crime Science) Using diatoms as forensic tracers
• 2014 - 2019: Richard Mazebedi (Gov Botswana). Food Webs of the Okavango Delta
• 2013 - 2017: Hannah Robson  (IMPACT WWT) Using palaeolimnology to assess bird populations
• 2013 – 2017: Kirstie Scott (SeCret, Crime science) Diatoms and forensic applications
• 2010 – 2014: Alex Lombino (NERC project award) Oxygen isotopes in chironomids
• 2011 – 2014: Luca Marazzi (self-funding) Biodiversity in the Okavango Delta
• 2005 - 2009: Angela Self NERC/CASE award Chironomids and climate in the Russian Arctic
• 2003 - 2008: Jonathan Tyler NERC/CASE award Diatoms and delta 18O
• 1999 - 2004: Gina Clarke. The relationship between diatoms and climate in a European mountain lake training set: implications for detecting the Little Ice Age in lake sediments from Central Norway.
• 1996 - 2000: Patrick Rioual. Reconstruction of palaeoclimatic and palaeolimnological changes during the last interglacial from sedimentary diatom assemblages in the French Massif Central
• 1994 – 2000: Nadia Solovieva A palaeoecological study of Holocene environmental change in a small upland lake from the Kola Peninsula, Russia
• 1993 -1998: NERC/CASE student Philippa Noon with the British Antarctic Survey. Lake Sediments and climatic change in Antarctica

• 2019: Jing (Jackey) Zhu  Diatoms from a Greenland Ice Core
• 2018: Carole Roberts Palaeolimnology of Pechora Delta Russia
• 2018: Gina Charnley Recent Environmental Change and Bewick Swan populations, Pechora Delta
• 2018: Joanna Davies Palaeolimnology of King George Island Antarctica; Diatoms and Climate
• 2017: Lily Unger Plant macrofossil analysis of Australian wetlands
• 2015: Stephanie Rogers Invasive Harlequin Ladybird success
• 2015: Eleri Pritchard Signal Crayfish Success
• 2015: Lauren McLachlan Connectivity of Brown Trout
• 2014: Hamish Martin Nitrogen Deposition in the UK
• 2014: Ruth Davey Diatoms from Finnmark
• 2014: Dafie Ning Diatoms from Billabongs in Australia
• 2013: Christian Quintana Carbon cycling in Russia
• 2012: Laurence Evans  Nitrogen deposition in Greenland
• 2012: Kate Jenner Carbon trading
• 2011: Sarah Roberts  Holocene climate in northern Fennoscandia
• 2011: Catherine Peters Amphibians in Uganda
• 2010: Emma Watson Nutrient reconstruction at Loch Ruthwen

• 2015-2020: NERC Hydroscape - Connectivity x Stressor Interactions Hydroscape aims to determine how stressors and connectivity interact to influence biodiversity and freshwater ecosystems across Britain
• 2012-2015:  NERC-LAC - Lakes and the Arctic carbon cycle
• 2010-2013: NERC Kamchatka - Influence of global teleconnections on Holocene climate in Kamchatka
• 2010-2012: NERC Greenland -  Long-range atmospheric Nitrogen deposition as a driver of ecological change in Arctic lakes
• 2006-2011: CARBO-North Quantifying the carbon budget in Northern Russia: past, present and future. Funding Source: EU Framework 6
• 2003: NERC Assessing regional climate signals from delta 18O diatom records in annually laminated lake sediments
• 2000 - 2003: SPICE - Sustainable Pechora in a Changing Environment. Funding Source: EU INCO-COPERNICUS
• 1998 - 2001: TUNDRA - Tundra Degradation in the Russian Arctic. Funding Source: EU FW4
• 2000 - 2005: NORPEC - Norwegian PalaeoEnvironments and Climates as reconstructed from lake sediments. Funding Source: NAVF (Norwegian Science Research Council)
• 2000: NERC Palaeolimnological evidence for circumarctic climate warming in Northern Russia (NER/B/S/2000/00733)
• 1995 - 1998: Lake sediment records of recent atmospheric pollution and environmental change on Spitzbergen. Funding Source: NAVF
• 1995 - 1997: NERC Diatom biodiversity and distribution in maritime and continental Antarctica. Joint with Dr Steve Juggins, University of Newcastle
• 1995 - 1997: NERC The use of lake sediments to determine the history of ecosystem change at Signy Island within the Holocene