Organisation profile

The CQR was established in 1990 and has grown to become one of the leading international research centres in Quaternary science. The aim of the CQR is to promote interdisciplinary research based on three themes of major importance for understanding Quaternary environmental change: 1) the dynamics of global change; 2) the human dimension of environmental change, and 3) advances in geochronology.  Since its inception the CQR has attracted funding from an increasingly diverse range of sources (NERC, AHRC, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, EC Framework Programs, British Academy). Major research partnerships and initiatives have been forged (e.g. with the Natural History Museum, Museum of London, British Geological Society, English Heritage and Oxford University), which are fostering important advances in understanding Quaternary landscape evolution, quantitative palaeoclimate reconstruction, geochronology, biostratigraphy, and Palaeolithic and environmental archaeology.  Please see our pages at http://ow.ly/uiJB3 for further details. The CQR has also benefited from recent £1.5M SRIF investment in laboratory refurbishment that has enhanced the centre’s research capabilities in OSL dating, tephrochronology, analytical chemistry and soil micromorphology. The Centre runs the only MSc in Quaternary Science recognised by NERC. The course annually recruits c. 20 students, 65% of whom continue to PhD training. CQR staff members teach throughout the undergraduate physical geography curriculum, including third year specialist option courses that provide an important link between the research and teaching roles of academic staff in the centre.

Professor Danielle Schreve, CQR Director