Leading researchers from our highly rated Departments of History and Archaeology have been chosen for a €2m European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant.
The ERC funding will support the lead researcher, Dr Helen Foxhall Forbes (History) to coordinate a team to conduct ground-breaking research on how humans responded to environmental and climatic change during the Medieval times.
The project will investigate short- and long-term environmental and climatic changes between 1 and 1000 CE (Common Era), such as those caused by floods, volcanic activity, or longer periods of warming or cooling.
The research team will examine how people in Mediterranean societies responded to these changes intellectually, for example by trying to explain them scientifically or theologically.
The team will also explore how they responded to climatic changes socially, for example by growing different kinds of plants, or moving to live in new locations.
The study will specifically focus on how well people in past societies adapted to environmental changes and how different kinds of useful knowledge about environmental change were communicated.
The project will appoint three postdoctoral fellows and two PhD students.
These early career scholars will join the core team of four specialists to begin the research, including archival work, field and lab research, and collaborative analysis of evidence.
Our world-class academics are at the forefront of pioneering research that makes an impact in the real-world.
The ERC Grant symbolises the superior research capabilities of our scholars and aligns with the global reputation of our History and Archaeology Departments, which are ranked 5th and 4th respectively in The Complete University Guide 2022.
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