I reconstruct warm periods in Earth's geological past using marine plankton (dinocysts) and organic molecules (GDGTs, alkenones) to understand past sea surface temperature evolution, AMOC patterns, and vegetation changes. I also apply dinocysts to provide age models for Cretaceous and Cenozoic successions. Primary focus: North Atlantic–Arctic region.

Keywords: palynology, dinocysts, pollen, spores, membrane lipids, TEX₈₆, alkenones, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, paleoclimate, stratigraphy

Education:

2007-2011        Ph.D. (4+4 program), Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark.

2002-2005        B.Sc. University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geology, Poland

9.2005-6.2006  Erasmus exchange student at Aarhus University (home institution: University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geology, Poland).

2001-2004        B.Sc. University of Warsaw, Faculty of Polish Philology, Poland

Employment record:

from 2025 – Researcher at University of Oslo (UiO, 20% FTE; PALMAR project)

from 2019 – Senior researcher at GEUS 

09/2017 – 11/2019        Researcher at GEUS (80% FTE)

07/2013 – 09/2017        Postdoc Researcher at GEUS; (full time)

10/2011 – 03/2013        Postdoc; visiting researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, the Netherlands; funded by Det Frie Forskningsråd, Grant No. 11-107497

2/2007 – 6/2011            Teaching assistant, mentor for exchange students; Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark

8/2006 – 1/2007            Lab. assistant at Micropaleontology Group; Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark

Academic awards:

2019                    Best presentation award at the FORCE Biostratigraphy seminar, Stavanger Norway

2019                    ECORD research grant award. Very competitive merit-based award for outstanding young researchers for innovative research within the IODP awarded from the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD). Title: Mid-Cretaceous climate in the High Arctic region          €3.000/20.000 DKK

2007-2011         Recipient of numerous funds/scholarships for participation in various meetings/courses: from Energistyrelsen, Oticon Fonden, NordForsk PhD Grant, Fur Museum, ESSAC, and USSP. Total amount > 85.000 DKK

2002-2004         recipient of a scientific scholarship (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geology, Poland). The scholarship was awarded to top 2% of students based on their academic performance in an academic year.

Research funding and management experience (PI, projects over 0.5 Mill DKK) 

2024-2027          Denmark under IPCC scenarios – a view from the Eemian and Miocene past warm periods (EeMi) funded by Geocenter Denmark, 2.200.000 DKK

2019-2023         SeaLMICO₂ funded by Geocenter Denmark; 950.000 DKK; 

2011-2013         individual postdoc Grant No. 11-107497 funded by (DFF/FNU); 1.213.000 DKK

Other projects as co-investigator:

2025-2029        HORIZON-CL5-2024-D1-01-03 — Climate sciences and responses (2025-2029): P2F, funded by Horizon Europe; co-investigator in WP9 and WP12; research, supervision.

2024-2026        SUSTAIN-ART-SCI: Addressing Sustainability using Arts-Based Science Communication; funded by Novo Nordisk;  science communication

2023-2025        SVALCLIME UArctic: SVALCLIME: Deep-time Arctic climate archives: High-resolution coring of Svalbard’s sedimentary record, funded by UArctic; research

2022-2025        IODP Expedition 396: Mid-Norwegian Margin Magmatism and Paleoclimate Implications, shore-based researcher, research and supervision

2022-2023         Geocenter project: Shallow marine response and latitudinal variation across the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (PI Laura J. Cotton, SNM), research

2019-2021         Geocenter project: ENIGMA (PI Paul Knutz, GEUS); research and fieldwork.

2018                   funded by National Geographic: Cretaceous greenhouse (PI Madeleine Vickers, Plymouth University), Grant No.CP-038R-17; research and fieldwork.

2013-2019         Industry funded LoCrA consortium (PI Snorre Olaussen, University Centre in Svalbard); research, fieldwork, sample collection, supervision

International invited presentations:

• Keynote speaker at the Magellan Plus workshop NHIS – Evolution of the Northern Hemisphere Ice Sheets: timing, drivers, and interconnections  4-7 February 2025,  Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK presentation title: “Northern Hemisphere glacial evolution from the perspective of Greenland margins paleoclimate archives”
• ECORD summer school 2023, Bremen, Germany; invited lecturer: "The Early Cenozoic  Greenhouse World - the Arctic Perspective" September 6th, 2023
• ECORD summer school 2023, Bremen, Germany; invited lecturer together with Paul Knutz: "IODP Expedition 400, North West Greenland margin - Science presentation" September 14th, 2023
• EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria; "Sea surface temperature evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition", April 25th 2023
• 52nd AASP meeting, Ghent, Belgien; (keynote) "How reliable are dinocysts as a temperature proxy? A case study on Svalbardella cooksoniae and its implications for paleoclimatological studies of the late Paleogene"  July 2nd, 2019

Supervision:

Postdocs:

• Pablo Martinez Sosa website (2025-2027; EeMi)
• Ricardo D. M. Contreras (2025-2027; P2F)

Visiting researchers:

• Jessica (Bela) McCoy - PhD candidate from Northumbria University, Geography and Environmental Sciences Department 
• Lorenzo Edoardo Monetti   - Bachelor student from University of Milan (internship) 

Master students:

• 2025-2026 Esther-Charlott Kiel (Kiel University, EeMi)
• 2024 Laura Kellner (NOVA School of Science and Technology, Portugal) - now PhD-candidate at KU Leuven
• 2022-2023   Rune Bech Pedersen (AU) (SeaLMICO₂ project) - now PhD-candidate at Stockholm University 
• 2021-2022   Julie Fredborg (KU), (SeaLMICO₂ project) now PhD-candidate at Globe, Copenhagen University
• 2020-2021  Tirza Weitkamp (Vrije Universitet Amsterdam; Erazmus+)  Completed PhD at Stockholm University in 2025

Bachelor students:

• 2023 Amalie Arildsund (KU), (IODP 369/SeaLMICO₂ project) now PhD-candidate at Aarhus University
• 2020  Julie Margrethe Fredborg (KU) (LoCrA project)