Bridget Tiller

About Bridget

Funding

This project is funded by the National Environment Research Council through the OnePlanet Doctoral Training Partnership.

Project description and research interests

My research explores the changing environment of the northern North Sea during the Early to Mid Quaternary.

This region has experienced fascinating environmental changes over the Neogene (~ 23 – 2.6 Ma) and Quaternary (~ 2.6 Ma to present) periods.

These include the onset of cold Quaternary conditions following the warmer Neogene, the consequent reorganisation of the ocean’s thermohaline circulation, repeated fluctuations of the Fennoscandian and British-Irish Ice Sheets, and shifting ocean currents.

This interplay of multiple ice sheets and oceanic processes makes the Northeast Atlantic Margin a crucial study site: researching how changes developed is key for palaeo-environmental reconstructions and the long-term perspectives that they can offer contemporary climate projections.

My research uses geophysical techniques to investigate these environmental changes. In particular, the project aims to improve our understanding of deposition by along-slope bottom currents in the ocean, including how this mechanism has interacted with both glacial and gravitational processes.

Academic qualifications, memberships and achievements

Qualifications

• MPhil Polar Studies, University of Cambridge (Merit)
• BA Geography, University of Cambridge (First Class with Distinction)

Achievements

• British Society for Geomorphology Postgraduate Research Grant (£1670)
• Yorkshire Geological Society Fearnsides Award (£500)
• Quaternary Research Association New Research Workers Grant (£900)
• Philip Lake Prize for best performance in physical geography in undergraduate degree (£200), William Vaughan Lewis Prize for a First Class undergraduate dissertation (£50), Homerton College Foundation Prize for achieving a starred First Class at undergraduate level (£500).