Resilience in East African Landscapes

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    • Leverhulme savannah fire 2014–2016
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  • Videos

Paleofire in East Africa presentation at CEREGE

Paleofire and vegetation changes across eastern Africa during the Holocene 05.09.2025 CEREGE, Aix, France Abstract In eastern Africa, humans have modified and interacted with fire regimes for hundreds of thousands of years with a cascade of effects on landscapes, nutrient cycles, biodiversity, plant compositions, and other forms of ecological disturbances (Archibald et al., 2011 PNAS). […]

Fire Lives Here episode 1

Fire Lives Here An intimate journey into the heart of Colorado’s Front Range, where fire is not just a threat—but a force of renewal. Through the voices of scientists, firefighters, and forest stewards, this documentary reveals how fire shapes the land, restores our forests, and holds the key to protecting the places we love. https://www.rmpbs.org/shows/fire-lives-here […]

Montane forest changes of East Africa

Githumbi EN, Finch J, Kinyanjui RN, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Musili P, Rucina S, Lejju J, Liljenberg P, Marchant R. 2025. Late Quaternary montane forest dynamics from equatorial East Africa: a biome perspective. Journal of Biogeography 52(9): e15173. [CC BY 4.0 Open Access]

Upcoming data analysis courses!

DataSharp Academy: Empowering YOU with practical data skills Many data scientists complete intensive courses on the latest tools and methods but often lack a solid grasp of the fundamentals. Everything runs smoothly in the classroom — until they’re back at their desks. “If only my data were as clean as the class examples, I could […]

Leverhulme Savannah fires project archive

International Network – Science (2014–2016) Dr Colin Beale, University of YorkUncovering the variable roles of fire in savannah ecosystems project (IN-2014-022)£124,830 Team: Guests: Summary This project brought together leading experts in savannah and fire ecology working in Eastern and Southern Africa to share knowledge and understanding of fire impacts in the savannah at the site […]

Simone Markoff successfully defends PhD!

Markoff, Simone. 2025. Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation and Food Security: A Multi-Method Case Study of Tanzania. Doctoral Thesis, University of Basel, Faculty of Science. UNIverse 262748. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14716/199968 Einladung zum Doktoratsexamen von Simone M. MarkoffSimone Markoff DATUM: 10. Juni 2025ZEIT: 13.00 UhrORT: Dept. Umweltwissenschaften, Klingelbergstasse 27,Raum 5-01, ZoomFORM: öffentlichDISSERTATION: Reconciling biodiversity conservation and food security: A multi-method […]

PAGES African Mobility Fellowship

Past Global Changes (PAGES) will be running the final Inter-Africa Mobility Research Fellowship Program (African Mobility Fellowship) for African early-career scientists studying past global changes in 2025. The next deadline for applications is 15 August 2025.  Please note, this will be the final round of fellowship support available from PAGES. From 16 August 2025, PAGES […]

BIEA writing workshop April 2026

Open for applications from the BIEA, Nairobi! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/florian-g-kern-4b0168335_please-share-widely-with-africa-based-researchers-ugcPost-7343588533799907328-GF0E?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAEbSmc0BvBSZNi8y1dBMH015H5NphJlPlXw

New ARCC project study on past fires around Serengeti

Research Context Soils of Serengeti have been characterised at relatively broad scales (Jager, 1982; Scoon, 2018; Hengl et al., 2015) and are an important influence on vegetation cover and biodiversity (Timbuka and Kabigumila, 2006; Sinclair et al., 2008; Mbise, 2015). The disturbance ecology on the kopje rock outcrops themselves has not investigated in much detail. […]

Africa Day at Carleton University, Ottawa

The 2025 Africa Day Forum, held on May 23 at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. Hosted by Casa Foundation, the forum brought together leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, and policymakers to explore this year’s theme: “Tariffs, Trade & Transformation: Strengthening Africa–Canada Economic Ties.” From high-level insights and cultural showcases to strategic roundtables, the forum […]

New publication on microplastics in alpine lake sediments

Remote Alpine Lakes and Microplastic Accumulation: Insights from Sediment Analysis of Lake Cadagno As a contribution to Colin Courtney-Mustaphi’s continued interest in the application of sedimentological analyses to understanding environmental pollution. In the past, Colin has published on pollution in the Canadian Arctic (Outridge et al., 2017) and total Mercury (Hg) accumulated in the sediments […]

Nikon Small World photo Competition

Photography competition deadline 30 April 2025! https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/

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Beny Lilawola joins ARCC

ARCC project members have expanded to include Beny Lilawola, an MA student in the Department of History at the University of Dar es Salaam. Lilawola is supervised by former REAL project ESR Dr Maxmillian Chuhila. Lilawola has long been interested in how cash crop production in the colonial period transformed agricultural livelihoods and landscapes throughout Tanzania. […]

Participatory mapping of bio-cultural heritage hotspots in western Serengeti

Dr Anna Shoemaker, ARCC post-doc has just spent the last month touring around western Serengeti visiting heritage sites in collaboration with local partners in an effort to document and understand the historical ecology of this incredibly varied landscape. The range of sites encountered was vast and included German colonial communication posts, hand-dug 19th/20th century wells, […]

Vegetation surveys in Serengeti

The ARCC project has been ramping it’s archaeological activity in western Serengeti this past month, doing participatory mapping and surveys throughout the region. The ARCC project’s archaeologist post-doc Anna Shoemaker was thrilled to be joined in the field from November 6-11 by Professor Tamera Minnick and Richard Alward, both of whom are currently visiting scholars at […]

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REAL is a Marie Curie Actions InnovativeTraining Network (ITN), funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme.

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Coordinating partner

Prof. Paul Lane
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History,
Uppsala University, and
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge

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