Jonathan will graduate this year with a degree in Earth Science. His previous role in journalism led to a Scottish Student Herald Award in 2010 as well is a Special Prize for Citizenship for his use of media in promoting local and international human rights issues. In 2013, he spent five weeks in Vietnam, participating in a series workshops designed to communicate the importance of salt water mangroves and their role in an ecosystem still recovering from chemical warfare. His interest in environmental issues has continued into his final year where he will use molecular fossils at the Biomarkers for Environment and Climate Science (BECS) facility in Glasgow to reconstruct the past climates of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Iberia. He is already involved in producing geological hazards resource packs for Geology for Global Development and the opportunity to get involved in current research on the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano is one that he couldn’t let pass by.

 

Jonathan will be joining the expedition as a co-leader to support the team in the planning and implementation of fieldwork and research as well as heading up science outreach. He is excited to contribute to current research on the understudied hazard of an active volcano that has immediate implications to the local population and use this experience to to engage with the public by building educational material for use in schools, Glasgow Science Centre events and the STEM Ambassador network.