About
Nicholas Branch is a Professor in Quaternary Palaeoecology at the University of Reading's School of Archaeology Geography & Environmental Science. He currently serves as School Director for Recruitment and Admissions and holds roles in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science.
Education: BSc (Hons) in Archaeology from University College London (1990s), MSc in Bioarchaeology (Archaeobotany) from UCL (1990s), PhD in Geography from Royal Holloway (University of London) focusing on Northern Apennines' vegetation history (2000s). Affiliations include the Walker Institute for Climate Systems Research and Soil Research Centre.
Research focuses on Late Pleistocene/Holocene climate-environment interactions in Peru, Italy, and the UK. Key themes include climate resilience in Andean agriculture, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and human-environmental dynamics. Recent work emphasizes applying interdisciplinary methods to assess contemporary challenges using historical data.
Awards include Fellowships from the Higher Education Academy and Society of Antiquaries. Supervised over 20 PhD students focusing on environmental archaeology across multiple continents. Active in research clusters like Landscape, Climate & Lived Environment and Centre for Past Climate Change.
Labs/Teams: Leads the CROPP (Climate Resilience in Peru) project and collaborates with international teams on Andean agricultural sustainability. Current projects include quantifying climate change impacts in the Andes and investigating Holocene environmental transitions in the Apennines.
