Andrew DugmoreView profile
Professor
Professor Andrew Dugmore is a Personal Chair in Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh's School of Geosciences, with adjunct professorships at City University of New York (since 2002), Arizona State University (2014-2017), and Washington State University (since 2015). He is an internationally recognized expert in tephrochronology and the dynamics of socio-ecological systems, with over 170 research publications to his name. Professor Dugmore's research focuses on long-term environmental records to understand resilience in complex socio-ecological systems and the mechanisms behind threshold-crossing events. His work integrates tephrochronology (volcanic ash dating), archaeology, and environmental history to examine landscape dynamics, particularly in the North Atlantic region. His fingerprint analysis shows strong expertise in Tephra studies (100%), Climate Change (60%), Holocene environmental change (55%), and Tephrochronology (47%), with additional strengths in Anthropogenic Effects, Vegetation studies, Landscape Change, and Human Settlement patterns. His recent publications reveal a continued focus on North Atlantic environmental history, archaeological methodology using tephrochronology, and the policy relevance of historical environmental data. His work demonstrates how volcanic ash layers preserve early warning signals of landscape tipping points - abrupt shifts from one state to another - with implications for contemporary climate challenges. President's Award, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2002) Gordon R. Willey journal prize, American Anthropological Association (2010) Honorary Life Membership, International Focus Group on Tephrochronology (2014) British Society for Geomorphology Chorley Award (2018) St Andrews Article Prize in European Environmental History (2019) Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2022) Research Award, 5th Shanghai Archaeological Forum (2023) Research Fellow, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (2024) Professor Dugmore has supervised at least eight PhD students to completion, with research focused on Icelandic and Scottish environmental history and archaeology. His current projects include investigating early human settlement of Iceland with ancient soil DNA and examining long-term environmental dynamics in cultural heritage landscapes. He is actively engaged in research that connects historical environmental data with contemporary sustainability challenges, as evidenced by his recent invited talks on 'Environmental histories in the North Atlantic' and 'Resilience and sustainability: past trajectories, contemporary directions, policy relevance.'


