Brian Chase

Brian Chase is a Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) affiliated with the Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution-Montpellier (ISEM) at Université Montpellier, France, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He coordinates the 'Extreme Environments' research team and directs AFQUA, a major African Quaternary research initiative.

Education

• DPHIL – Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, France (2012)
• MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy – University of Sheffield, UK (2002)
• BA in Geography – Portland State University, USA (1997)

Research Focus

Chase's research centers on reconstructing past environmental changes in southern Africa—a region critically sensitive to climate variability but lacking robust paleoarchives. His pioneering work includes:

• Developing rock hyrax middens as novel paleoenvironmental proxies
• Analyzing coastal wetland sediment cores from South Africa
• Creating PDF-based transfer functions for quantitative paleoclimatic reconstructions
• Designing statistical frameworks for spatiotemporal analysis of fossil records
• Assessing impacts of historical climate shifts on biodiversity and human evolution

Professional Affiliations

• Coordinator, Extreme Environments Team (ISEM)
• Director, AFQUA (African Quaternary Research Network)
• Editorial Board Member: Quaternary Science Advances and Quaternary International