AMGC LATEST NEWS

This was a busy weekend for AMGC'ers in terms of Science outreach and presentations to a public of non-specialists.

The third season of the Hala Sultan Tekke Hinterland project took place during the last week of October and the first two weeks of November.

Our new paper “Chicxulub impact winter sustained by fine silicate dust” is a collaboration with Royal Belgian Observatory and Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

Successfull field campaign in Slovenia The last but not least sampling campaign of the CRIME project (a collaboration of AMGC researchers with the University of Ljubljana , and the Jožef Stefan Institute , funded by FWO ) was completed in August 2023.  The CRIME project focus...

Excellent performance for Prof. Barbara Veselka, Dr. Hannah James and Dr. Jean-Guillaume Feignon from AMGC, all 3 obtained FWO travel grants to present their work at an international meeting or to carry out research abroad. Good job, spead the work done at AMGC.

AMGC is hiring a new PhD student on a project in collaboration with SCK-CEN  Topic: Novel assays of ‘difficult-to-measure’ radionuclides in the context of a sustainable waste management radionuclides used in medical applications.  AMGC contact: Prof. Martine Leermakers More details...

The VUB is known as an "Urban Engaged University" very much integrated within the city of Brussels and so is AMGC that actively carries out research focused on Brussels, as shown by the new PhD project that is starting soon “ Revealing the Senne: a hidden landmark in the historical center of Brus...

Prof. Dr. Niels de Winter was awarded a VENI grant  to develop new research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from the Dutch Research Council. Niels is a former AMGC'er who obtained his PhD in 2019 at the VUB with Philippe Claeys.

A new paper  authored by a large group of experts in domains ranging from Anthropology and Archaeology to Environmental Changes and Impact Cratering, published online this week in the well established journal Earth-Science Reviews, definitively refutes the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis...

Jordi Sans Duño obtained on July 4th 2023, the academic degree of DOCTOR in of SCIENCE with the thesis "Measuring the availability of metals in large mixtures with diffusive thin films (DGT) devices" Joint PhD with the University of Lleida in Spain Supervisors: Prof. Yue Gao (VUB), Prof.

On Friday June 30 2023 the traditional annual VUB staff BBQ took place on campus.  AMGC participated.  See the pictures of this great team event below.

PhD student Flore Van Maldeghem was one of the 3 laureates of this year Doctoral Derby at the VUB. With her research on Antarctic meteorites as messenger from space titled "Clues from cosmic dust" , Flore is this year winner of the prize for "best written research summary".

On Thursday May 25th, His Excellency Ambassador Zhongming Cao discovered the AMGC labs during his visit at the VUB. Professor Yue Gao introduced him to the AMGC staff and mass spectrometers and explain our research focusing on Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The first CycloNet Summer Training School sponsored by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) was held from April 29th to May 06th 2023 at Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco (OCG) in Italy.  CycloNet is support by FWO Scientific Research Network.  Prof.

Professors Steven Goderis and Philippe Claeys, co-authored a paper with colleagues from Open University in the UK and Dr Lidia Pittarello (former AMGC post-doc now at Museum of Natural History, Vienna) published this week in Nature Astronomy  on the formation and m...

Pim Kaskes obtained on April 26th 2023, the academic degree of DOCTOR in of SCIENCE with the thesis "Reconstructing the first moments after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary impact event: High-resolution petrography and geochemistry of proximal and distal Chicxulub ejecta" &nbsp...

PhD student Flore Van Maldeghem is among the 8 finalists selected for this year VUB Science Communication contest. Congratulation to Flore and we wish her the very best of luck.

Mingyue Luo obtained on April 4th 2023, the academic degree of DOCTOR in of SCIENCE with the thesis "Monitoring and investigation of biogeochemical processes of inorganic pollutants in water, sediment and soil"  Supervisors: Prof. Yue Gao (VUB) and Prof.

Dr. Ryoga Maeda is now a research associate at Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology - JAMSTEC in Yokohama, Japan.   After four fantastic years of PhD research on Antarctic meteorites with Professor Steven Goderis as thesis advisor, and as a pillar of AMGC, Dr.

Professor Martine Leermakers held a training course for VUB and UGent Master students in Environmental Chemistry on board of the new RV Belgica in March 2023.  Students learned to use oceanographic equipments and understand aquatic geochemical processes.

Ryoga Maeda obtained on March 6th 2023, the academic degree of DOCTOR in of SCIENCE with the thesis "Chemical and isotopic characterization of Antarctica meteorites: The chemical and isotopic effects of thermal processing and terrestrial weathering on the (re)distribution of trace ele...

Tessi Loeffelmann obtained on February 3rd 2023, the academic degree of DOCTOR in INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES. The thesis of her doctoral thesis is "There and back again - Mobility and burial rites in early medieval England c.

Christina Makarona obtained on Tuesday February 28, the academic degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCES. The title of her doctoral thesis is  "Geochemical proxies for the technological study of Late Bronze Age ceramics from south-western Cyprus".   Advisors Prof. Dr.

On February 15, 2023 Sarah Dalle successfully defended her thesis “Exposing hidden transitions. Integrating strontium and radiocarbon data from archaeological cremated bone within the Belgian landscape”.  Supervisors: Prof. dr. Guy De Mulder (UG), Prof. dr. Christophe Snoeck (VUB).

Tessi Loeffelmann paper in titled "Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea" receives lots of media attention.   Tessi is finishing her joint PhD at University of...

This year field season in Antarctica led to the discovery of an almost 8 kg meteorite.

PhD researcher Flore Van Maldeghem is very active in the diffusion of AMGC research, and its communication to schools and a large public.    At AMGC we make every effort to spread the results of our research widely, to schools and the public in general.

Dr. Christina Cheung in now a Professor in Anthropology in Hong-Kong.  After two great years as post-doctoral researcher within AMGC, Dr.

Great start for our 2022-2023 meteorite search in East Antarctica, using the Belgian station Princess Elisabeth as logistic base.  AMGC'er Ryoga Maeda already reports the finding of several meteorites within the searched moraines deposits.

Steven and his team enjoy a new toy for studying (micro)meteorites and the flux of extra-terrestrial particules to Earth.   Thanks to funding from the Research Foundation Flanders, Hercules project : "Shooting stars and blasting dinosaurs: boosting ICP-MS capabilities across various r...

On December 12 & 13, 2002, AMGC members metin Oostende, at the Thermae Palace Hotel for the annual team building activities.  Presentations were given and discussions occured under the leadership of Prof.

From October 11 to today Dr. Marion Peral was a scientist on the Joides Resolution IODP Exp 397.   She is now returning to Tarragona (Spain) after ± 2 month at sea drilling the ocean floor offshore the Iberian margin in the South of Portugal.

Philippe Claeys was in Marocco end of November invited to present a keynote talks during the inaugural session of the MedGU 2022 Meeting.  The Mediterranean Geosciences Union meeting (Nov. 28 to 30) was in Marrakech at the Cadi Ayyad University.

Join the BB-LAB to study the impact of past Rapid Climate Change on human mobility in prehistoric Belgium.  PhD Position in isotope Bioarchaeology at the VUB within the recently funded LEAP project "Learning from the past: the impact of abrupt climate change on society and environments in...

A new paper as part of the recent PhD of Dr. Sietze de Graaff is published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

This year AMGC made a razzia on Research Foundation Flanders Travel Grants (FWO) to spread our research results all over the world.   Dr Kevin Rey obtained financial support to attend the " The 6th International Palaeontological Congress " in Khon Kaen, Thailand, i...

Dr. Marta Marchegiano, post-doctoral researcher at AMGC received an International Association of Sedimentologists IAS post-doctoral grant.   The title of her project is "Ostracod living fauna from Lake Izabal (Guatemala) and Lake Victoria (Tanzania) as modern analogue to reconstr...

The pre-print of Sietze de Graaff is second in the SSRN top 10 list to download list.   The paper is titled: The Chicxulub impact structure reveals the first in-situ Jurassic aged magmatic intrusions of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico.

Dr. Ségolène Rabin is a post-doctoral researcher with Professor Steven Goderis on the BELSPO project DESIRE.   She is the 2022 laureate of the Haüy-Lacroix award given by the "Société Française de Minéraologie et Cristallographie" for her PhD work carried out...

Benjamin Jentgen obtained on July, 5th 2022, the academic degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCES.   The title of his doctoral thesis is  "Histological and remodelling patterns among neosauropods in insular environments".   Joint PhD between Vrije Universiteit Brussel &a...

Dr. Niels de Winter video for Universiteit Vlaanderen is online here   It describes in details how ancient, often million years old fossil shells can provide very high resolution, down to season or days, paleoclimate information that make it possible to better understan...

This week at the UK Archaeological Science Conference (UKAS) held in Aberdeen, UK, AMGC researchers: Carina Gerritzen, Ellie Stamataki and Dr.

Sietze de Graaff obtained on April 26, 2022, the academic degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCES. The title of his doctoral thesis is: "Making Sense of Destruction: A Geochemical and Petrological Investigation of the Impact Melt Rocks and Crystalline Basement of the Chicxulub Impact Structure.

Vendula Smolikovà obtained on April 21, 2022 the academic degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCES.   The title of her doctoral thesis is: "Determination of trace elements in the aquatic environment using diffusive gradients in thin films technique"   Joint PhD betwe...

The paper by Dr. Christina Cheung a post-doctoral researcher from AMGC and BBLab made the headline in the South China Morning Post.

Barbara Veselka, post-doctoral researcher, recent paper titled   "Estimating age-at-death in burnt adult human remains using the Falys-Prangle method"  Is within the top cited for 2020-2021 in the journal "American Journal of Biological Anthropology"  Congratulati...

Fantastic outreach to the young generation of scientists. AMGC'ers Dr. Hannah James, Jacob Griffith, Dr.

On Monday 28 of March, Dr. Niels de Winter presents his research on how North Sea oyster-shells register climate changes at very high resolution (in Dutch).

The book to honor Prof. Walter Alvarez career achievements is now published online by Geological Society of America Special papers.

Pim Kaskes, PhD student working on Chicxulub crater is one of the 2022 winners of the Career Development Award from the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) presented this year at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston Texas.

AMGC is hiring a new PhD student on a project in collaboration with SCK-CEN    Topic: Development of fast and sensitive methods for radiotoxicological and biodistribution studies/analyses of radionuclides used in medical applications.    AMGC contact: Prof. Martine...

Machine learning helps find Antarctic meteorites, new paper by PhD student Veronica Tollenaar (@FNRS) and Dr. Harry Zekollari in Science Advances read it here in open access.

Join a motivated, dynamic and diverse research group in Brussels, supported by outstanding analytical facilities.   AMGC is currently recruiting a PhD student to work on a funded FWO project "Some like it hot" that proposes to document changing paleoclimates through tim...

Dr. Barbara Veselka, AMGC and MARI specialist in Osteology, co-authors a recent paper in Nature titled "Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age".  The manuscript highlights, using genome analyses, differences between ancient migratio...

Pim Kaskes receives this award from the Planetary Science Institute to present his PhD research at the 2022 Lunar and Planetary Conference in Houston, Texas   Pim Kaskes is current a PhD student (FWO fellow) in AMGC working on the 66 million years old Chicxulub cra...

David De Vleeschouwer did his PhD as FWO fellow within AMGC at the VUB with Philippe Claeys, on orbital forcing influence of Devonian Greenhouse Climates, after successful years in MARUM Bremen and an IODP cruise offshore Australia, he is now the new Earth System professor...

Good researchers never grow old... New Paper published this week by Emeritus Professor Eddy Keppens.  Eddy retired in 2013 after a full career at the VUB, coming from Ghent University, where he got his degree in Geology, he was one of the first VUB PhD students with Prof.

Video of the ceremony VUB Vice-rector research Karin Vanderkerken and Minister for Science Policy Thomas Dermine is on YouTube click here    Website Paleontologica Belgica   Dr. Koen Stein, former AMGC FWO post-doc and now working at Royal Institute of Na...

National Institute of Polar Research International (NIPR) Internship award granted to Ph student Ryoga Maeda.   Ryoga will spend 3 months at NIPR from December 2021 to March 2022.  In the framework of this project Ryoga Maeda will work with Dr.

Dr. Kevin Salesse  from AMGC & BBLab experimentally cremated pigs remains and then used stable isotopes of C and O together with Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the position of a body on the pyre and the presence of footwe...