As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect moment to celebrate achievements, welcome new faces, and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

Celebrating Success of our Graduates

First and foremost, a huge congratulations to Yicheng, Theo, and Luke on successfully completing their PhDs. This is a remarkable milestone, and we’re proud of their dedication, perseverance, and passion. Their contributions have enriched our community, and we can’t wait to see where their journeys take them next. You can check out our list of publications to see all of their work over the years.

Welcoming New Starters

We’re delighted to welcome Lucas, Regina, Timothee, Mateusz, Charlie, Ruijie, and Xin to the team. Each brings fresh perspectives and energy from new fields, and we’re excited to see how their ideas will shape our projects in the months ahead.

Thanking Departing Colleagues

At the same time, we bid farewell to Jierong, Dom, Mary-Anne, Guoxi, Olivia, and Mengmeng. Your hard work and dedication have left a lasting impact and produced many interesting scientific outputs. We’re grateful for everything you’ve contributed and we wish you all the very best in your next chapters.

Looking Ahead to 2026

The coming year promises to be full of opportunities:

  • The EcoArch project will officially kick off, opening new avenues for research and collaboration.

Pictured: The PIs of the EcoARCH team, Sanne Boessenkool (University of Oslo), Sandy Harrison (University of Reading), Sarah Ivory (Penn State University), David Wright (lead PI, University of Oslo)

  • We’ll gather for the final LEMONTREE meeting, marking an important milestone in this 6-year project.

Pictured: LEMONTREE Team at the annual meeting earlier this year in South Korea.

  • New staff and students will join us, bringing fresh energy and ideas to our community.

 

Building Collaborations

This year, we hosted several brainstorming workshops that sparked exciting collaborations. Our teams also attended symposiums and conferences, sharing insights from the Leverhulme and LEMONTREE joint fire–vegetation interactions project. These exchanges have strengthened our network and laid the groundwork for future discoveries.

Pictured: Olivia Haas presenting at EGU earlier this year.

Closing the RAIN Project

2025 also marked the conclusion of the RAIN project, led by Northumbria University, which explored the question of where and why it rains in the desert. We’re proud to have contributed to this effort, including through Zhao et al. (2025), and look forward to seeing how this research continues to inspire new directions.

Looking Forward

With so much on the horizon, we’re excited to return refreshed in January 2026. Here’s to another year of collaboration and scientific progress.