{"id":1509,"date":"2025-12-16T15:29:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/?p=1509"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:30:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:30:29","slug":"reflecting-on-2025-and-looking-ahead-to-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/reflecting-on-2025-and-looking-ahead-to-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the year draws to a close, it\u2019s the perfect moment to celebrate achievements, welcome new faces, and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Celebrating Success of our Graduates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, a huge congratulations to Yicheng, Theo, and Luke on successfully completing their PhDs. This is a remarkable milestone, and we\u2019re proud of their dedication, perseverance, and passion. Their contributions have enriched our community, and we can\u2019t wait to see where their journeys take them next. You can check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/publications\/\">list of publications<\/a> to see all of their work over the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Welcoming New Starters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re 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\u2019re excited to see how their ideas will shape our projects in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanking Departing Colleagues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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\u2019re grateful for everything you\u2019ve contributed and we wish you all the very best in your next chapters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking Ahead to 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The coming year promises to be full of opportunities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The EcoArch project will officially kick off, opening new avenues for research and collaboration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1510 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"493\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-300x283.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-1024x966.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-768x725.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-1536x1449.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/EcoARCH_Announcement2-2048x1932.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/><em>Pictured: The PIs of the EcoARCH team, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mn.uio.no\/cees\/english\/people\/core\/sanneb\/\">Sanne Boessenkool<\/a> (University of Oslo), Sandy Harrison (University of Reading), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geosc.psu.edu\/directory\/sarah-ivory\">Sarah Ivory<\/a>\u00a0(Penn State University), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hf.uio.no\/iakh\/english\/people\/aca\/archaeology\/tenured\/daviwr\/\">David Wright<\/a> (lead PI, University of Oslo)<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We\u2019ll gather for the final LEMONTREE meeting, marking an important milestone in this 6-year project.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1512 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/IMG_1012-e1765898877460.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"662\" height=\"505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/IMG_1012-e1765898877460.png 1474w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/IMG_1012-e1765898877460-300x229.png 300w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/IMG_1012-e1765898877460-1024x782.png 1024w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/IMG_1012-e1765898877460-768x586.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Pictured: LEMONTREE Team at the annual meeting earlier this year in South Korea.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New staff and students will join us, bringing fresh energy and ideas to our community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building Collaborations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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\u2013vegetation interactions project. These exchanges have strengthened our network and laid the groundwork for future discoveries.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1511 aligncenter\" style=\"letter-spacing: 0.08px\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/olivia_egu1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"602\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/olivia_egu1.png 602w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2025\/12\/olivia_egu1-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Pictured: Olivia Haas presenting at EGU earlier this year.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Closing the RAIN Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2025 also marked the conclusion of the RAIN project, led by Northumbria University, which explored the question of <em>where and why it rains in the desert<\/em>. We\u2019re proud to have contributed to this effort, including through <a href=\"https:\/\/esd.copernicus.org\/articles\/16\/1655\/2025\/\">Zhao et al. (2025)<\/a>, and look forward to seeing how this research continues to inspire new directions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With so much on the horizon, we\u2019re excited to return refreshed in January 2026. Here\u2019s to another year of collaboration and scientific progress.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the year draws to a close, it\u2019s the perfect moment to celebrate achievements, welcome new faces, and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Celebrating Success of&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#112;&#97;&#108;&#97;&#101;&#111;&#99;&#108;&#105;&#109;&#97;&#116;&#101;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#102;&#108;&#101;&#99;&#116;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#45;&#111;&#110;&#45;&#50;&#48;&#50;&#53;&#45;&#97;&#110;&#100;&#45;&#108;&#111;&#111;&#107;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#45;&#97;&#104;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#45;&#116;&#111;&#45;&#50;&#48;&#50;&#54;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":959,"featured_media":1514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reflecting on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026 - SPECIAL Palaeoclimate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/reflecting-on-2025-and-looking-ahead-to-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflecting on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026 - SPECIAL Palaeoclimate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the year draws to a close, it\u2019s the perfect moment to celebrate achievements, welcome new faces, and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. 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