Karlijn Ploeg

I am a PhD candidate in Quaternary Geology and Palaeoclimate at the University of Bergen. I am incredibly driven to use glacial geomorphology to understand the complex behaviour of alpine glaciers and ice sheets in response to past climate change. Besides my environmental concerns, issues touching on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), such as gender inequality, racial injustice or ableism, are close to my heart. 

I have a BSc with honours in Earth Sciences (2020) from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and a MSc in Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology (2022) from Stockholm University, Sweden. After my MSc, I worked as a field assistant at Tarfala Research Station in northernmost Sweden and continued as a research assistant at the Department of Physical Geography at Stockholm University.

In autumn 2023 I started my PhD under the supervision of Ann Rowan and Henriette Linge at the Department of Earth Sciences at the UiB. My PhD project aims to evaluate the significance of ice-marginal moraines as a palaeoclimate proxy and indicator of glacier evolution by investigating how palaeoclimate variability and non-linear glacier response are recorded by ice-marginal moraine sequences in New Zealand during the last 50 ka through the LGM and Holocene. I will use several methods for this purpose: forward modelling of moraine formation and preservation using a surface process model, remote mapping of glacial geomorphology, compilation and data analysis of existing geochronological and geological data (e.g. ICE-D:ALPINE database), and cosmogenic nuclide-exposure age dating.