People

Dr J. Edward Schofield

Dr J. Edward Schofield
Dr J. Edward Schofield
Dr J. Edward Schofield

BA, MSc, PhD, FSA Scot

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
j.e.schofield@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 273589
Office Address

G19 St Mary's Building, Department of Geography & Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK.

School/Department
School of Geosciences

Biography

  • Senior Lecturer in Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen (2018-)
  • Lecturer in Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen (2007-18)
  • Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen (2004-07)
  • Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Kingston University (2002-04)
  • Research Assistant, Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre, University of Hull (2002)

Qualifications

  • PhD Vegetation succession in the Humber Wetlands 
    2001 - University of Hull, UK 
  • MSc Environmental Analysis and Dynamics 
    1995 - University of Hull, UK 
  • BA (Hons) Geography 
    1994 - University of Hull, UK 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships
  • Member of the Teaching Committee for Geography
  • Centre for the North, Board Member
External Memberships
  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (FSA Scot)
Research

Research Overview

  • Reconstructing past environments (specialising in palynology)
  • Viking settlement across the North Atlantic islands, with an emphasis on the Norse colonisation of Greenland
  • Human-environment relationships through prehistory and into the late Medieval period
  • Vegetation history and plant succession in British wetlands
  • Biogeography

Current Research

I am currently pursuing interests that connect directly with the University of Aberdeen's strategic theme of The North. In this respect, my core research activities continue to focus upon the impacts of Norse settlement on the vegetation and landscapes of southwest Greenland. The colonisation (landnám) of Greenland by people of Scandinavian origin - the Norse, or 'Vikings' of popular culture - took place around AD 985 following the arrival of settlers from Iceland led by Erik the Red. Settlement continued for a period of around 400 years before the colonies collapsed for various economic, social and climatic reasons which are still being debated. My research in this field is centred upon the characterisation of signatures for Norse activity in palaeoecological records from Greenland using pollen analysis and associated proxies (such as microscopic charcoal, fungal spores, radiocarbon dating, and peat geochemistry).

 

(Above) The ruins of Hvalsey church and farm, Eastern Settlement, Greenland (June 2011, photograph by J.E.Schofield). The last definite (written) record to emerge from Norse Greenland is a letter reporting a wedding at Hvalsey church in AD 1408.

 

Funding and Grants

  • Leverhulme Trust Standard Grant (2014-17) Calving glaciers: long-term validation and evidence (CALVE) (Co-investigator)
  • AHRC Standard Grant (2014) Bennachie landscapes: investigating communities past and present at the Colony site (Co-investigator)
  • SNH 'Year of Natural Scotland' (2013) A stratigraphic survey and pollen analysis of peat deposits at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire (in collabaration with the Scottish Sculpture Workshop)
  • Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Grant (2010) The potential of the Norse Middle Settlement of Greenland for a major interdisciplinary research project (joint with Prof. K Edwards)
Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Coordinator for the following courses:

GG2508 & GG2515 Skills and Techniques in Geosciences

GG3573 & GG3574 Research Design

GG4023 Geography Dissertation

GO4001 Geoscience Project A

 

Additionally, I contribute classroom, laboratory and/or field-based teaching on the following courses:

GG1010 Creating the Anthropocene

GG1512 The UN Sustainable Development Goals

GG2013 Physical Environments

GG3069 Remote Sensing & GIS

GG3575 Techniques in Physical Geography

GG3596 Physical Geography: Honours Field Course (formerly Montane Environments)

GG4571 & GG4579 Environmental Change

 

Last updated: 15 July 2026

Publications

Page 1 of 2 Results 1 to 50 of 76

Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 results per page

Refine

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Journals

Other Contributions

Update