Professor Helen Rendell

PhD (University College London)

  • Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography
Helen Rendell

Academic Career

  • 2016 onwards: Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ
  • 1999-2016: Professor of Physical Geography, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
  • 1975-1999: Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor, University of Sussex.

My research is focused around contemporary processes and the reconstruction of past processes and environments and includes:

  1. the impacts of extreme meteorological events on landscapes and society and how both the events and their impacts have changed over time. These events include extreme rainfall, droughts and high winds. Recent work in the Mediterranean highlights the impact of winter droughts on badland erosion, while the impact of Atlantic storminess on coastal dunes and historic sand drift has been explored in Western Europe and at the level of landed estates in Britain and Ireland.
  2. the reconstruction of past environments and environmental change during the Holocene. Recent work includes the reconstruction of coastal change in Central Italy during the period of classical Rome and the palaeoenvironments of the River Trent in central England during the Iron Age.

Recent projects include AHRC-funded investigations of the Roman archaeology and geomorphology of the Laurentine Shore (Rome's Maritime Facade), and a British Academy grant: ‘This restless enemy of all fertility’: storms, sand invasion and coastal management strategies in Britain and Ireland 1700-1950.

Selected Publications