University of Southampton

Rachael James is Reader in Marine Geochemistry at the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, UK. Her research focuses on the development and application of chemical and isotopic techniques to improve our understanding of earth and ocean processes- both now and in the past. Rachael graduated in Oceanography and Chemistry from the University of Southampton and completed her Ph-D in the geochemistry of hydrothermal systems at the University of Cambridge. She spent four years as a research fellow at the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum in London, followed by eight years as lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at the Open University, UK. She moved to the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, in 2008, joining the University in 2013. Rachael and her team of PhD students and postdocs are currently working on a wide range of projects, including assessing the impact of leakage from sub-seafloor CO₂ storage sites, using Fe isotopes to trace shelf inputs of Fe to the open ocean, and developing Cr isotopes as a tracer of seawater oxygenation.

David M. Fries is an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) at the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, UK. His work is based on the behaviour of lithium and magnesium isotopes (“non-traditional” stable isotopes) during continental weathering processes. The purpose of his study is to understand how the fractionation of these isotopes can be linked with the weathering intensity, and, hence, with the global consumption of carbon dioxide. David comes from France where he did his bachelor and master’s degree focus on geosciences at the University of Strasbourg, at the École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre. His master’s degree was in Environmental Geoscience and Engineering (ISIE) where he gained experience in careful geochemical analyses by working with Uranium, Thorium and Radium isotopes in separated mineral phases to study the evolution of radioactive disequilibria in a soil. David thinks that sciences must be a sharing of knowledge, works, and experiences in order to achieve the best performance in this domain and wants to contribute efficiently to this project.

Jens C. Krüger is an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) at the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, UK. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in isotope geochemistry. His research is focused on the evolution of laterite deposits and the application of stable chromium isotopes to deciphering supergene enrichment processes. The project involves field work at the Çaldağ Nikel mine in Turkey, where the isotopic approach will be used to develop models for isotope fractionation and pathways of Cr in Ni deposits. He graduated at the University of Potsdam and worked alongside to his study in the Department of Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry at the GFZ Potsdam, where he developed a strong interest in isotopic systems and how they provide a tool for a better understanding of earth`s processes. Jens is deeply determined and likes the diverse aspects of the project. He enjoys working in a clean lab, but doesn`t hesitate to get his hands dirty in the field.