Dr Kaja Fenn
Bio
I am a Quaternary scientist and Lecturer in Environmental Change at the University of Liverpool. I am particularly interested in dust and loess, and in using sediments to reconstruct how landscapes and environments changed through time.
A lot of what draws me to research is the process of working out what happened in a landscape: where sediment came from, how it moved, when it was deposited, and what those changes tell us about the environmental conditions at the time. My work therefore combines field observations with sedimentology, geochronology and geochemistry, and has taken me into a wide range of landscapes and sedimentary settings.
I enjoy the fact that the same archive can open up very different scientific questions, and I am always interested in new places, collaborations and approaches that allow us to extract more information from the sedimentary record.
Academic appointments
University of Liverpool
Lecturer in Environmental Change · 2022–present
University of Liverpool
University Teacher in Physical Geography · 2021–2022
Oxford Brookes University
Teaching Fellow in Physical Geography · 2020
St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford
Stipendiary Lecturer in Physical Geography · 2019–2020
Education
University of Oxford
PhD Environmental Sciences · 2015–2019
Provenance of late Quaternary loess along the Middle and Lower Danube River, Europe
NERC Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship
Royal Holloway, University of London
MSc Quaternary Science · 2013–2014 · Distinction
Variability of dust provenance during MIS 2 and MIS 3 at Beiguoyuan, Chinese Loess Plateau
University of the West of England
BSc (Hons) Geography and Environmental Management · 2009–2013 · First Class
Leadership & service
Alongside my research and teaching, I contribute to academic leadership and the wider Quaternary research community.
Programme Director, BSc Geography
University of Liverpool
Leading the programme and its ongoing curriculum development, including the design and implementation of the revised Geography curriculum.
INQUA Loess Focus Group
I contribute to the international loess research community through the INQUA Loess Focus Group, supporting scientific exchange and collaboration across the field.
Supervision
Niall Auckland — PhD researcher
Niall’s ACCE+ DLA-funded PhD, TIMELOESS, investigates loess–palaeosol sequences in the Tagus Basin, central Iberia, to reconstruct hydroclimatic variability over the last interglacial cycle. The project combines stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, geochemistry and OSL dating to investigate past humidity, wind conditions and their links to wider climatic forcing.
Selected research funding
2025 · Royal Society Research Grant — PI · £30,000
2025 · Quaternary Research Association, Richard West Grant — PI · £5,500
2025 · INQUA, International Research Networks Grant — Co-I · €5,000
2024 · NERC, Greenland Arctic Research Bursaries Scheme — Co-I · £20,000
2021 · British Society for Geomorphology, ECR Grant — PI · £7,500