A new research project on Science, Society and Environmental Change in the First Millennium CE (Common Era) led by academics from Durham University’s History and Archaeology Departments has been selected for a €2m European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant.
The study, which is the first of its kind, will investigate how humans responded to environmental and climatic change between 1 and 1000 CE by integrating textual, archaeological and environmental evidence across the Mediterranean.
The grant will fund three postdoctoral fellows and two PhD students, alongside the core team of four researchers working across the disciplines of History, Archaeology and Environmental/Climate Science. This will allow the project to produce a large number of publications which will be made available to the public and the scholarly community via open access.
The research team, which also comprises scholars from Ebergard Karls Universtät and University of Basel alongside Durham, will collaborate to investigate short- and long-term environmental and climatic changes in the first millennium CE, such as those caused by floods, volcanic activity, or longer periods of warming or cooling.
The collaborative large-scale approach and the development of critical interdisciplinary methodologies will allow the project team to investigate the full complexity of experience, perceptions, knowledge and behaviour in past societies.
They will examine how people in the Mediterranean societies responded to the environmental changes intellectually and socially. Key themes to be explored include resilience and sustainability, such as how well people adapted to environmental changes, and the transfer of knowledge, especially how different kinds of scientific, religious, social and practical knowledge connected with environmental change were communicated across the Mediterranean.
Principal Investigator of the project, Dr Helen Foxhall Forbes of Durham University, said: “This is an amazing opportunity to address important research questions about how people think about and respond to environmental and climatic variability. I am absolutely delighted that the ERC has chosen to fund this project.”
The ERC funding is aimed at supporting mid-career researchers and helping them consolidate their teams and conduct pioneering research.
This research will be transformative in addressing questions which have profound significance for the study of human relationships with climate and the environment in ancient and medieval societies.
It also has clear potential relevance for the modern world given the pressing significance of the climate crisis and the need to identify and develop strategies of resilience, based both on new technologies and on traditional sustainable practices.
ENDS
Media Information
Dr Helen Foxhall Forbes of Durham University is available for interview and can be contacted on h.g.foxhallforbes@durham.ac.uk.
Alternatively, please contact Durham University Communications Office for interview requests on communications.team@durham.ac.uk.
Graphics
Associated graphics are available via the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m85r9lc8g9l6p1m/AAAK29eVXh-_DCFdglr-VVz8a?dl=0
Images should be credited to Durham University.
Useful Web Links
Dr Helen Foxhall Forbes staff profile: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/h-g-foxhallforbes/
Dr Dan Lawrence staff profile: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/dan-lawrence/
Department of History: https://www.durham.ac.uk/history/
Department of Archaeology: https://www.durham.ac.uk/archaeology/
Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies: https://www.durham.ac.uk/imems/
European Research Council: https://erc.europa.eu/
About Durham University
Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.
We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.
We conduct boundary-breaking research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2022).
We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).
For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/
END OF MEDIA RELEASE – issued by Durham University Communications Office.