Dr Sev Kender

Associate Professor of Earth Sciences | Director of Research and Impact, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Research Group Website

I am an Earth scientist working across palaeoclimate, ocean systems, and environmental geochemistry. My research spans two connected areas: understanding how Earth's climate and ocean circulation have changed through geological time, and applying geochemical and micropalaeontological tools to contemporary environmental challenges including contamination, and environmental monitoring.

My palaeoclimate research uses microfossil, isotopic, and geochemical evidence from marine sediments to reconstruct environmental change across major climate transitions - from Jurassic and Cretaceous ocean anoxic events through Cenozoic ice sheet expansions to Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles. I work with foraminiferal stable isotopes and trace metals, sediment geochemistry and mercury, radiogenic neodymium isotopes, and organic biomarkers to develop and apply environmental proxies.

Increasingly, my research connects deep-time environmental science with applied and industry-relevant questions. I am interested in how geochemical approaches developed for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction can be applied to understanding contamination pathways, environmental baselines, and monitoring in settings affected by mining, resource extraction, and land-use change. This work sits within the broader strengths of the Camborne School of Mines and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in critical minerals, sustainable mining, and environmental remediation.

I am Director of Research and Impact for DEES, where I lead on research strategy, grant development, and impact for a department spanning geoscience, environmental science, marine science, and computational environmental modelling. I am President of The Micropalaeontological Society, an Editor of the Journal of Micropalaeontology, a Fellow of the NERC Peer Review College, and an Honorary Research Associate of the British Geological Survey.