Sally Rangecroft

Sally Rangecroft PhD student

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During my time studying Geography at Loughborough University (BSc) I took significant interest in studying the impacts of climate change, the cryosphere and geomorphology. These interest areas were further fuelled by studying abroad in Perth, Western Australia for a semester and getting to learn about climate change, conservation and natural hazards from the Australian perspective. In my degree I studied modules such as Environmental Change & Ecological Response, Conservation, Ice & the Landscape, Remote Sensing & GIS, Globalization, Environmental Systems & Resource Management. I was also fortunate enough to go on a physical geography field trip to Arctic Sweden in my final year where I studied high relief environments, geomorphological mapping and glacier responses to climate change. My undergraduate dissertation enabled me to integrate climate change and mountainous environments; I studied the ‘Spatial and temporal distribution of snow avalanches in the Cairngorms, Scotland’. This topic improved my understanding and use of GIS. This focus on the cryosphere and GIS created an opportunity for me to travel over to Iceland where I work as a research assistant for my lecturer, setting up two ground GPS systems at Svίnafell and exploring the amazing landscape and features of the country.

I studied a Masters by Research at Bangor University (Wales) in Environmental Sciences. The focus of this work was to assess the risks associated with the potential application of biochar (charcoal) to agricultural soils. The Welsh Assembly Government are required to reduced greenhouse gase (GHG) emissions by 3% annually and they are currently looking into the production and application of biochar to soils to sequester carbon. However, there are risks associated with the production of biochar, specifically the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) within the biochar, organic pollutants which are known to be carcinogenic. I was lucky enough to travel to Boston, MA, to present my work at the American Chemistry Society fall meet 2010.

Throughout my university summer holidays I worked abroad whenever possible: in the French Alps, a Spanish seaside resort and the French Basque coast. I worked as a domestic and rep for a Cornish company which primarily organised school activity holidays. My enjoyments lie in sport and the outdoors – skiing, surfing, hiking. My main sport is Waterpolo, where I have been lucky enough to be part of the GB Youth and Junior squad throughout my GCSE’s and A-level’s, and I still play competitively for Sheffield Ladies A team.