Qualifications
- BA (University of Cambridge)
- PhD / DPhil (University of Cambridge)
- PGCert (University of Hull)
Summary
Jane Bunting is a long term ecologist with research interests focused on better understanding of the long term ecological dynamics of cultural landscapes, mostly from pollen records.
She went to university intending to be a physicist and got distracted along the way - after earning a degree (final year in Botany) and PhD at Cambridge, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher in Waterloo, Ontario, and at the University of Stirling before joining the University of Hull, initially as a lecturer, in 1997.
She currently works mainly on modelling pollen dispersal and deposition as a tool for reconstructing past land cover and is part of various international working groups, including PolLandCal, Landclim and PAGES Landcover6k. She also coordinates the Virtual Palaeosciences project, which seeks to increase inclusion and equity through developing virtual and digital teaching resources for use alongside more traditional field and practical work in the field.
My teaching falls mostly into these three topic areas:
conservation, ecology and biogeography
environmental change science
research methods and study skills ("how to be a geographer/environmental scientist/geologist")
As soon as I learn new things, I _need_ to tell other people about them - teaching and research are both central to my career and practice. I think of what I do as supporting students along the way to being independent lifelong learners, and I am currently particularly interested in helping students (especially those who are the first in their families to attend university) to understand what is expected of them at university and in making sure that all my classes include support for development of life-long learning skills such as reflective practice and writing skills.
Book Chapter
Journal Article
The role of virtual field trips in Geography higher education: A perspective paper
Hurrell, E. R., Hutchinson, S. M., Yorke, L., Batty, L. C., Bunting, M. J., Swanton, D., McDougall, D. A., & Parsons, D. R. (in press). The role of virtual field trips in Geography higher education: A perspective paper. Area, Article e70011. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.70011
Assessing the suitability of pollen dispersal and deposition model: A model-empirical data comparison study in the spruce (Picea schrenkiana) forest edge of Tian Shan Mountains, northwestern China
Fang, Y., Yang, X., Zhao, Y., Li, Y., Ma, C., Chen, B., & Bunting, M. J. (2025). Assessing the suitability of pollen dispersal and deposition model: A model-empirical data comparison study in the spruce (Picea schrenkiana) forest edge of Tian Shan Mountains, northwestern China. Quaternary science reviews, 350, Article 109151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109151
Conservation priorities for development: survey of UK public's views on brownfield sites and biodiversity
Macgregor, C., Deutz, P., Bunting, J., & Mayes, W. (2024). Conservation priorities for development: survey of UK public's views on brownfield sites and biodiversity. People, Place and Policy, 18(3), 135-163. https://doi.org/10.3351/ppp.2024.4947649325
Ten simple rules to bridge ecology and palaeoecology by publishing outside palaeoecological journals
Schafstall, N., Benito, X., Brugger, S. O., Davies, A. L., Ellis, E., Pla-Rabes, S., Bonk, A., Bunting, M. J., Chambers, F. M., Flantua, S. G. A., Fletcher, T. L., Greiser, C., Hernández, A., Gwinneth, B., Koren, G., Marcisz, K., Montoya, E., Quesada-Román, A., Ratnayake, A. S., Sabatier, P., …Suárez-Mozo, N. Y. (2024). Ten simple rules to bridge ecology and palaeoecology by publishing outside palaeoecological journals. PLoS Computational Biology, 20(10), Article e1012487. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012487
Research interests
palaeoecology
long term ecology
ecology and climate change
cultural landscapes
environment
environmental archaeology
landscape ecology
Quaternary science
environmental change
pollen analysis
plant community ecology
woodlands
wetlands
mires
Lead investigator
Project
Funder
Grant
Started
Status
Project
Virtual Palaeoscience (ViPs) Project: Collating, curating and developing virtual lab and fieldtrip resources for palaeoenvironmental teaching
Funder
Quaternary Research Association
Grant
£1,500.00
Started
1 May 2021
Status
Ongoing
Project
RESPECT: Rapid Engagement with Stressed Peatland Environments and Communities in Transformation
Funder
Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Counc
Grant
£583,810.54
Started
1 August 2024
Status
Ongoing
Project
Time of their lives
Funder
English Heritage
Grant
£25,000.00
Started
1 November 2013
Status
Complete
Project
Digital resources for practical learning in the GEES disciplines
Funder
European Commission
Grant
£54,757.13
Started
1 June 2021
Status
Complete
Co-investigator
Project
Funder
Grant
Started
Status
Project
Development of the first global standard for airborne microplastic monitoring
Funder
Natural Environment Research Council
Grant
£71,120.00
Started
1 November 2022
Status
Complete
Project
GCRF- PPF 20 Forecasting Ebola Spillovers
Funder
University of Hull
Grant
£18,157.99
Started
1 February 2018
Status
Complete
Postgraduate supervision
Jane welcomes applications on any topic related to the use of pollen data and allied methods to reconstruct past environments - including developing methods, proof of concept, and application to archaeological, ecological or applied (e.g. conservation) problems. These projects can be centered on working with sediment cores, on modern pollen-vegetation relationships, or on working largely with secondary data and computer models. The HUMPOL and LandPolFlow (the MSA reconstruction approach) software suites were developed in Hull.
Her own work is primarily in the northern hemisphere temperate and boreal zones, but she collaborates widely and is happy to consider projects in any part of the world.
Current and recent PhD supervisions
- Luke Michno-Neville (2021-present) (Centre for Water Cultures) - Living on the Edge: Surviving and thriving in the Holocene Humberhead Levels
- Thya van den Berg (2020-present) (THYME project) - Linking landscape processes and bioeconomies through translation of pollen archives
- Hywel Lewis (2015 - 2020) (University of Bradford) - Interactions between human industry and woodland ecology in the South Pennines: 1600 - present
- Yiman Fang (2015 - 2019) - Understanding the relationships between surface pollen and vegetation in southeast China: an aid to reconstruct past vegetation dynamics during Little Ice Age (Yiman is now a post-doctoral researcher at Zhejiang University, China)