In September I attended the Annual Meeting of the British Society for Geomorphology held at Plymouth University. After the European Geosciences Annual Meeting in Vienna this was my second opportunity to present my PhD research at an international conference. Especially the familiar atmosphere and the gala dinner at the beautiful National Marine Aquarium gave a really good opportunity to get in touch with young and young at heart geomorphologists.

I gave my talk on the last day of the conference after a very interesting presentation by the Linton Award winner Jean Poesen about “Soil erosion in the Anthropocene: research needs”. This oral presentation gave me the opportunity to present our current research on the effects of wind-driven soil erosion after land-use change in the north-eastern part of Argentina. The oral session was continued by a lunch break which gave me the chance to get in touch with Jean Poesen, who gave me useful advice and critique on my research.

The annual meeting of the BSG further allowed me to further catch up with people I met at the BSG Windsor Workshop in 2015 and to broaden my knowledge in the field of geomorphology. Besides the scientific schedule, side events (e.g. the icebreaker party, the conference dinner) allowed me to get in contact with various scientists and other PhD-students in an informal atmosphere.

Finally, I would like to greatly thank the Graduate School of Geosciences for granting the travel and conference costs to Plymouth and allowing me to be part of this year’s Annual Meeting of the BSG.

Daniel Sperl
PhD student

PhD project: “Fallout radionuclides as environmental tracers for soil erosion studies”
Institute of Geology
“Wind driven soil erosion after forest conversion in the Chaco ecoregion” - Oral