Dr Helen Shaw
Geography, ICARUS, Faculty of Social Sciences
Biography
I am a Lecturer/ Assistant Professor in Biogeography and Palaeoecology in ICARUS and the Department of Geography at Maynooth University, a post I have held since moving to Ireland from Wales in 2017. I am also Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
I graduated with a PhD from Stirling University, which explored the palaeoecological history of the fantastic Glen Affric pine woods in Scotland. This research was applied to the management planning for the future of the pine woods, an area which forms an exemplar of rewilding for future forest sustainability.
Currently I am advertising a PhD PhD Researcher: Ancient Woodland Palaeoecology at Maynooth University on FindAPhD.com which furthers similar woodland work in Ireland.
I then worked as a researcher at the International Centre for the Uplands in Cumbria, where I gained interdisciplinary experience and developed my interest in social-ecological systems and resilience. The work was focused on the sustainable management of upland systems via information flow between research and land managers. Whilst working at the centre I developed conferences on sustainable upland management, resilience in the uplands and adaptation to climate change as well as workshops on various themes including barriers to innovative planning in national parks.
I then developed a research project, with Professor Ian Whyte at Lancaster University and funded by the Leverhulme Trust, investigating upland landscape change in the North West of England. In this project we examined post-medieval landscape change via palaeoecology and history and applied this to ideas of sustainable landscape management for the future. It is important to realise that traditional land management was always shifting and the layers of history still impact on the present ecology.
My research at Lancaster was followed by teaching posts at Liverpool John Moores University and in Wales, where I enjoyed developing and teaching a range of modules across conservation and environmental science. I love to get out in the field and teach practical sessions.
I am on a break from most teaching in my role as ADTL. My teaching at Maynooth has been biogeography, palaeoecology and ecological modules in geography. I try to use our wonderful Green Campus as much as possible for outdoor teaching. I am very interested in communicating about the importance of biodiversity and ecology for future sustainability. A liveable planet means maintaining a functioning, diverse and living planet.
I am currently working on several research projects and themes:
- Understanding of the representation of biodiversity
in pollen diagrams. This work focuses on pollen representation of
herbaceous species and the grazing signal of coprophilous fungal spores.
2. Understanding the provenance and processes of change in ancient woodlands.
3. Developing site histories for peat bogs in Ireland for community education and development
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Helen_Shaw2
Research Interests
My research so far has focused on upland environments, both forest and pastoral. My interests span cultural historical landscapes, relict landscapes and rewilding.
I am working with Lullymore heritage and Discovery Park to provide a palaeoecological history of Lullymore bog. The bog is cut over but we can still obtain an early history of ecological change. This work is supported by the Peatlands Community Engagement fund.
Peer Reviewed Journal
Year | Publication | |
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2023 | van Asperen, E.N.; Kirby, J.R.; Shaw, H.E. (2023) 'Multi-proxy evidence for woodland clearance in northeast Northumberland (England) during the Iron Age'. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, . [Link] [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2020 | van Asperen E.; Kirby J.; Shaw H. (2020) 'Relating dung fungal spore influx rates to animal density in a temperate environment: Implications for palaeoecological studies'. Holocene, 30 (2):218-232. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2020 | Shaw, H; Whyte, I (2020) 'Interpretation of the herbaceous pollen spectra in paleoecological reconstructions: A spatial extension of Indices of Association and determination of individual pollen source areas from binary data'. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 279 . [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2014 | Seddon, A.W., Mackay, A.W., Baker, A.G., Birks, H.J., Breman, E. , Buck, C.E., Ellis, E.C., Froyd, C.A., Gill, J.L., Gillson, L. , Johnson, E.A., Jones, V.J., Juggins, S. , Macias‐Fauria, M. , Mills, K., Morris, J.L., Nogués‐Bravo, D., Punyasena, S.W., Roland, T.P., Tanentzap, A.J., Willis, K.J., Aberhan, M. , Asperen, E.N., Austin, W.E., Battarbee, R.W., Bhagwat, S., Belanger, C.L., Bennett, K.D., Birks, H.H., Bronk Ramsey, C., Brooks, S.J., Bruyn, M. , Butler, P.G., Chambers, F.M., Clarke, S.J., Davies, A.L., Dearing, J.A., Ezard, T.H., Feurdean, A., Flower, R.J., Gell, P., Hausmann, S., Hogan, E.J., Hopkins, M.J., Jeffers, E.S., Korhola, A.A., Marchant, R. , Kiefer, T., Lamentowicz, M., Larocque‐Tobler, I., López‐Merino, L., Liow, L.H., McGowan, S., Miller, J.H., Montoya, E., Morton, O., Nogué, S., Onoufriou, C., Boush, L.P., Rodriguez‐Sanchez, F., Rose, N.L., Sayer, C.D., Shaw, H.E., Payne, R., Simpson, G., Sohar, K., Whitehouse, N.J., Williams, J.W. and Witkowski, A. (2014) 'Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology'. Journal of Ecology, 102 (1):256-267. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2013 | Bunting, M.J., Farrell, M., Broström, A,. Hjelle, K.L., Mazier, F., Middleton, R., Nielsen, A.B., Rushton, E., Shaw, H., Twiddle, C.L. (2013) 'Palynological perspectives on vegetation survey: a critical step for model-based reconstruction of Quaternary land cover'. QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, 82 :41-55. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2013 | Ralph M Fyfe, Claire Twiddle, Shinya Sugita, Marie-José Gaillard, Philip Barratt, Christopher J Caseldine, John Dodson, Kevin J Edwards, Michelle Farrell, Cynthia Froyd, Michael J Grant, Elizabeth Huckerby, James B Innes, Helen Shaw, Martyn Waller (2013) 'The Holocene vegetation cover of Britain and Ireland: overcoming problems of scale and discerning patterns of openness'. QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, 73 :132-148. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2013 | Basil AS Davis, Marco Zanon, Pamella Collins, Achille Mauri, Johan Bakker, Doris Barboni, Alexandra Barthelmes, Celia Beaudouin, Anne E Bjune, Elissaveta Bozilova, Richard HW Bradshaw, Barbara A Brayshay, Simon Brewer, Elisabetta Brugiapaglia, Jane Bunting, Simon E Connor, Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu, Kevin Edwards, Ana Ejarque, Patricia Fall, Assunta Florenzano, Ralph Fyfe, Didier Galop, Marco Giardini, Thomas Giesecke, Michael J Grant, Jöel Guiot, Susanne Jahns, Vlasta Jankovská, Stephen Juggins, Marina Kahrmann, Monika Karpińska-Kołaczek, Piotr Kołaczek, Norbert Kühl, Petr Kuneš, Elena G Lapteva, Suzanne AG Leroy, Michelle Leydet, José Guiot, José Antonio López Sáez, Alessia Masi, Isabelle Matthias, Florence Mazier, Vivika Meltsov, Anna Maria Mercuri, Yannick Miras, Fraser JG Mitchell, Jesse L Morris, Filipa Naughton, Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Elena Novenko, Bent Odgaard, Elena Ortu, Mette Venås Overballe-Petersen, Heather S Pardoe, Silvia M Peglar, Irena A Pidek, Laura Sadori, Heikki Seppä, Elena Severova, Helen Shaw, Joanna Święta-Musznicka, Martin Theuerkauf, Spassimir Tonkov, Siim Veski, WO van der Knaap, Jacqueline FN van Leeuwen, Jessie Woodbridge, Marcelina Zimny, Jed O Kaplan (2013) 'The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project'. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 22 (6):521-530. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2010 | Ian Convery, Ian Soane, Tom Dutson, Helen Shaw (2010) 'Mainstreaming LEADER delivery of the RDR in Cumbria: an interpretative phenomenological analysis'. Sociologia Ruralis, 50 (4):370-391. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2008 | Marie-José Gaillard, Shinya Sugita, M Jane Bunting, Richard Middleton, Anna Broström, Christopher Caseldine, Thomas Giesecke, Sophie EV Hellman, Sheila Hicks, Kari Hjelle, Catherine Langdon, Anne-Birgitte Nielsen, Anneli Poska, Henrik von Stedingk, Sim Veski (2008) 'The use of modelling and simulation approach in reconstructing past landscapes from fossil pollen data: a review and results from the POLLANDCAL network'. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 17 (5):419-443. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
2006 | Helen Shaw, Richard Tipping (2006) 'Recent pine woodland dynamics in east Glen Affric, northern Scotland, from highly resolved palaeoecological analyses'. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, 79 (3):340-340. [DOI] [Full-Text] |
Book Chapter
Year | Publication | |
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2013 | Shaw, H. and Whyte, I. (2013) 'Land Management and Biodiversity Through Time in Upper Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, UK: Understanding the Impact of Traditional Management' In: Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common. Netherlands : Springer. [Link] [DOI] | |
2010 | Shaw, H. and Whyte, I. (2010) 'Land management and biodiversity through time in upper Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, UK: Understanding the impact of traditional management' In: The End of Tradition? Landscape Archaeology and Ecology Series 8. Sheffield : Wildtrack Publishing. [Link] | |
2013 | Shaw, H and Whyte, I (2013) 'Palaeoecological Records of Woodland History During Recent Centuries of Grazing and Management Examples from Glen Affric, Scotland and Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire' In: Trees, Forested Landscapes and Grazing Animals A European Perspective on Woodlands and Grazed Treescapes. Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge. [DOI] | |
2003 | Shaw, H and Tipping, R (2003) 'Recent woodland history from pollen analysis' In: The Quaternary of Glen Affric and Kintail. Field Guide. London : Quaternary Research Association. [Link] |
Other Journal
Year | Publication | |
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2008 | H Shaw, I Whyte (2008) 'Shifting ecosystem services through time in the North West uplands' Physics World, 85 :99-106. [Link] |
Conference Publication
Year | Publication | |
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2011 | Shaw, H (2011) Woods as Working and Cultural Landscapes, Past and Present . In: Mills, Coralie M eds. The history of woodland dynamics in relict east Glen Affric pinewoods: A lack of human impact? Dunkeld, Perthshire, [Link] | |
2010 | Shaw, H. and Whyte, I. (2010) Managing the Future: building on the past, Proceedings of the 2009 Malham Tarn Research Seminar . In: Pickles A eds. Palaeoecology and landscape history in upper Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, UK Malham, Yorkshire, [Link] | |
2006 | Soane, I. and Shaw, H. (2006) The future of the Uplands: Sustainable scenarios for people, the environment and landscape . In: Soane, I. and Shaw, H eds. Conclusions and Conference Outcomes Kendal, Cumbria, 30/05/2006- 01/06/2006 [DOI] | |
2006 | Soane, I. and Shaw, H. (2006) The future of the Uplands: Sustainable scenarios for people, the environment and landscape . In: Soane, I. and Shaw, H eds. Introduction and Overview of Papers [Link] [DOI] |
Conference Contribution
Thesis
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2006 | H Shaw (2006) A palaeoecological investigation of long-term stand-scale ecological dynamics in semi-open native pine woods: contributing to conservation management in east Glen Affric. Stirling, UK: [Thesis] [Link] |
Employment
Education
Teaching Interests
Supervision:
I am currently advertising a PhD PhD Researcher: Ancient Woodland Palaeoecology at Maynooth University on FindAPhD.com
Teaching:
I am on a break from teaching whilst undertaking service role as ADTL
I am still co-teaching GY664.
I have led and taught the following modules
GY217 Biogeography
GY317 Global ecosystems and sustainability
GY367 Palaeoecology
GY310B Geography research workshops group.
In these modules I make use of our university Green Campus to enhance student learning.
I have also co-taught or contributed to
GY671 Field Course for MSc in Climate Change
GY209 Reading geography
GY205 Geography field trip
GY308 Field Trip
I have supervised a range of UG thesis projects in ecological/palaeoecological and environmental science subject areas.
I am always happy to speak to students about support for summer projects or thesis supervisions as well as PhD applications.