Dr Penny Jones is a Junior Research Fellow in environmental health at the Menzies for Medical Research. She has a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary background, combining government experience in environmental policy with research spanning palaeoecology, archaeology, aerobiology and most recently, environmental health. In her current role, she is investigating Tasmania’s aerobiological landscape and new ways of understanding how different pollen types impact public health. More broadly, her main interests are the impacts of climate change on human health and the coupled human and environmental past.

Biography

Penny’s research career began as a palaeoecologist at the University of Melbourne, using fossil pollen and charcoal to reconstruct long term vegetation and climate histories. She then took a break from research and spent several years in the Victorian Public Service. Based in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, she worked across a broad spectrum of environmental, natural resource management and water policy.

In 2012 Penny moved to the University of Cambridge, where she undertook a PhD in Archaeological Science. Her PhD used an innovative combination of isotopic techniques to investigate impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security in the Indus Civilisation - a Bronze Age Civilisation that once stretched across the plains of north-western India and Pakistan.

In her current role, rather than using pollen to reconstruct past climates, Penny works as part of the ‘AirRater Project’ to research pollen through the lens of public health. Penny manages AirRater’s pollen monitoring team and works on research projects ranging from developing pollen forecasting models to utilising immunology and DNA analysis to better understand which pollen types are most important from public health perspective.

Penny is also passionate about science communication, participating regularly in public outreach events such as Science in the Pub and the Festival of Bright Ideas. In 2018 she will also work with local director Rowan Harris on a science improvisation show.

Career summary

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Cambridge, UK, 2017. Thesis: Climate change, agriculture and food security in the Indus Civilisation, 3000-1500 BC.
• BA (1^st Class Hons), University of Melbourne, Australia, 2008.
• Dip.Mod.Lang (Japanese), University of Melbourne, Australia, 2008

Languages (other than English)

Japanese, Italian (intermediate)

Memberships

Professional practice

• Australasian Quaternary Association
• VicTAPS Advisory Committee

Teaching

Teaching expertise

Penny has teaching experience in palaeoecology and archaeological science, as well as considerable experience in developing and delivering public outreach education materials and professional training courses in aerobiology. For example, she has:

• Developed and delivered in pollen monitoring and pollen identification for the Victorian Thunderstorm Asthma Pollen Surveillance Network and the AirRater network
• Developed supporting online pollen monitoring training modules and resources
• Developed and delivered undergraduate modules in archaeobotanical and palaeoecological techniques
• Delivered courses in organisational environmentalism and behaviour change.