20052024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research interests

Kat is a Quaternary geochronologist, sedimentologist and geomorphologist interested in drylands, specifically:

  • how they have changed through time
  • at what rate they have changed
  • how arid, semi-arid and drought-affected landscapes respond to climatic changes on a range of scales
  • interactions between people and environment over long timescales.

To answer these questions, I work with luminescence dating, geomorphology, stratigraphy and sedimentology. My main (but not my only!) geographic foci are Australia and Central Asia.

Biography

Kat Fitzsimmons is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment in the Faculty of Science.

Kat's research focuses on environmental change in drylands (arid, semi-arid and drought-affected regions) over Quaternary to more recent time periods. Her biography spans several continents and work at interdisciplinary institutes. Her PhD (ANU) investigated indications for the history of aridity in Australia's arid core; in her first postdoc (also at ANU) she expanded her perspective to work on past hydroclimatic change and human-environmental interactions on the semi-arid margins. She then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany), where she intensified her research collaborations in the fields of archaeology and the environmental contexts for human evolution. This was followed by leadership of an independent Max Planck Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Mainz, Germany), which provided the opportunity to collaborate with atmospheric scientists and geochemists on large-scale climate histories. From 2021-2024 she was Professor for Terrestrial Sedimentology at the University of Tuebingen, where she reconnected with earth scientists, while maintaining her interdisciplinary research links. From November 2024 she joined the School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, bringing her international and multi-disciplinary experience to her country of origin.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 14 - Life Below Water
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land

Education/Academic qualification

Physical Geography, Habilitation (Dr. rer. nat. habil.), Addressing the challenge of reconstructing palaeoenvironments in studies of human-environmental interactions, Universität Leipzig (University of Leipzig)

… → 30 Nov 2016

Award Date: 30 Nov 2016

Quaternary Geology, PhD, The late Quaternary history of aridity in the Strzelecki and Tirari Desert dunefields, South Australia, Australian National University (ANU)

1 Mar 200321 Dec 2007

Award Date: 21 Dec 2007

Earth Sciences, BSc (Hons), The dynamics of desert dunes near Lake Frome (Munda), South Australia, University of Melbourne

1 Mar 199831 Oct 2002

Award Date: 31 Oct 2002

Germanistik, Diploma of Modern Languages, University of Melbourne

1 Mar 199831 Dec 2001

Award Date: 31 Dec 2001

Research area keywords

  • Past environmental change
  • Drylands
  • Quaternary
  • Geochronology
  • Sedimentology
  • Geomorphology
  • Loess
  • palaeoclimate

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or