Bethan Davies, PhD

What’s the work that you do?

I am interested in how glaciers are responding to climate change. Glaciers are an important freshwater reserve for many people worldwide, and are also one of the biggest contributors to sea level rise. Warming temperatures are shrinking our glaciers, with important societal impacts. Our ability to model future glacier behaviour is only ever as good as our ability to simulate the past – and this is limited by our understanding of the past! I use satellite imagery and geomorphological data to reconstruct past and current glacier behaviour under different climates.

What keeps you going?

I love working with interesting people, in interesting places. I get many opportunities to undertake fieldwork in beautiful, and often remote, regions, and am always inspired by the landscapes in which I work.

What’s your message to the world?

Small personal lifestyle changes add up to big impacts. Eating a little less red meat, walking or cycling or taking public transport a little more, and flying a little less, all add up to impactful change. But the biggest and most significant action we can take is to vote and campaign for better political choices.