Dr Jodie Fisher

I work as a technician for Earth Sciences, supporting staff and students in practical, research and fieldwork activities. I manage the earth science research laboratories, and provide expertise in micropalaeontological and geochemical research techniques, as well as support to palaeontological, mineralogical and sedimentological processing, imaging and analysing.
With a passion for communicating science I also undertake workshops and geoscience sessions for schools, and was co-founder of the Girls into Geoscience initiative, running our annual event and activities. 

Qualifications

May 2008 to February 2012: Schools Liaison Officer. I worked within the Faculty of Science and Technology building and maintaining links with local and national schools and colleges. Building our reputation with students and teachers I organised events within the university and out at schools, and provided workshops and resources to schools. Supporting and enhancing the curriculum at primary and secondary school level I aimed to raise aspirations and support both the students and teachers in the teaching and learning of science.

May 2006 to May 2008: Post Doctoral Research Fellow. I worked on this ongoing project with Prof. Malcolm Hart, Dr Chris Smart and Dr Gregory Price and with colleagues from the University of Bristol and Southampton, dating the volcanic events of Monserrat over the last 130,000 years. Using stable and radiogenic isotopes and micropalaeontological techniques a full geochronology of events associated with Montserrat has been defined. This data has also provided information on the mechanisms associated with large scale flows and turbidites in the marine realm, and this work is ongoing.

May 2006: PhD School of Earth Ocean and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth. I undertook my research on the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoceanographic changes surrounding the Cretaceous Cenomanian-Turonian boundary using both foraminiferal and geochemical analysis.

October 1999: MRes Environmental Sciences, University College London. I undertook my masters project on "The recolonisation of benthic foraminifera in the South China Sea following the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption". I was awarded a NERC Studentship to undertake my Masters, and was additionally awarded a SOCRATES Grant to undertake part of my research at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany.

June 1998: BSc(Hons) Geology 2:1, University of Leicester. During my degree I also undertook 8 weeks of geological mapping of Ardnamurchan, NW Scotland, interpreting the geological history of the region.

Awards and Recognition

2018 Athena Swan Panelist

2018 Finalist in the WISE Awards 2018 for the Technician Award

2018 Geological Society of London R H Worth Award for Girls into Geoscience

1998 Rhoda Bennett Award for Best Foreign Field Report

1997 British Micromount Society Award for Best Mineralogy Student in Year 2

Professional membership

Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy

Roles on external bodies

I have previously served as a committee member on the Ussher Society

Conference Organised

2010 Ussher Society Conference, Plymouth

Teaching interests

I have taught on both undergraduate and post graduate modules on:

Research interests

My current research involves using micropalaeontological and isotopic techniques to date and correlate marine cores from the seas around Montserrat, and to constrain the relative ages of volcanic events that are apparent within the cores. This is part of a collaborative and ongoing research project with the University of Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham and Paris, assessing the igneous and volcanic activity of Montserrat.

Other Interests
I am interested in the investigation of past climate and environmental change in the Cretaceous. Using stable isotopes (oxygen and carbon), trace element and foraminiferal analysis to examine the environmental changes and events seen in the Cretaceous, and using foraminiferal biostratigraphy to correlate the events seen globally. I am also interested in the recolonisation of foraminifera after local and global extinction events both in recent times and in the geological past, and the effects this has on foraminiferal evolution.

Grants & contracts

2009 PESGB/BGA Geoscience Schools Outreach Fund £2000
2008 Nuffield Foundation Undergraduate Research Bursary £1440
2007 Research Co-investigator in NERC Isotope Geoscience Facilities project "Tephrochronology of marine sediments around the volcanic island of Montserrat" £17850
2007 Nuffield Foundation Undergraduate Research Bursary £1360
2007 Co-investigator in NERC RCL project "An integrated chronological framework for understanding mass flow events and eruption dynamis at Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat" £20800 
2005 Conference grant to attend the 7th International Symposium on the Cretaceous September 2005 (500SFr)

Key publications

Key publications are highlighted

Journals

Articles

Rimmer C, Fisher J & Turner A (2024) 'Biomonitoring of microplastics, anthropogenic microfibres and glass retroreflective beads by marine macroalgae' Environmental Pollution 348, 123801-123801 Publisher Site , DOI

Hart MB, Fisher JK, Smart CW, Speers R & Wall-Palmer D (2022) 'Re-colonization of hostile environments by benthic foraminifera: an example from Montserrat, Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc' Micropaleontology 68, (1) 1-27 , DOI Open access

Watt SFL, Jutzeler M, Talling PJ, Carey SN, Sparks RSJ, Tucker M, Stinton AJ, Fisher JK, Wall-Palmer D & Hühnerbach V (2015) 'New insights into landslide processes around volcanic islands from Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) observations offshore Montserrat' Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 16, (7) 2240-2261 , DOI Open access

Hart MB, Stubbles SJ, Smart CW, Fisher JK, Hoddinott C, Marshall-Penn I & Yeo A (2015) 'Foraminifera from the Fowey Estuary, Cornwall' Geoscience in South-West England 13, 304-315 Open access

Wall-Palmer D, Coussens M, Talling PJ, Jutzeler M, Cassidy M, Marchant I, Palmer MR, Watt SFL, Smart CW & Fisher JK (2014) 'Late Pleistocene stratigraphy of IODP Site U1396 and compiled chronology offshore of south and south west Montserrat, Lesser Antilles' Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 15, (7) 3000-3020 , DOI

Trofimovs J, Talling PJ, Fisher JK, Sparks RSJ, Watt SFL, Hart MB, Smart CW, Le Friant A, Cassidy M & Moreton SG (2013) 'Timing, origin and emplacement dynamics of mass flows offshore of SE Montserrat in the last 110 ka: Implications for landslide and tsunami hazards, eruption history, and volcanic island evolution' Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 14, (2) 385-406 Author Site , DOI

Wall-Palmer D, Jones MT, Hart MB, Fisher JK, Smart CW, Hembury DJ, Palmer MR & Fones GR (2011) 'Explosive volcanism as a cause for mass mortality of pteropods' MARINE GEOLOGY 282, (3-4) 231-239 , DOI

Trofimovs J, Fisher JK, MacDonald HA, Talling PJ, Sparks RSJ, Hart MB, Smart CW, Boudon G, Deplus C & Komorowski J-C (2009) 'Evidence for carbonate platform failure during rapid sea-level rise; <i>ca</i> 14 000 year old bioclastic flow deposits in the Lesser Antilles' SEDIMENTOLOGY 57, (3) 735-759 , DOI

Le Friant A, Lock EJ, Hart MB, Boudon G, Sparks RSJ, Leng MJ, Smart CW, Komorowski JC, Deplus C & Fisher JK (2008) 'Late Pleistocene tephrochronology of marine sediments adjacent to Montserrat, Lesser Antilles volcanic arc' JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 165, 279-289 , DOI

Fisher JK, Price GD, Hart MB & Leng MJ (2005) 'Stable isotope analysis of the Cenomanian-Turonian (Late Cretaceous) oceanic anoxic event in the Crimea' Cretaceous Research 26, (6) 853-863

Conference Papers

Jones MT, Fisher JK & Palmer MR (2009) 'Ocean acidification from explosive volcanism as a cause for mass mortality of pteropods' A604-A604

Fisher JK, Hart MB & Price GD (2001) 'New data on the distribution of foraminifera across the Late Cenomanian 'anoxic event'' in Ferre BFMaTJ 46-49

Presentations and posters

Fisher J & Boulton S Fisher J & Boulton S 'Girls into Geoscience: inspiring the next generation of female Earth Scientists' , DOI

Conferences organised

Test

Other academic activities

Participated on research cruise JC18 on the RRS James Cook 3-16th December 2007

Links

Earth Sciences at the University of Plymouth

Centre for Research in Earth Science (CRES)