Dr Darren Jeffers

Biography

Dr Darren Jeffers is a Senior Lecturer in Physical/Environmental Geography in the Department of Social Sciences. He earned his undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Oxford and went on to complete his D.Phil investigating environmental change in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon during the last glacial period at the same institution. Before joining the University of Winchester in 2018 he held a position as a Lecturer in Physical Geography at Hertford College, University of Oxford.

Before returning to Higher Education he indulged his passion for geography by spending many years travelling the world, during which time he visited over a hundred countries on six continents. He considers the highlights of his years travelling as tracking Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) on the border of Rwanda and Uganda, travelling down the Amazon, trekking to Mount Everest basecamp, travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway and visiting archaeological sites in the Fertile Crescent and the Nile Valley.

Teaching responsibilities

Darren teaches on the BSc Geography programme and is module leader for the Biogeography and Conservation, Desert Environments, Global Risks, Geography Project, Research Methods and Study Skills and The Nature of Geography modules. He also contributes to modules on Local Environmental Change, Geographies of Environment and Development, Geographical Fieldwork, Geographical Enquiry and Environment and Society. He is the module leader and teaches on the Foundation Year module Society's Big Questions. 

Areas of expertise

• Palaeoecology
• Ecology
• Biogeography
• Dryland environments
• The Quaternary Period

Publications

Jeffers, D (in prep) A 700 year record of environmental change on the Palm Islands Lebanon.

Jeffers, D. (in review) The Cedar Forests of Lebanon response the climate and fire during the late last interglacial and the last glacial period.

Jeffers, D. (in preparation) An improved methodology for extracting fossil pollen from sediments in semi-arid and arid environments.

Jeffers, D. (2017) Foraging behaviour of Bombus pomorum that went extinct from the British Isles in the nineteenth century. The Journal of Apicultural Research, 56(5), 510-513.

Sánchez-Salguero R., Hevia A., Camarero J.J., Treydte K., Frank D., Crivellaro A., Domínguez-Delmás M., Hellman L., Kaczka R.J., Kaye M., Akhmetzyanov L., Ashiq M.W., Bhuyan U., Bondarenko O., Camisón Á., Camps S., García V.C., Vaz F.C., Gavrila I.G., Gulbranson E., Huhtamaa H., Janecka K., Jeffers D., Jochner M., Koutecký T., Lamrani-Alaoui M., Lebreton-Anberrée J., Seijo M.M., Matulewski P., Metslaid S., Miron S., Morrisey R., Opdebeeck J., Ovchinnikov S., Peters R., Petritan A.M., Popkova M., Rehorkova S., Ariza M.O.R., Sánchez-Miranda Á., Van der Linden M., Vannoppen A. & Volařík D. (2017). An intensive tree-ring experience: Connecting education and research during the 25th European Dendroecological Fieldweek (Asturias, Spain). Dendrochronologia, 42, 80-93.

Jeffers, D. and K.J. Willis (2016) Landscape erosion, karstic activity and the development of a wetland in the southern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon during the last glacial period. Wetlands, 36, 593-605.

Jeffers, D. and K.J. Willis (2014) Vegetation response to climate change during the last interglacial-last glacial transition in the southern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Palynology, 38(2), 195-206.