Revolutionising palaeontology: developing, testing and tuning imaging technologies
Name of applicant
Ane Elise Schrøder
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
Technical University of Denmark
Amount
DKK 2,064,195
Year
2025
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
On a global scale, most officially recognised university and museums’ institutions, housing valuable collections, are becoming increasingly reluctant to authorize any kind of destructive element or isotopic analyses, particularly on fossil collection material, which poses major challenges for researchers within the palaeo and bio sciences, studying and mapping past and present climate impacts.
Why?
Despite the superb advantages µXRF-mapping offers within palaeo and climatic research, it does have its limitations: exact quantification of specific isotopes and the depth of visualisation is only a few millimetres or less, largely depending on the elements. It is thus pertinent to explore other non-destructive imaging technologies to be utilised in the studies of the changing climate on Earth.
How?
Element and isotope signals in fossil material provide crucial data on past climatic changes, this project will thus be one of the first to test the boundaries and limits of the newest and existing non-destructive imaging technologies, including monochromator- TeraHertz- and µCT-technologies and how they can be developed and applied within palaeontological, biological and hence climatic research.