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Francis Ludlow, Trinity College Dublin.

Biography

Francis Ludlow is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow, 2016-2018, based in the the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin, working on a project entitled Historical Dynamics of Violence, Conflict and Extreme Weather in Medieval Ireland, with Prof. Poul Holm. From 2013-2016, Frank was a Postdoctoral Fellow (funded by the Yale Climate & Energy Institute) in the Department of History, Yale University, where he worked with Prof. Benedict Kiernan (History) and Prof. Michael R. Dove (School of Forestry & Environmental Studies), on a project entitled Climate as Catalyst in 1,224 Years of Violence and Conflict in Ireland, AD425-1649. Frank was also a Visiting Scholar, 2014-2015, with the Yale MacMillan Center Genocide Studies Program, and, 2014-2016, an Honorary Adjunct Assistant Professor with the Trinity Long Rom Hub, Trinity College Dublin. Frank has also held a Carson Fellowship at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU Munich), 2013-2014. From 2011 to 2013 he was a Ziff Environmental Fellow (funded by the Harvard University Center for the Environment) based in the Department of History, Harvard University, where he worked with Prof. Michael McCormick (History) and the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP) on a project entitled Unifying High-Resolution Records of Environmental and Societal Stresses for Ireland, AD425-1650, combining Irish annalistic and tree-ring records with ice-core records. From 2012 to 2013 he was a Research Affiliate of the Harvard University Center for Geographic Analysis, and from 2011 to 2013 held the position of Research Associate with the Trinity Long Room Hub.

From 2009 to 2011 Frank was a Research Fellow (pre and postdoctoral) with the Trinity Long Room Hub, and from 2007 to 2011 lectured in the Department of Geography, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. Frank has also lectured and guest lectured in Dublin City University, the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin. From 2009 to 2011 he was Treasurer of the Irish Quaternary Association. In 2006, and 2010-2011, he was a Visiting Scholar with the School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University, Belfast. There he worked with Prof. Mike Baillie and Mr. David Brown on a comparison of historic weather extremes and the Irish oak dendrochronological record. Frank has also worked in University College Cork (2008-2009) with Dr. Paul Leahy and Prof. Ger Kiely as part of the Extreme Weather, Climate and Natural Disasters in Ireland project, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland. Frank obtained a B.A. in Geography and Economics from Trinity College Dublin in 2003 (attaining the highest final year grade in Geography), a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin in 2005, and a PhD in Geography from Trinity College Dublin in 2011. His PhD thesis is entitled The Utility of the Irish Annals as a Source for the Reconstruction of Climate.

Contact

ludlowf@tcd.ie

University Homepage

Click here.

Research Interests

Climate history - historical climatology - environmental history - North Atlantic climate and marine environment - weather and climatic extremes - impacts of extremes on society and the biosphere - Early Christian, medieval and early modern Irish society and economy - Early Medieval Europe - Ptolemaic Egypt - Imperial China - famine - harvest failure - time and chronology - dendrochronology - ice cores - volcanic impact on climate - environmental archaeology - environmental anthropology - annals and chronicles - perception of weather extremes and natural phenomena in historical sources.

Themes

Earth, Air, Fire, Water.

Selected Publications

Manning, J. G., Ludlow, F., Stine, A.R. Boos, W., Sigl, M. and Marlon, J. (In Review) “Volcanic Forcing of Nile Hydroclimate Triggers Revolt and Suppresses Interstate Conflict in Ancient Egypt”, Nature Communications.

Ludlow, F. and Kostick, C. (In Review) “Subsistence Crises, Mass Mortality & Drought in Early Medieval Europe and the Near East, 750-1000 CE”, In: Newfield, T. (ed.), Mortality Crises Between the Plagues, c.800-c.1300 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brock, S., Johnson, A., Keleman, A., Ludlow, F. and Dove, M. R. (In Review), “Agrarian Change and Agricultural Development”, In: Callan, H. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell.

Keleman, A., Brock, S., Cortesi, L., Hebdon, C., Johnson, A., Ludlow, F. and Dove, M. R. (In Review) “Indigenous Agriculture and the Politics of Knowledge”, In: Sillitoe, P. (ed.), Indigenous Knowledge: Optimising its Contribution to Agriculture. Cambridge & Wallingford: CABI Publishing.

Ludlow, F. and Crampsie, A. (In Press) “Environmental History of Ireland, 1550-1730”, In: Ohlmeyer, J. (ed.), Cambridge History of Ireland: Volume 2, Early Modern Ireland, 1550-1730. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, L., Brock, S., Cortesi, L., Eren, A., Hebdon, C., Ludlow, F., Stoike, J. and Dove, M. (In Press) “Mainstreaming Morality: An Examination of Moral Ecologies as a Form of Resistance”, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture.

Ludlow, F. (2017) “Volcanology: Chronicling a Medieval Eruption”, Nature Geoscience, 10 (2), doi:10.1038/ngeo2881. Available here.

Toohey, M., Ludlow, F., LeGrande, A., Anchukaitis, K. and Michael Sigl (2016) “Interdisciplinary Views on the Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions: From Global to Personal”, Past Global Changes Magazine, 24 (2), 78. .

Gao, C., Ludlow, F., Amir, O. and Kostick, C. (2016) “Reconciling Multiple Ice-Core Volcanic Histories: The Potential of Tree-Ring and Documentary Evidence, 670-730 CE”, Quaternary International, 394, 180-193, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.098. Download pdf.

Ludlow, F., Baker, L., Brock, S., Hebdon, C. and Dove, M. R. (2016) "The Double Binds of Indigeneity and Indigenous Resistance", Humanities, 5 (3), doi:10.3390/h5030053. Download pdf.

Hebdon, C., Lennon, M., Ludlow, F., M., Zhang, A. and Dove, M. (2016) “Pedagogy and Climate Change”, In: Crate, S. A. and Nuttall, M. (eds.) Anthropology and Climate Change: From Actions to Transformations. 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 388-398.

Toohey, M., Ludlow, F. and LeGrande, A. (2016) “How did Climate and Humans Respond to Past Volcanic Eruptions?” Eos: Earth & Space Science News, 97, doi:10.1029/2016EO062599.

Toohey, M., Sigl, M., Ludlow, F., LeGrande, A. N. and Anchukaitis, K. (2016) "Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society Working Group", Past Global Changes Magazine, 24 (1), 29. Download pdf.

Sigl, M., Winstrup, M., McConnell, J.R., Welten, K.C., Plunkett, G., Ludlow, F., Buntgen, U., Caffee, M., Chellman, N., Dahl-Jensen, D., Fischer, H., Kipfstuhl, S., Kostick, C., Maselli, O.J., Mekhaldi, F., Mulvaney, R., Muscheler, R., Pasteri, D.R., Pilcher, J.R., Salzer, M., Schüpbach, S., Steffensen, J.P., Vinther, B., Woodruff, T.E. (2015) "Timing and Climate Forcing of Volcanic Eruptions during the Past 2,500 years", Nature, 523, 543-549, doi:10.1038/nature14565.

Sigl, M, McConnell, J.R., Toohey, M., Plunkett, G., Ludlow, F., Winstrup, M., Kipfstuhl, S. and Motizuki, Y. (2015) "The History of Volcanic Eruptions since Roman Times", Past Global Changes Magazine, 23 (2), 48-49. Download pdf.

Kostick, C. and Ludlow, F. (2015) “The Dating of Volcanic Events and their Impacts upon European Climate and Society, 400-800 CE”, European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies, 5, 7-30.

Crampsie, A. and Ludlow, F. (eds.) (2015) Meath History & Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County. Dublin: Geography Publications, xxxiv + 999p.

Ludlow, B. and Ludlow, F. (2015) “Natural and Human Landscapes of Meath: A Photographic Essay”, In: Crampsie, A. and Ludlow, F. (eds.) Meath History & Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County. Dublin: Geography Publications, 481-522.

Mullen, J. and Ludlow, F. (2015) “Naming the Land: Mapping the Meath Field Names Project”, In: Crampsie, A. and Ludlow, F. (eds.) Meath History & Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County. Dublin: Geography Publications, 873-908.

Adelman, J. and Ludlow, F. (2014) “The Past, Present and Future of Irish Environmental History”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 114C (7), 359-391, doi: 10.3318/PRIAC.2014.114.07.

Ludlow, F., Stine, A. R., Leahy, P., Murphy, E., Mayewski, P., Taylor, D., Killen, J., Baillie, M., Hennessy, M. and Kiely, G. (2013) “Medieval Irish Chronicles Reveal Persistent Volcanic Forcing of Severe Winter Cold Events, 431-1649 CE”, Environmental Research Letters, 8 (2),  L024035, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024035. Download pdf.

Usoskin, I. G., Kromer, B., Ludlow, F., Beer, J., Friedrich, M., Kovaltsov, G. A., Solanki, S. K. and Wacker, L. (2013) “The AD775 Cosmic Event Revisited: The Sun is to Blame”, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 553, L3, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321080. Download pdf.

Ludlow, F., Adelman, J. and Holm, P. (2013) “Environmental History in Ireland”, Environment and History, 19 (2), 247-252, doi: 10.3197/096734013X13642082568732. Download pdf.

Ludlow, F. (2013) “Workshop Examines Climate Change and Human Response in the History of Western Eurasia from AD 1 to 1600”, Harvard University Center for the Environment Newsletter, 5 (1), 29. Download pdf.

Ludlow, F. (2012), “Assessing Non-Climatic Influences on the Record of Extreme Weather Events in the Irish Annals”, In: Duffy, P. J. and Nolan, W. (eds.), At the Anvil: Essays in Honour of William J. Smyth. Dublin: Geography Publications, 93-133.

Kiely, G., Leahy, P., Ludlow, F., Stefanini, B., Reilly, E., Monk, M. and Harris, J. (2010) Extreme Weather, Climate and Natural Disasters in Ireland. Synthesis Report. Johnstown Castle: Environmental Protection Agency. Download pdf.

Ludlow, F., Dickson, D. and Holm, P. (2010) Audit of Research Activity in Irish Environmental History. Published online by the Irish Environmental History Network, 02/02/2010.

Harwood-Smith, J. and Ludlow, F. (2010) “Doing it in Style”: The Narrative Rules of Time Travel in the Back to the Future Trilogy, In: Ni Fhlainn, S. (ed.), The Worlds of Back to the Future: Critical Essays on the Films. London: McFarland & Company Inc., 232-254.

Ludlow, F. (2006) Three Hundred Years of Weather Extremes from the Annals of Connacht, Journal of Postgraduate Research, 5, 46-65.

Ludlow, F. (2005) Interpretation of Celestial and Environmental Phenomena in the Irish Annals, Atlas, 10, 48-60.

Ludlow, F. (2005) A Surprisingly Useful Source of Information about Ireland's Past Climate - the Irish Annals, Geographical Viewpoint, 33, 26-33.