Cinema screenings and Climate Reconstructions
Hello everyone!
April and May have been packed with exciting events, collaborations, and milestones—so here’s a quick round-up of what’s been going on.
To start with some great news from the research front: the paper by Charton et al. (2025) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109345), which I co-authored, has just been published in the Quaternary Science Reviews! The study explores palaeoclimatic reconstructions during Heinrich Stadial 4 in the southwestern Mediterranean. It’s a fascinating look at one of the more extreme climate events of the last glacial period, and I’m thrilled to have contributed to it.
April also brought the opportunity to screen my documentary at the EGU General Assembly 25 during the GeoCinema session. Although I participated virtually, it was incredibly rewarding to see the film shown to an international audience of geoscientists, sparking conversations around climate and the power of storytelling in science.
As part of the Escolab programme, Encarni and I hosted a class at GEO3BCN for a group of curious and enthusiastic middle school students. To make the session more interactive, I developed a custom online game where they could dive into environmental reconstruction using pollen clues. It was fun to see them getting immersed in the activity and start thinking like palaeoecologists!
In early May, I joined the cinema event “Obrim less ulls, mirem el planeta” organised by Medicus Mundi and sponsored by the Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, where my documentary was screened once at an actual cinema (Cinema Zumzeig, Barcelona) and projected on big screen, followed by a roundtable discussion with fellow filmmakers. The conversation touched on environmental storytelling, community engagement, and the role of science in shaping public awareness. It was a meaningful and energising experience.
Photo courtesy of Salutdretsaccio
Photo courtesy of Salutdretsaccio
Photo courtesy of Salutdretsaccio
Photo courtesy of Salutdretsaccio
Finally, I spent two weeks in Montpellier for a short research stay at ISEM (Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier), working with Dr Odile Peyron on pollen-based transfer functions (the main focus of this MSCA project - finally!). After months of gathering data and fine-tuning the datasets, it was incredibly satisfying to see the models finally working—there is still much to do but when the R script finally worked, I felt like Doctor Frankenstein (it’s aliveee!). All the work so far has definitely paid off, and I envision exciting results ahead. The visit was not only productive but it also give me new ideas and tools to improve the climate reconstructions I’m developing.
Looking ahead, the next few weeks will be all about finishing lab work, running additional tests on the transfer functions, and preparing for my upcoming trip to Peru. Plenty to keep me busy—but I’m excited for what’s to come!
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates soon.
–Dael
