Melanie Leng
{{Short description|British geoscientist and researcher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Mel leng2.jpg
| caption = Melanie Leng
| name = Melanie Leng
| birth_name = Melanie Jane Leng
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100}}
| alma_mater = Oxford Polytechnic (BSc)
Aberystwyth University (PhD)
| birth_place = Scarborough, North Yorkshire
| fields = Isotopes
Palaeoclimate
Geochemistry
| thesis_title = Late Ordovician-early Silurian palaeo-environmental analysis in the Tywyn-Corris area of mid-Wales
| thesis_url = https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388533
| thesis_year = 1990
| workplaces = University of Nottingham
British Geological Survey
| website = {{URL|https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/people/melanie.leng}}
}}
Melanie Jane Leng {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} is a Professor of Isotope Geosciences at the University of Nottingham{{Google scholar id}} working on isotopes, palaeoclimate and geochemistry.{{cite journal|last1=Lamb|first1=Angela L.|last2=Wilson|first2=Graham P.|last3=Leng|first3=Melanie J.|title=A review of coastal palaeoclimate and relative sea-level reconstructions using δ13C and C/N ratios in organic material|journal=Earth-Science Reviews|volume=75|issue=1–4|year=2006|pages=29–57|issn=0012-8252|doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.10.003|bibcode=2006ESRv...75...29L }}{{cite journal|last1=Haug|first1=Gerald H.|last2=Ganopolski|first2=Andrey|last3=Sigman|first3=Daniel M.|last4=Rosell-Mele|first4=Antoni|last5=Swann|first5=George E. A.|last6=Tiedemann|first6=Ralf|last7=Jaccard|first7=Samuel L.|last8=Bollmann|first8=Jörg|last9=Maslin|first9=Mark A.|last10=Leng|first10=Melanie J.|last11=Eglinton|first11=Geoffrey|title=North Pacific seasonality and the glaciation of North America 2.7 million years ago|journal=Nature|volume=433|issue=7028|year=2005|pages=821–825|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/nature03332|pmid= 15729332|bibcode=2005Natur.433..821H |s2cid=24116155 |url=http://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/escidoc:231798}}{{cite journal|last1=Leng|first1=Melanie J|last2=Marshall|first2=Jim D|title=Palaeoclimate interpretation of stable isotope data from lake sediment archives|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|volume=23|issue=7–8|year=2004|pages=811–831|issn=0277-3791|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2003.06.012|bibcode=2004QSRv...23..811L |url=http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503151/1/LengMarshall2004.pdf}}{{cite web |title=Customer Spotlight: British Geological Survey |url=https://www.elementar.com/en-gb/applications/application-explorer/customer-spotlight-british-geological-survey |website=Website of Elementar |publisher=Elementar |access-date=10 December 2020}} She also serves as the Chief Scientist for Environmental Change Adaptation and Resilience at the British Geological Survey and Director of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. For many years (till 2019) she has been the UK convenor and representative of the UK geoscience community on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.{{Scopus id}}
Early life and education
Leng grew up in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.{{Cite web|url=https://girlsintogeoscience.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/melanie-leng/|title=Profile: Prof Melanie Leng (Director, Stable Isotope Facility (British Geological Survey); Professor of Isotope Geoscience, University of Nottingham)|last=girlsintogeoscience|date=2016-06-08|website=Girls Into Geoscience|language=en|access-date=2019-06-16}} She spent her childhood on the cliffs and beaches of the Lower Jurassic. Leng studied geology for GCSE and A Level. At Sixth Form College she took a field trip to Ravenscar and described finding an ammonite which hooked her into geology. She studied for a BSc in Earth Science at Oxford Polytechnic, gained her PhD at Aberystwyth University in 1990,{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Wales|url=https://discover.library.wales/permalink/f/1norb00/44NLW_ALMA21772906580002419|doi=|title=Late Ordovician-early Silurian palaeo-environmental analysis in the Tywyn-Corris area of mid-Wales|first= Melanie Jane|last=Leng|date=1990|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.388533}}|website=library.wales|oclc=1179892188|hdl=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/people/melanie.leng|title=Melanie Leng - The University of Nottingham|website=nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=2019-06-16}} then moved to the British Geological Survey to work in the isotope laboratory.{{Cite web|url=http://www.environmentalgeochemistry.org/|title=University of Nottingham-British Geological Survey Centre for Environmental Geochemistry|website=environmentalgeochemistry.org|access-date=2019-06-17}}
Research and career
File:Mel_on_ORCHESTRA_cruise.jpg
Leng has several roles, her most current is Chief Scientist for Environmental Change Adaptation and Resilience at the British Geological Survey. She is also Director of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, a collaboration between the British Geological Survey and the University of Nottingham, Leng leads research around environmental change, human impact, food security, and resource management. Leng has been involved in deep drilling as part of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, and worked in Lake Ohrid in Macedonia and Lake Chala in East Africa. She also heads the Stable Isotope Facility at the British Geological Survey, which is part of the National Environmental Isotope Facility.{{cite web |url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/docs/NEIFPressReleaseApril2019.pdf |title= New £15 million national isotope facility for earth and environmental science |date=27 February 2019 |website= www.bgs.ac.uk|access-date=2021-04-20}} Stable isotopes can be used to better understand climate change and human-landscape interactions, with increasing importance on the Anthropocene and the modern calibration period; tracers of modern pollution; and understanding the hydrological cycle especially in areas suffering human impact. Leng takes part in expeditions, most recently the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) mission called Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA).{{Cite web |url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/orchestra/home.html |title=Ocean Regulation of Climate through Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA) | Long-term science, multi-centre (LTSM) | Our Research | British Geological Survey (BGS) |access-date=11 July 2019 |archive-date=11 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711154219/https://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/orchestra/home.html |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=http://britgeopeople.blogspot.com/2018/11/on-board-rrs-james-clark-ross-orchestra.html|title=GeoBlogy: On board the RRS James Clark Ross: ORCHESTRA part 3…by Melanie Leng|date=2018-11-09|website=GeoBlogy|access-date=2019-06-16}} She actively blogs about her research.
Leng serves on the editorial board of the journals Quaternary Research, Quaternary Science Reviews, Scientific Reports and the Journal of Paleolimnology.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/about-bgs/our-team/staff-profiles/|title=Staff profiles}}
She has written several articles about successfully undertaking a PhD.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/September-2018/Careers|title=The Geological Society of London - Essential tips for a rock-solid geoscience PhD: Part I|website=geolsoc.org.uk|issue=8| doi=10.1144/geosci2018-011|pages=28–29 |access-date=2019-06-16|doi-access=free}}{{cite book|first=Gavin|last=Brown|year=2021|title=How to get your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey|isbn= 9780198866923|oclc=1203135944|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.howtogetyourphd.com|website=howtogetyourphd.com}}
=Awards and honours=
Leng was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/queens-birthday-honours-2019-full-2953942|title=Queen's Birthday Honours 2019: The full list of who has been honoured in Notts|last=Reid|first=Ben|date=2019-06-07|website=nottinghampost.com|access-date=2019-06-17}}
Leng received a Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree from Oxford Brookes University in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/news/recipients-of-honorary-awards-announced-by-oxford-brookes-university/|website=brookes.ac.uk|title=Recipients of honorary awards announced by Oxford Brookes University|author=Anon|year=2022}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leng, Melanie}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire