The high hanging fellowship will provide Mohamed Ezat, now postdoctoral researcher at CAGE, with an opportunity to conduct experiments at one of the most advanced labs at Cambridge University.
Text: Maja Sojtaric
“I aim to use this fellowship to pursue a better understanding of the sensitivity and response of the Arctic Ocean to climate change. I will look at how different components of the Arctic Ocean climate system act and interact at times that were both warmer and colder than today” says Ezat who is currently a postdoc at CAGE.
The Newton International Fellowships provide an opportunity for some of the most talented early career post-doctoral researchers working overseas, to carry out world class research in UK institutions across all disciplines of humanities, engineering, and natural and social sciences. The fellowship scheme is run by the British Academy, The Royal Society and The Academy of Medical Sciences.
Ezat will be a part of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He will utilise the state of the art analytical facilities to extract information from the shell chemistry of single celled organisms called foraminifera.
History of the oceans
These creatures are abundant in the oceans of the world, and store a lot of information about their environment in their shell. When foraminifera die they sink to the bottom, their shell become a part of the ocean sediment, and provide a glimpse into the past climate.
Scientists use them to find out what CO2 concentrations in the ocean were; the ocean temperature of the past; salinity and primary productivity of the oceans at a given time.
“The lab facilities at Cambridge allow for a high-level precision and detail in analysis of foraminifera shells. We have some materials to work on from the central Arctic Ocean, and I have also applied to join an IODP expedition to hopefully collect more.” Ezat says.
Keeping close ties with CAGE
Mohamed Ezat was selected as one of many hundred applicants to the Newton fellowship. As a Newton fellow, he will receive support in the region of £100,000 for a two-year placement in the UK.
“I will still keep close ties to CAGE to follow up on several projects here. My PhD and postdoctoral work here have awarded me many opportunities to do interesting science, and the research atmosphere is very inspiring!”
Mohamed Ezat started as a PhD candidate at CAGE in 2011 and took a postdoctoral position at the centre in 2015. In this period he has also been working as visiting scholar at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in the USA and MARUM, Germany. He also works as a lecturer at Beni-Suef University in Egypt.
