2007-present: Lecturer in Geography, Department of Geography & Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen; 2015-present, Adjunct Lecturer in Archaeology within the same School
2004-07: PDRF, Department of Geography & Environment, University of Aberdeen
2002-04: PDRA, School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Kingston University
2002: RA, Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre (WAERC), University of Hull
1996-2001: PhD Vegetation Succession in the Humber Wetlands
1995-1996: MSc Environmental Analysis & Dynamics, University of Hull
1991-1994: BA (Hons) Geography, University of Hull
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (FSA Scot).
Book review editor for the international journal Environmental Archaeology.
Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF): Science in Scottish Archaeology panel member 2010-12 (based at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh). Contribution to the Science Report on Pollen Analysis.
Reconstructing past environments (specialising in palynology)
Viking settlement across the North Atlantic islands, with an emphasis on the Norse colonisation of Greenland
Human-environment relationships through prehistory and into the late Medieval period
Vegetation history and plant succession in British wetlands
Biogeography
Current Research
I am currently pursuing interests that connect directly with the University of Aberdeen's strategic theme of The North. In this respect, my core research activities continue to focus upon the impacts of Norse settlement on the vegetation and landscapes of southwest Greenland. The colonisation (landnám) of Greenland by people of Scandinavian origin - the Norse, or 'Vikings' of popular culture - took place around AD 985 following the arrival of settlers from Iceland led by Erik the Red. Settlement continued for a period of around 400 years before the colonies collapsed for various economic, social and climatic reasons which are still being debated. My research in this field is centred upon the characterisation of signatures for Norse activity in palaeoecological records from Greenland using pollen analysis and associated proxies (such as microscopic charcoal, fungal spores, radiocarbon dating, and peat geochemistry).
(Above) The ruins of Hvalsey church and farm, Eastern Settlement, Greenland (June 2011, photograph by J.E.Schofield). The last definite (written) record to emerge from Norse Greenland is a letter reporting a wedding at Hvalsey church in AD 1408.
Funding and Grants
Leverhulme Trust Standard Grant (2014-17) Calving glaciers: long-term validation and evidence (CALVE) (Co-investigator)
AHRC Standard Grant (2014) Bennachie landscapes: investigating communities past and present at the Colony site (Co-investigator)
SNH 'Year of Natural Scotland' (2013) A stratigraphic survey and pollen analysis of peat deposits at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire (in collabaration with the Scottish Sculpture Workshop)
Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Grant (2010) The potential of the Norse Middle Settlement of Greenland for a major interdisciplinary research project (joint with Prof. K Edwards)
Palynology 'On The Edge' and the Archaeological Vindication of a Mesolithic Presence?: The case of Shetland
Edwards, K. J., Schofield, J. E., Whittington, G., Melton, N. D.
From Bann Flakes to Bushmills: papers in honour of Professor Peter Woodman. Finlay, N., McCartan, S., Milner, N., Wickham-Jones, C. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 113-123, 11 pages
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
Geoarchaeological investigations at Sandhavn, south Greenland
Golding, K. A., Simpson, I. A., Schofield, J. E., McMullen, J. A.
The Rye area project: absolute dating radiocarbon results
Hamilton, W. D., Schofield, J. E., Waller, M. P., Bronk Ramsey, C., van der Plicht, J.
Dungeness and Romney Marsh: barrier dynamics and marshland evolution. Long, A. J., Waller, M. P., Plater, A. J. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 215-225, 11 pages
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
The Rye area: pre-inundation landscape and vegetation history
Waller, M. P., Schofield, J. E.
Dungeness and Romney Marsh: barrier dynamics and marshland evolution. Long, A. J., Waller, M. P., Plater, A. J. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 10-73, 64 pages
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters