Steering Committee
Some of the amazing members in S4 2025. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Aniket Dhar
PhD student, University of Arizona
My research work aims to understand past Indian Summer Monsoon variability across the late Holocene to the late Pleistocene using Indian stalagmite measurements understand the different controls on spatiotemporal nature of ISM variability. I use the stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) in the stalagmites and paleoclimate data assimilatory products (ex. MADA, PHYDA, LMR) to understand the multi-decadal to multi centennial-scale dynamics over different time periods.
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Contact: aniketdhar@arizona.edu
Laura Calabrò
PhD student,The University of New Mexico
I am interested in paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions using cave concretions. Currently, my research investigates the global paleo sea-level for different time intervals, with a focus on marine isotope stages (MIS) corresponding to interglacial periods, which represent valid analogs for future sea-rise. Working with phreatic overgrowths on pre-existing speleothems (POS), I assess the relative sea level of regions in the Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Caribbean Sea.
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Contact: calabrol@unm.edu
Imen Arfaoui
Liege University (PhD student), Royal Museum for Central Africa - RMCA (Scientist Geologist)
My doctoral research at Liege University is centered on employing multidisciplinary approaches to study limestones Fm in the Karst region in the Northwest part of Tunisia. Concurrently, my work at RMCA involves studying the karst system in Kongo Central. This encompasses paleoclimate reconstruction, biocorrosion, and cave monitoring, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the geological and environmental dynamics in the region.
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Contact: imen.arfaoui@africamuseum.be
Alexandre Honiat
PhD student, The University of Innsbruck
• Understanding the processes that lead to subglacial speleothem formation.
• Expanding paleoclimate records during glacials using subglacial speleothems.
• Cave monitoring: how dripstone caves respond to global warming.
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Contact: Alexandre.Honiat@student.uibk.ac.at
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Khalil Azennoud
Posdoctoral Researcher, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco
My work attempts to harness the secrets held in speleothems, tufa, and lake sediments, employing a multiproxy approach to piece together climate patterns from critical periods over the past 600 kyr BP. Additionally, I have a keen interest in exploring the 'downstream' effects of climate on hominin dispersal and migration.
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Contact: khalil.azennoud@usmba.ac.ma
Khalil.azennoud@um6p.ma
Hao Ding
PhD student, University of Bergen
I am a PhD student in the research group FluidMICS at the University of Bergen. I use fluid inclusion micro thermometry in speleothem to reconstruct paleoclimate. Currently, I’m working on speleothems from Borneo to reconstruct tropical West Pacific land temperature change over glacial terminations in the late Quaternary.
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Contact: hao.ding@uib.no
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Belkasem Alkaryani
Lecturer, Omar Almukhtar University
I am a lecturer at the Omar Almukhtar University, a founding member of the Libyan National Speleology organization, and the Libyan delegate to the International Union of Speleology. Currently, I am leading a detailed study on Libyan caves in cooperation with the University of Jiatong X'ian from China and North Umbria from the UK. I am also a national expert in the MIKAS project, one of the joint projects between IAH and the UN Karst community. My areas of interest are Remote Sensing, Karstology, Hydrogeology, Speleology, Paleoclimate and Speleothem science
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Contact: belkasem.alkaryani@omu.edu.ly
Artur Stachnik
PhD candidate researcher, Complutense University of Madrid
My research focuses on using caves and lakes in the Iberian Peninsula as essential tools in climate modeling to understand changes in the climate. By analyzing speleothems and climate data, I create models that predict how these systems react to changes in the environment. These models incorporate paleoclimatic data, like stable isotopes, to study how caves and lakes have evolved under different climate conditions, helping us understand the climate's evolution.
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Contact: artursta@ucm.es​
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Priyantan Gupta
PhD student, Indian Institute of Technology , Kharagpur
I am working on Paleoclimatology, concentrating on the continental archives preserved in the cave deposits mainly from the central and north eastern Indian region. My main aim is to generate some high-resolution paleoclimate data from cave deposits of the Indian subcontinent and try to understand the paleo-monsoonal changes that happened in the Indian sub-continent throughout the Holocene time (~ 11000 years from the present). In this context, I want to build an integrated climate model that can use all these paleoclimatic data and predict climatic changes in the near future.
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Contact: priyantan1997@gmail.com
Ali Raza
PhD student, University of Houston
Currently, my work is focused on developing new methods/proxies to interpret Speleothems. Despite, my research interests are fairly broad to reconstruct paleoclimate using various geological archives and comparing them across continents.
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Contact: araza22@cougarnet.uh.edu
Local Committee
Hassane Beraaouz
Professor, Ibn Zohr University (1999-2024)
He served as President of the “Association Sportive de Speleologie” (ASS) from 2006 to 2019 and is currently the vice-president of this association. He has participated in numerous expeditions to study and explore caves in the Tafraout region, the Akhssas Plateau, the Ida Outananes, Taznaght area, the Central High Atlas and the Rif mountain. He co-authored the report “Grotte de Win Timdouine: Synthèse des études scientifiques et des explorations spéléologiques” and contributed to the hydrogeological study of the underground river Win Timdouine in the Agadir Ida Outanane prefecture. Additionally, he co-authored three publications on climate change using speleothems.
He has also worked to popularize Earth and Cave Sciences through documentaries in the AMOUDOU series for Moroccan Radio Television
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Dr. Mohammed Hssaisoune
Associate Professor, Ibn Zohr University of Agadir
Mohammed Hssasioune is an associate professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ibn Zohr University of Agadir, Morocco. His research interests include water resources management under global change, hydrological modelling, climate change, hydrology and water chemistry, groundwater modelling, isotope tracers. He has authored and co-authored more than 40 academic papers.​​
Khalid Ouaskioud
PhD student, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
I am a Predoc PhD student at the International Water Research Institute (IWRI) at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, specializing in paleoclimate studies. I hold a master’s degree in applied geosciences and have prior experience in planetary geological mapping. My current research focuses on Reconstructing paleo-hydroclimate variability in Northwestern Africa using Speleothem Records.​​
Dr. Yassine Ait Brahim
Professor, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
Yassine Ait Brahim obtained his PhD in 2016 from University Ibn Zohr (Morocco) in collaboration with IRD (France) and the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). He joined the International Water Research Institute (IWRI) of University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in November 2021 as assistant professor, after five years of international postdoctoral research experience in China, Switzerland, and Canada. Yassine specializes in isotope geochemistry, hydrogeology, and paleoclimate, with a focus on speleothem records from North Africa. He has been heavily involved in PAGES' SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) working group.​
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Asmae Bakloul
Postdoctoral Researcher, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
My research focuses on reconstructing past climate and hydroclimate variability in Morocco during the Holocene using natural archives such as lake sediments and marine cores. I specialize in analyzing organic geochemical proxies, such as plant wax n-alkanes, and geochemical elements to decipher environmental and climatic shifts. My work aims to enhance our understanding of spatiotemporal changes in hydroclimate dynamics, particularly within the Moroccan lakes and offshore regions.
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Contact :asmae.baqloul-ext@um6p.ma
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Dr. Abderrahman Wanaim
Professor, Ibn Zohr University
Abderrahmane Wanaim is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Science at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco. His research interests include structural geology and geophysics in the context of geohazards and subsurface prospecting, geospeleology, climate change, ecotourism and geotourism. He has authored and co-authored over 10 academic papers.​
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Past S4 committee
S4 Committee 2022 - 2023
(From left to right: Julio Cauhy, Elizabeth Patterson, Nela Sevcikova, Marit Loland, Marcela Godoy, Benjamin Tiger, Giselle Utida, and Calla Gould (not pictured))
