Aayush Srivastava

Employment


School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

2020-present: Research Fellow
2022-2023: Lecturer in GIS and Spatial Analysis

Education

Oxford University Centre for the Environment

PhD
2015-2019

Thesis title:
"Late Quaternary dune activity in the Thar Desert and its implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions: an insight from optically stimulated luminescence dating"

Clarendon Fund Scholarship
Hertford College Scholarship

Centre for Quaternary Research

MSc Quaternary Science

2013-2014


Dissertation title:
"Single-aliquot and Single-grain Infrared Stimulated Luminescence (IRSL) Dating of sediments at Lusakert, Armenia.”

Distinction, International Excellence Scholarship

Department of Geology

BSc (Hons) Geology

2010-2014

Distinction, University Gold Medallist

Grants and Awards

  • Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (2024)
  • International Association of Geomorphologists Grant (£1000; 2023)
  • Quaternary Research Association Small Research Grant (£600;2021)
  • British Society for Geomorphology Grant (£500; 2020)
  • International Society of Aeolian Research Grant (£750, 2018)
  • Clarendon Fund Scholarship, University of Oxford (£120,000; 2015)
  • Hertford College Graduate Scholarship (£15,000; 2015)
  • International Excellence Award, Royal Holloway (£5000; 2014)
  • Two British Society for Geomorphology Conference Attendance Grant (£1200)
  • Two Quaternary Research Association Conference Funds (£1200)
  • Two Roland Schlich Early Scientist Grants (£1200)
  • University Gold Medal, Delhi University (2014)

Positions Of Responsibility

  • Department radiation protection supervisor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews (2020-)
  • Department Lecturer in GIS and Spatial Analysis (2022-2023)
  • Science Officer, Geomorphology Division of European Geosciences Union (2023-)
  • Reviewer for Geomorphology, Quaternary Science Reviews, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Catena, Quaternary Research, Geoarchaeology
  • Member of the University of St Andrews’ Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team Working Group (2021-2023)
  • Early Career Scientist Representative for Geomorphology Division of European Geosciences Union (2021-23)
  • Early Career Representative for Association of Quaternary Researchers (2020-2024)

Supervision

  • Aphelion Elvidge: Using optically stimulated luminescence to determine a chronology for the Crosswell Ring Ditches – a potential precursor to Stonehenge? [MSc thesis; 2024]
  • Audrey Asare: Geochemistry and Geochronology of Core V from Durrington Walls in Wiltshire, UK. [MSc thesis; 2022]
  • Shashank Nitundil: Investigating records of dune activity in the Thar Desert, India by combining portable optically stimulated luminescence (port-OSL) with laboratory techniques. [MSc thesis; 2022]

Invited Talks

  • Dating agricultural terraces: major challenges. Newcastle University (2022)
  • Glowing sediment and dating the past. University of St Andrews, UK (2021)
  • Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the Thar Desert. University of Aberystwyth, UK (2019)
  • Quaternary dune activity in the Thar Desert, India. University of Oxford, UK (2016)

Press/Media

The Stonehenge Enigma: What lies Beneath?

Kinnaird, T. C., Bates, C. R. & Srivastava, A. (9/12/21)

Stonehenge: Land of the Dead

Kinnaird, T. C., Bates, C. R. & Srivastava, A. (28/11/21)

Conference Presentations

  • Nitundil, S., Stone, A., Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T. and Songara, K. Exploring western Thar linear dunes with a portable luminescence reader: Holocene dynamics and also MIS 3-MIS 2 preservation. In UK Luminescence and ESR meeting. Oxford, UK. 11 September-13 September 2024.

  • Nitundil, S., Stone, A., Srivastava, A. and Songara, K. Holocene linear dune accumulation in the western Thar Desert, India. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 14 April- 19 April 2024.

  • Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T.C., and Turner, S. Terraces as sustainable agricultural environments in the Mediterranean. In Regional Conference of Geomorphology. Cappadocia, Türkiye. 12 September- 14 September 2023.

  • Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T.C., Sevara, C., Brandolini, F., Martín Civantos, J-M., Santisteban, J-A., Rodrígue, B-R. and Turner, S. Reconstructing past agricultural terraced landscapes in Granada, Spain. 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Shillito, L-M., Brandolini, F., Kinnaird, T.C., Sevara, C., Srivastava, A. and Turner, S. Terraces as sustainable agricultural environments: long-term perspectives from the Mediterranean. 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Turner, S., Ribas, G.D., Kinnaird, T.C., Srivastava, A., Scutt, W. and Watteaux, M. Ancient landscapes of lowland Devon: new insights on origins and transmission. 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Salazar Ortiz, N., Turner, S., Kinnaird, T.C., Sevara, C., Brandolini, F. and Srivastava, A. Rethinking the archaeology of agricultural landscapes in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula through a multidisciplinary approach to Catalonian terraces. 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Carlton, R.J., Turner, S., Kinnaird, T.C., Srivastava, A., Shillito, L-M., Sevara, C. and Germanidou, S. New light on the dating of cultivation terraces on Pelješac peninsula, Croatia. 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Sanchez-Pardo, J-C., Turner, S., Kinnaird, T.C., Brandolini, F., Carrer, F., Silva- Sánchez, N., López-Salas, Otero-Vilariño, C. and Srivastava, A. The terraces of the monks? Dating and characterising the agrarian spaces around the monastery of Samos (Lugo, NW Spain). 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, UK. 30 August- 2nd September 2023.

  • Stone, A., Nitundil, S., Bateman, M.D., Sanderson, D., Cresswell, A., Srivastava, A. and Kinnaird, T. Exploring dryland dynamics with portable luminescence readers. In 17th International Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Dating conference. Copenhagen. Denmark. 25 June- 20 June 2023.

  • Brandolini, F., Kinnaird, T.C., Srivastava, A. and Turner, S. May. Intensification of terrace agriculture on the Northern Apennines during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 23 April- 28 April 2023.

  • Nitundil, S., Stone, A., Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T.C. and Songara, K. Investigating records of dune activity in the Thar Desert, India by combining portable optically stimulated luminescence (pOSL) with laboratory techniques. UK Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Meeting. London, UK. 7 September- 9 September 2022.

  • Tisdall, E., Tipping, R., French, M., Sagrott, S., Kinnaird, T.C. and Srivastava, A. Storming Castles’: The two castles at Caerlaverock and Medieval Climate Change. 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Budapest, Hungary. 31 August- 2 September 2022.

  • Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T., Turner, S., Sevara, C., Holcomb, J., Lekakis, S. and Shillito, L.M. Agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean: a multidisciplinary approach to understanding human-landscape interactions. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 23 May- 27 May 2022.

  • Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T. and Turner, S. Cultivated landscapes of the Mediterranean: novel discourses around the issue of chronological gaps. 16th International Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Dating conference. Burgos, Spain (online). 13 September-17 September 2021.

  • Boyd, S. L., Bates, C. R., Kinnaird, T., Srivastava, A. and Raub, T. D. 2021. Utilising optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating to investigate depositional scenarios and relative sea level change at Ruddons Point, Fife, Scotland. 16th International Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Dating conference. Burgos, Spain (online). 13 September-17 September 2021.

  • Srivastava, A., Kinnaird, T., Johnson, M., Tipping, R., Wilson, C., Ferreira, C., Tisdall, E., McCulloch, R. and Sagrott, S. 2021. OSL and proxy dating of later Prehistoric cultivation terraces on Arthur’s Seat, Central Edinburgh, Scotland. Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Kiel, Germany (online). 8 September-11 September 2021.

  • Boyd, S. L., Bates, C. R., Kinnaird, T., Raub, T. D., Srivastava, A. 2021. Investigating glacial and postglacial sediment deposition and relative sea level changes at Ruddons Point, Fife, Scotland. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 19 April- 30 April 2021.

  • Srivastava, A., 2019. Late Quaternary dune activity in the Thar Desert, India. In 20th Congress of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). Dublin, Ireland. 25 July – 31 July.

  • Srivastava, A., Thomas, D.S.G. and Durcan, J. Late Quaternary dune accumulation histories in the Thar Desert, India. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 7 April- 12 April 2019.

  • Srivastava, A., Thomas, D.S.G. and Durcan, J. Late Quaternary dune activity in the Thar Desert, India: an insight from OSL dating. 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Dating. Beijing, China. 15 October- 17 October 2018.

  • Srivastava, A., Thomas, D.S.G. and Durcan, J. Dune activity in the Thar Desert, India. 10th International Conference on Aeolian Research. Bordeaux, France. 25 June- 29 June 2018.

  • Srivastava, A., Thomas, D. S.G. and Durcan, J., 2018. Understanding Late Quaternary dune accumulation histories in the Thar Desert, India. European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 8 April- 13 April 2018.

  • Srivastava, A., Thomas, D.S.G. and Durcan, J. Late Quaternary dune activity in the Thar Desert, India: an insight from OSL dating. 9th International Conference on Geomorphology. New Delhi, India. 6 November- 11 November 2017.