Experience | matthiassinnesael

Selected Experience

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

March 2024-present: Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Palaeoenvironments at the Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Ireland.

October 2021 - February 2024: Post-Doc in cyclostratigraphy (integrate cyclostratigraphic data with astronomical models), European Research Council (ERC) Advanced grant: AstroGeo. With Prof. Jacques Laskar, Paris Observatory, France.

Summer 2023: Stratigraphic Correlator and Physical Properties Specialist on the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) “Reykjanes Mantle Convection Expedition 395”.

January 2020 - September 2021: Post Doctoral Research Associate in Statistical Chronostratigraphy, Leverhulme Trust project: A fizzle or a bang: how fast was the Cambrian ’explosion’?. With Profs. Martin Smith and Andrew Millard, Durham University, UK.

EDUCATION

2014-2020: PhD student (Research Foundation Flanders Fellowship). Dissertation: Astronomical cycle identification – new methodological approaches and application to high-resolution Ordovician stratigraphy. With Prof. Philippe Claeys, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium and Prof. Thijs R.A. Vandenbroucke, Universiteit Gent, Belgium.

2012-2014: Master in Geography (Terrestrial Ecosystems and Global Change) Great Distinction. Thesis: The astronomical influence on climate change across the K-Pg boundary. A cyclostratigraphic study of the late Maastrichtian - early Paleocene at the Umbria - Marche Basin (Apennine mountains, Central Italy). With Prof. Philippe Claeys, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

2009-2012: Bachelor in Physical Geography Great Distinction. (In Dutch). Thesis: Stable isotopes (δ18O and δ13C) in the Mid-Devonian 'La Couvinoise' section (Dinant Synclinorium, Belgium): Comparison with magnetic susceptibility and astronomical interpretations. With Prof. Philippe Claeys, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

September 2013 - January 2014: Erasmus, Stockholm University.

TRAINING

2022, June 27-July 01: PALEOS Summer School in Paleoenvironments, Dijon, France.

2021, Unlearning Racism in Geosciences, Durham, UK & Online.

2020, March 21-24: Introduction to Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling using R (online by Prof. A. Parnell).

2016, June 26-July 01: ECORD Summer School in Petrophysics, Leicester, UK.

2015, March 2-6: International Flügel-Course on Carbonates, Erlangen University, Germany.

2014, August 18-23: International IsoAstro Workshop, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin USA.

2014 January 2013 August: Erasmus Semester, Stockholm University, Sweden.

2013, July: Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology, University of Urbino, Italy.

SEMINARS AND INVITED TALKS

2024 Invited seminar, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland: ‘Temporally calibrating the Cambrian first occurrence of trilobites using astrochronology’.

2023 Invited seminar, Observatoire de Paris – Meudon, Paris, France: ‘How astronomy and geology can inform each other on past changes in Solar System Dynamics’.

2023 Invited seminar, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco: ‘An Introduction to (Paleozoic) cyclostratigraphy’.

2021 Invited seminar, University of Southampton, UK: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project’. (Online).

2021 Invited Talk, IGCP653 meeting, Lyon, France: ‘How do we get to an Ordovician astronomical time scale?’.

2021 Keynote, IGCP653 Closing Meeting, Lille, France: ‘Ordovician cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology: a synthesis’. (Online).

2021 Invited Talk, Pal(a)eo EaRly Career Seminar: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project (CIP) and the cyclostratigraphy.org website’. (Online).

2021 Invited Talk, European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly: ‘Astrochronology for the oldest Cambrian trilobites in Moroccan West Gondwana’. (Online).

2020 AstroGeo Internal Seminar, Observatoire de Paris, France: ‘Ordovician Cyclostratigraphy’. (Online).

2020 Invitation for Talk SEPM International Sedimentary Geosciences Congress – Workshop: ‘A deep time perspective on the interplay among sedimentary systems, orbital forcing, and climatic events’. (Declined for logistical reasons).

2020 Earth Sciences Seminar, Durham University, UK: ‘Using astronomical cycles and Bayesian models to temporally constrain Early Palaeozoic evolution’.

2019 Invited Talk, American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, USA: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project’.

2019 Invited Seminar University of California, Riverside, CA, USA: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project’.

2019 Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Seminar, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project’.

2018 Invited Seminar, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project: testing reproducibility in the field of cyclostratigraphy’.

2018 Invited Seminar, University of Geneva, Switzerland: ‘The Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project: testing reproducibility in the field of cyclostratigraphy’.

2018 Keynote, IGCP652 Annual Meeting, Bremen, Germany: ‘Upper Katian Cyclostratigraphy of the Vauréal Formation, Anticosti Island (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada)’.

2017 Invited Seminar, Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research, UCL, Belgium: ‘Alternative approaches in time-series analysis and cyclostratigraphy’.

2015 Analytical and Environmental Chemistry seminar, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium: ‘Understanding rapid climate variations during the Late Ordovician (~450 Ma) in terms of astronomical forcing’.

RESEARCH VISITS

2024, January 14-21: IODP Expedition 395 – sampling party, MARUM, Germany (IODP – one week)

2023, December 03-15: IODP Expedition 395 – XRF core scanning, Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, USA (IODP - two weeks)

2022, Nov. 28-Dec. 9: Research Visit, MARUM, Germany (Thomas Westerhold, Cenozoic cyclostratigraphy – two weeks).

2022, Nov. 21-27: Research visit, Durham University, UK (Martin Smith, Cambrian Bayesian stratigraphy – one week).

2022, Oct. 30-Nov. 4: ICDP workshop, GOE-DEEP, “Gabon and Oxygenation of Earth – Drilling Early Earth Project”, Trondheim, Norway (Developing an ICDP proposal & Inspect ICDP FAR-DEEP cores – one week).

2022, October 18-21: MagellanPlus-workshop, SVALCLIME, “Deep-time Arctic climate archives: High-resolution coring of Svalbard’s sedimentary record”, Svalbard (Developing an ICDP proposal, Online participation).

2021, August 23-26: Research Visit, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, UK (Core repository, sampling Cambrian core – one week).

2018, June 09-21: Research Stay and Field Work, Indiana Geological and Water Survey, USA (Patrick McLaughlin, Ordovician stratigraphy – two weeks).

2017, May 08-14: Research Visit, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain (Miroslav Zivanovic, Signal Processing) + Field Work Zumaya and Sopelana sections (Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary) (one week).

2017, March 19-24: Research Visit, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain (Miroslav Zivanovic, Signal Processing – one week).

2017, March 06-10: Research Visit, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, UK (Dan Condon, U-Pb dating – one week).

2016, October 01-16: Research Visit, Indiana Geological Survey, USA (Patrick McLaughlin, Ordovician stratigraphy – two weeks).

2015, June 19-31: Research Visit, Wisconsin Geological Survey Core Depository, USA (Patrick McLaughlin, Ordovician Stratigraphy – two weeks).

FIELD EXPERIENCE

2023, March 06-13: Fieldwork, Tiout, Morocco (Cambrian stratigraphy – one week).

2020-2018: Multiple field visits and sampling campaigns in the Maastrichtian of Maastricht area (Belgium-Netherlands) in the framework of the Maastrichtian Geoheritage Project.

2019, July 15-17, 22-30: ISOS Field trips to the Ordovician of Saint-Petersburg region and Siberia, Russia (A. Dronov – two weeks).

2019, May 26- June 03: Field Work, Canj, Montenegro (VUB-AMGC group, Jan Smit, Mesozoic stratigraphy – one week).

2017, September 17-24: Field Work, Crozon, Bretange, France (Alfredo Loi and Marie-Pierre Dabard, Ordovician stratigraphy – one week).

2017, January 07-14: Field Work, Umbria-Marche Basin, Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Italy (Alessandro Montanari – one week).

2016, April 09-15: Field Work, Umbria-Marche Basin, Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Italy (Alessandro Montanari – one week).

2016, April 01-07: Field Work, Crozon, Bretagne, France (Alfredo Loi and Marie-Pierre Dabard, Ordovician stratigraphy – one week).

2015, July 13-27: Field Work, Anticosti Island, Canada. (André Desrochers, Ordovician stratigraphy – two weeks).

2014, March 22-29: Master’s Thesis Field Work, Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Italy (Alessandro Montanari – one week).

2013, April 14-21: Master’s Thesis Field Work, Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Italy (Alessandro Montanari – one week).

2011, August: Summer job at the Royal Meteorological Institute (ozone measurements), Belgium (one month).

TEACHING

2023: Main organizer of a one week Cyclostratigraphy Field Training School in the Umbria-Marche Basin, Italy (link).

2023: Guest lecturer ‘Cyclostratigraphy’, Principles of Sedimentary Deposits Course, Mississippi State University.

2022 EGU short course ‘Introduction to time series analysis for Earth scientists’ with D. De Vleeschouwer and C. Zeeden.

2020 & 2022: Guest lecturer ‘Cyclostratigraphy’ & ‘Phanerozoic Event stratigraphy’, Stratigraphy and Sedimentology Course, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

2022: Guest lecturer ‘Early Paleozoic biodiversity, Origins of Life Course, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

2020-2021: Teaching Assistant, Sedimentology and Palaeontology Course, Durham University.

2020: ‘Spain Virtual Field Trip’– Cyclostratigraphy guest lecture and Sorbas Basin (Spain) practical exercises, Durham University.

2018-2019: Practical exercises in Cyclostratigraphy, Stratigraphy and Sedimentology Course, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

2015-2019: Teaching Assistant, Practicals Introductory Geology (~10 x year, e.g. basic crystallography, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, one-day fieldtrips), Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

2015-2018: Practical exercises in Cyclostratigraphy, Stratigraphy Course, Ghent University.

2018: Co-organizer 3-day workshop on cyclostratigraphy, IGCP652 Annual Meeting, Bremen University.

MENTORING

2022-2026 (expected): PhD Committee member Jarno Huygh (Liège University with Anne-Christine da Silva)

Student supervision (Durham University):

2022 Undergraduate Dissertation: Francesca Warren: ‘Using carbon and nitrogen isotope stratigraphy to refine UK upper Cambrian stratigraphy.’ Student first-author paper in preparation.
2021 undergraduate research project: Francesca Warren: ‘Using δ13Corg to improve the timeline of the Cambrian explosion’.

Student supervision (Vrije Universiteit Brussel):

2021 MSc thesis: Jarno Huygh: ‘Cyclostratigraphy of the type Maastrichtian’. Student first-author paper in preparation.
2019 BSc thesis: Jarno Huygh: ‘Geochemical study on Maastrichtian chalk’.
2018 BSc thesis: Loic Peltot: ‘Mercury as proxy for volcanic activity during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event’.
2018 undergraduate research project: Tom Hamelryckx, Jochen Eeckhoudt, Kiano Gorissen: ‘Analyzing C and O stable isotopes and elemental composition of Maastrichtian carbonates using IRMS and XRF’.