Richard is a lecturer at Durham University. His research interests range across volcanology, but in particular focus on pyroclastic sedimentology – the movement of volcanic ash and debris across the Earth’`s surface or through the atmosphere following explosive volcanic eruptions. All of my research starts with detailed studies in the field, measuring, mapping and sampling ash layers around volcanoes. This is what we have started on Ascension – a comprehensive field program aimed at extracting as much information as we can about Ascension’s volcanic past. We have spent many days crawling through the thorn bush to find, measure and map as many ash and pumice layers as we can. This will form the basis for the laboratory analysis undertaken by Katie, Katy and Ben and will help us understand Ascension’s volcanic history.