Staff profile

• 2024-Present Career Development Fellow, Department of Geography, Durham University 
• 2023- 2024 Lecturer, Department of Geography, Durham University
• 2022 – 2022: Teaching Fellow, Department of Geography, Durham University
• 2017 – 2021: PhD, Environmental Geography, University of York
• 2016 – 2017: MSc Palaeobiology, Earth Science, University of Bristol
• 2013 – 2016: BSc (Hons) Physical Geography, Geography, University of Leeds 

Research Groups

Sea Level, Ice and Climate

Research Interests

My research interests primarily lie in reconstructing sea-level changes over the Late Quaternary period, with a particular focus on Common Era sea-level change in the Southern Hemisphere. I have expertise in generating high-resolution sea-level reconstructions using microfossils and quantitative methods to assess the magnitudes, rates and drivers of sea-level change. 

• 2000: Invited Chair at the World Climate Research Programme Conference:

Journal Article

• Distribution of Modern Salt-Marsh Foraminifera from Churchhaven Marsh, South Africa: Implications for High-Resolution Sea-Level Reconstructions in the Southern Hemisphere
  
  Williams, S., Pretorius, L., Woodroffe, S., & Finch, J. (2025). Distribution of Modern Salt-Marsh Foraminifera from Churchhaven Marsh, South Africa: Implications for High-Resolution Sea-Level Reconstructions in the Southern Hemisphere. Quaternary Newsletter, 165, 48-56.
• Relative sea-level changes in southeastern Australia during the 19th and 20th centuries
  
  Williams, S., Garrett, E., Moss, P., Dangendorf, S., Hibbert, F., Atkinson, N., Pashley, V., Millar, I., Garnett, M., Zawadzki, A., & Gehrels, W. (2023). Relative sea-level changes in southeastern Australia during the 19th and 20th centuries. Journal of Quaternary Science, 38(7), 1184-1201. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3528
• Development of a Training Set of Contemporary Salt-Marsh Foraminifera for Late Holocene SeaLevel Reconstructions in southeastern Australia
  
  Williams, S., Garrett, E., Moss, P., Bartlett, R., & Gehrels, W. (2021). Development of a TrainingSet of ContemporarySalt-Marsh Foraminiferafor Late Holocene SeaLevel Reconstructions in southeastern Australia. Open Quaternary, 4. https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.93