Google Scholar | ORCiD | Instagram | Bluesky

I am a Physical Geographer and Quaternary Scientist interested in dryland (desert) environments, and how they responded to climatic change over timescales of hundreds of years through to the last half million years. As part of this research I explore interdisciplinary questions about ancient human-environmental interactions with colleagues in archaeology. 

I investigate these climatic changes by studying the landscape (dryland geomorphology), sediments (sands and carbonates), and ground water chemistry (hydrogeology) and through applying luminescence dating and U-Th dating as geochronological methods.

I am a member of the Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology and Environmental Processes research groups within the Geography Department. 

Postgraduate opportunties

I welcome applications from prospective PhD students in: 

1. Quaternary dryland landscape dynamics
2. Geoarchaeology within Southern Africa, Saudi Arabia and Australia
3. Developments within luminescence dating of sediments, particularly pairing the portable luminescence (field) reader with laboratory analysis
4. U-Th dating of carbonates 

Prospective students need to apply to the Postgraduate Research Programme in January to start in September. Please contact me first to discuss your project ideas.

Competitive funding is available through PhD studentships, including SEED Scholarships and SERE Scholarship. To be considered for funding for September entries, applicatons are due towards the end of January of that same year.

Current and former PhD students

Vaibhav Singh (2025-2029) (University of Manchester) 'Down by the river?: Reconstructing environmental conditions at stone age archaeological sites along the former Tsondab River in the Namib Sand Sea."

Jasmine Murphy (2025-2029) (University of Manchester) "Mapping early hominin migration and ideal niche areas" with Prof. Susanne Schulz 

Shashank Nitundil (2022-2026) (University of Manchester) 'Past glaciations and palaeoenvironmental conditions in eastern Himalayas' with Prof. Phil Hughes and Dr Christopher Darvill 

Sepehr Akhavan Kharazian (2022-2026) (joint University of Melbourne and University of Manchester) with Dr Jan-Hendrik May.

Sandra Gomes (2017-2022) (University of Manchester) 'High-resolution records at the coastal margin of Portugal to investiage Heinrich Events.' with Prof. William Fletcher. 

Michelle Lanzoni (2015-2019) (University of Oxford) 'Rain events and recharge processes in the San Luis Valley of Colorado.' With Prof. Mike Edmunds (deceased) and Prof. Heather Viles.  

Advisory board

Alexandra Rowell (2012-2017) (University of Oxford) 'Enhancing palaeoenvironmental records through analyiss of Late Quaternary Sand Ramps.'

I am a Reader in Physical Geography at the University of Manchester with expertise in Quaternary environmental change, geochronology, hydrogeology and geomorphology in dryland environments. I have long been intrigued by how the environment operates, and with a surname like ‘Stone’ it was difficult to avoid a career path involving geography. 

• 2024 - present: Reader in Physiscal Geography, University of Manchester
• 2018 - 2024: Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Manchester.
• 2015 - 2018: Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Manchester.
• 2012 - 2014: Early Career Fellow in Physical Geography and MSc Teaching Fellow (St John's College and School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford). 
• 2011 - 2012: Senior Stipendiary Lecturer in Physical Geography (University of Oxford). 
• 2009 - 2011: Post-doctoral research assistant and tutor (part-time) (University of Oxford). 
• 2005 - 2009: DPhil “Multiproxy reconstructions of Late Quaternary environments, southern Africa” (University of Oxford) 
• 2003 - 2004: MSc Quaternary Science (Royal Holloway, University of London) 
• 2000 - 2003: BA (MA) Geography: 1st class (first in class) (Keble College, University of Oxford)

Administrative duties - University of Manchester

• Physical Geography Department Co-ordinator Postgraduate Research (2022 - present) 
• MERI Earth History Palaeoenvironments and Archaeology Theme Champion (2018 - 2024) 
• QEG Research Group Convener (2017 - 2022) 
• First Year Adviser/ Year Group Leader (2016 - 2020) (awarded innovator of the year for 2018-2019 Peer Support Programme) 
• Co-director of Undergraduate Admissions for Geography (2015-2016)

Administrative duties - External 

• Chief External Examiner for MSc Programmes in the School of Life Sciences & the Environment, Royal Holloway University of London (2024 - present)
• External Examiner for MSc Quaternary Science, Royal Holloway University of London (2022 - 2025)
• External Examiner for BSc Geography, Univeristy of Gloucestershire (2017-2021) 
• Executive Committee Member and Editor of the QN for the QRA (Quaternary Research Association) (2016-2020)
• Secretary of SASQUA (South African Quaternary Research Association) (2017-2019) 

My research interests are interdisciplinary, at the interface of Quaternary science (palaeoclimatology and geochronology),  geomorphology, geoarchaeology and hydrogeology. I am interested in understanding the nature and impacts of past hydroclimatic and environmental change and the mechanisms of global climate forcing, with a focus on deserts and drylands over timescales of glacial-interglacial cycles down to recent decades. I am particularly interested in how shifts in hydroclimate and landscape are connected with hominin occupation and migration during the past few hundred thousand years. 

My current, and recent, research projects:

• PANS: Palaeoenvironmental context of Palaeolithic Archaeology in the Namib Sand Sea. This Leverhulme Trust funded project explores the how and why our ancestors inhabited the inhospitable Namib Sand Sea, related to epsiodes when fresh water reached now dry interdune pans. Our record of environmental conditions through time, linked to new archaeological finds, will change what we know about where ancient humans lived in the past. We explore to what extent the NSS got wetter, and for how long.
• RiVER Routes into Vleis: Environmental Reconstruction of conditions facilitating hominin occupation in the northern Namib Sand Sea. How and why our ancestors inhabited the inhospitable Namib Sand Sea is likely to have depended on freshwater availability in now dry interdune pan sites, derived directly from rainfall, surface channels, groundwater, or some combination. This project will identify and map relict river courses in proximity to existing archaeology-rich pan sites using remote sensing, to guide targeted examination of sediments and sampling in the field. This allows us to evaluate if and how, landscape elements connected. In doing so we will provide a valuable palaeoenvironmental record for greater moisture availability to understand the environmental dynamics of this now hyper-arid region.                                     These build upon:
• a UoM funded project Early Hominin adaptations in arid landscapes of the Namib desert, where I provided chronological control and an environmental reconstruction as part of this exploratory project, with George Leader - The College of New Jersey, USA Ted Marks -Iowa, USA, Rachel Bynoe - University of Southampton, Dominic Stratford - University of the Witwatersand, South Africa, Kaarina Efraim - National Museum of Namibia, Eugene Marais - Gobabeb Research Institute, Namibia, Rachel Smedley - University of Liverpool.
• A new chronology for key archaeological sites in the Mokopane region, Limpopo, South Africa (Patrick Randolph-Quinney - Northumberland, Anthony Sinclair - Liverpool, Simon Armitage - Royal Holloway University of London)
• Developing the utility of the portable luminescence reader (Mark Bateman -Sheffied, David Sanderson - Glasgow),
• Reconstructing the palaeoenvironment and climate (using tufa) within western Saudi Arabia associated with stone age lithic technology (Robyn Inglis - York, Anthony Sinclair - Liverpool, Diana Sahy - BGS, Abdullah Alsharekh - King Saud University Saudi Arabia),
• Exploring the use of chemical tracers as novel proxies for environmental change (hydrostratigraphies) and records of groundwater recharge and quality (Yijian Zeng - Utwente, Netherlands; Lianyu Yu - Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, China; Martine van der Ploeg - Wadeningen, Netherlands; Heike Wanke - University of the West of England, UK;  Andi Smith - BGS). 

Active Grants

• 2025-2029: PI "PANS: Palaeoenvironmental context of the Palaeolithic Archaeology in the Namib Sand Sea" with Dr George Leader, Dr Rachel Bynoe, Prof. Mark Bateman, Dr Alexandra Karamitrou (Co-Is), Tess Spano and wider collaborative network of Prof. Dominic Stratford, Dr Ted Marks, Kaarina Efraim, Eugene Marais, Dr Andrew Gunn. The Leverhulme Trust. 
• 2024: Co-I “WiSH - Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere” (led by Jasper Knight, Witwatersrand) INQUA Grant Project to fund ECRs in the research network. 
• 2023: Co-I on A southern-hemisphere perspective on human-environment relations along desert margins (Co-I Jan-Hendrik May, University of Melbourne). The Manchester-Melbourne-Toronto Research Fund. 

Completed Grants

• 2023: Co-I on Reconstructing monsoon dynamics in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya from glacial and ecological change (PI Chris Darvill, Co-Is, Shashank Nitundil, Phil Hughes). Walters Kundert Fellowship, RGS with IBG. 
• 2022-2023: PI on Pushing the frontiers of age control for dune activity and migration in the Thar Desert, India. SEED New Horizons Fund
• 2022-2023: PI on Early Hominin adaptions in arid landscapes of the Namib desert SEED New Horizons Fund
• 2022-2023: PI on Reconstructing the palaeoenvironment of the geoarchaeologically important Mokopane region, South Africa Faculty of Humanities Research Recovery Funds
• 2022-2023: I am one of the Community of Practice Academics within Cottonopolis: lessons for environmental science through the hidden histories of Manchester UKRI (Aditya Ramesh, PI, History UoM, Chris Jackson, Co-I, DEES UoM, Ali Browne, Co-I, Geography UoM, Mark Usher, Co-I, Geography UoM, Polyanna Da Conceicao, Co-I, Geography, UoM, Jenna Ashton, Co-I, Art History and Cultural Practices, UoM).
• 2019-2022: PI on Stable isotopic signatures from tufa carbonates: Providing environmental context for Palaeolithic archaeology and palaeorainfall composition data to validate climate. International Association for the Study of Arabia. 
• 2017-2020: PI on U-Th and 40Ar/39Ar Dating of Palaeolithic Landscapes at Wadi Dabsa, southwest Saudi Arabia. NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility as grant-in-kind funding IP-1739-0517 (£97,000).
•  2016-2018: named contribnuting expert on SURFACE: Human-Landscape-Interactions and Global Dispersal: The Surface Record of Palaeolithic Arabia. EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Marie-Curie grant agreement No. 660343. 
• 2016-2018: PI on Nitrate beneath the surface in drylands. NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilility as grant-in-kind funding IP-1542-0515 (£39,500). 
• 2015-2016: PI on Dryland nitrate proof-of-concept study. RISF, SEED, UoM (£4,951).
• 2013-2014: PI on Rainfall in the Desert Sand: First application of chemical tracers within Kalahari dunes to investigate hydroclimatic change and rates of groundwater recharge to the Stampriet Aquifer. Quaternary Research Association and John Fell OUP Research Fund 103/931 (total £6,100).
• 2011: PI on  Groundwater recharge and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Kalahari. British Society for Geomorphology Small Research Grant (£2,000).
• 2010 (postponed to 2011): PI on Rainfall in the Desert Sand. Thesiger-Oman International Fellowship from the Royal Geographical Society (£8,000). 

I convene the following courses:

GEOG 30532 - Geohazards in dry places 

This 3rd year option course explores the nature of geohazards and environmental challenges in drylands, via understanding the physical operation of processes in these regions, including a consideration of long-term operation of processes for long-term context. It aims to allow students to appreciate the importance, relevance and uniqueness of dryland environments, which cover 47% of the terrestrial Earth surface, are home to over 2 billion people.

GEOG 201511 - Geomorphology 

This second year option course is about asking why the landscapes around us look as they do. Geomorphology involves both a study of modern-day processes and an appreciation of past (and on-going) processes acting over a long period of time. Landscapes and landforms are the product of a particular sequence of events. This course not only explores the landscapes of Earth but delves into the extra-terrestrial. Students explore the geomorphology of California in a series of desk-based virtual fieldtrips. 

I co-teach on the following courses: 

Postgraduate 

GEOG 60111 - Environmental Change & Reconstruction: Concepts in Stratigraphy and Geochronolgy 

Where I introduce the wonders of glowing sand (luminescence dating) in the lecture theatre and via a laboratory practical. 

GEOG 60982 - Environmental Governance and Geographies of Outer Space

Where I introduce the wonders of extra-terrestrial geomorpholgy and the scientific appproach of reasoning by analogy. 

Undergraduate 

GEOG 20072 - Pyrenees Overseas Fieldcourse

This fieldcourse explores the climatology, ecology, hydrology and Quaternary history of the Pyrenees and dryland Ebro Basin. We stay in Zaragoza, before heading up to Jaca. 

GEOG 10422 - Dynamic Earth 

Where I introduce the fascinating world of dust as a driver of global environmental change, as well as explore flash-flooding and the unusual world of wetlands in drylands. 

GEOG 12011 - Tutorials 

This course introduces students to geographical concepts and provides training in academic skills and employability. 

Introductory Fieldcourse to Keswick

Teaching Qualification 

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), awarded in 2013.