About us

I completed my MSc in geology in June 2011 in Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Latvia and defended my PhD in Earth Sciences in Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology in January 2015. Now I am working as a post-doctoral researcher in the consortium project headed by Prof. Heikki Seppä “Ecological history and long-term dynamics of the Boreal forest ecosystem (EBOR)” in Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki. 

My primary research field is palaeoecology with focus on reconstruction of past vegetation dynamics. Main research methods:

• pollen analysis
• non-pollen palynomorphs
• micro- and macrocharcoal
• tephrochronology

Previously from 2009 to 2011 worked as senior expert in Licence sector at Latvian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.

Since July 2017 assoc.prof. Quaternary geology and geomorphology at University of Latvia.

Since 2007 in parallel to studies working in Latvian Peat Producers' Association. Besides scientific studies she also studied a variety of peat industry-related issues (export trends, socio-economic aspects, environmental impact, etc.).

Ilze is a Member of the Board of certification "Responsibly Produced Peat", as well as a secretary the International Peatland Society of (IPS) Latvian National Committee and a member of the IPS VIII Commission "Peat and peatlands cultural aspects".

Organized several international events - the International Peat Technology Symposium (2014.g.), Baltic Peat Producers Forum (2008, 2011, 2014), etc.

She has prepared the information stands about peatlands and peat along trails in the at Cena Mire and Puikule Mire. Also, guided tours and lectures for different audiences (pupils, students, government employees, tourists, etc.) in peatlands and peat extraction sites.

Ieva’s scientific interest has always been associated with freshwater ecosystems and lake sediments. At the University of Latvia, she studied environmental science specializing in paleolimnology. Her Master`s thesis was about environmental changes and anthropogenic impact in three lakes (Lake Bušnieku, Lake Engure and Lake Svente) over the Holocene. She applied several palaeoecological methods, such as pollen, macroremain, diatom and grain-size analyses, as well as loss-on-ignition and magnetic susceptibility.

She used her knowledge in paleolimnology further in PhD studies at the Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) where she obtained PhD in December 2015. In PhD research “Diatom Stratigraphy and Relative Sea Level Changes of the Eastern Baltic Sea over the Holocene” she reconstructed relative sea level changes in the eastern Baltic Sea over the last 12 000 years. Research objects were isolation basins – coastal lakes that once were part of the larger water basin and due to the land uplift over time were isolated from the Baltic Sea. The key bio-proxy that is substantially required to determine the transition from marine to freshwater environment is diatom analysis. Ieva gradually improved skills in diatom identification under the supervision of eminent diatom researchers – Dr. Atko Heinsalu (TUT), Prof. Jan Risberg (Stockholm University) and Dr. Kaarina Weckström (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland). Besides diatom analysis she applied litho- and chronostratigraphy to find the isolation contact in the isolation basins, as well as geographical information systems to determine the height of the thresholds and other geomorphological markers.

Since 2016 researcher at the Institute of Biology at University of Latvia.

• Testate amoebae
• Loss-on-ignition
  

• plant macroremains
• archaeobotany
• vegetation history
• palaeoecology
• stratigraphy