Associate Professor

Research

 Isotope geochemistry, Quaternary geology

I am an isotope geochemist with leanings towards palaeoanthropology and archaeology. My research seeks to understand where and most importantly when our early human ancestors evolved and what the environment they lived in was like. I have established a U-series dating lab at UCT, the first of its kind on the continent to carry out this research. My work spans the cave deposits in the Cradle of Humankind, to palaeolakes across the interior of South Africa and I lead a productive research group working on these projects. I am the co-director of the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), committed to leading and transformation research into human origins in Africa. I am passionate science communicator and my public engagement includes a TEDx talk, an award-winning museum exhibition, and several widely read essays in The Conversation and Daily Maverick. I have become a voice on topics ranging from fossil ethics to feminist fieldwork and raising awareness on neo-colonial practices in geosciences.

My specific research interests include:

• Developing the uranium-lead technique applied to cave carbonates (speleothems)
• Dating early hominin cave sites in the 'Cradle of Humankind', South Africa
• Unravelling the palaeoenvironmental signals preserved in speleothems, particularly flowstones
• Pushing back the frontiers of the U-series methods to date pedogenic and laccustrine carbonates
• Southern hemisphere records of climate variability recorded in stalagmites (and other carbonates)
• Practical ways in which to decolonise geosciences in the classroom, lab and field

Selected Publications

More on: Google Scholar and ResearchGate (Publication List)

1. Pickering, R., Niespolo, E., Green, H., 2026. U-series dating, in Gilbert et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Geoarchaeology, Encyclopaedia of Earth Sciences Series, Springer Nature, Switzerland, AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_50-1
2. Kirsten, K. L., Blackwood, A.F. Delaney, D. L., Edwards, T. R., Fourie, F., Haberzettl, T.,Hadebe, K., Hellstrom, J., Huber, M., Keebine, M., Muasya, A.M., Razafimanantsoa, A.H.I., Weij, R., Pickering, R. 2026. Microtopography and Surface Features of the Mid-Pleistocene Kalkkop Impact Crater and Palaeolake, South Africa. Catena, 262, 109640, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109640.
3. Luti, G., Edwards, T.R., Weij, R., and Pickering, R., 2025 Petrography and sedimentary sequence relationships of speleothems from the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Results in Earth Sciences.
4. Malherbe M., Haeusler M., Pickering R., Stynder D. 2025. Dental mesowear patterns challenge the hypothesis of a 1.7 Ma transition to open grasslands in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 677, 113199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113199
5. Ackermann, R., Athreya, S., Black, W., Humphreys, R., Pickering, R., Sahle, Y. and Schroeder, L. 2025. Paleoanthropology: Decolonizing and Building for the Future. In The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology (eds H. Callan and S. Coleman). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2549
6. Pickering, R., Ervens, B., Jesus-Rydin, C., Wingate, L., Beniest, A., Panieri, G., Mazibuko, N, Sephtopn, A. 2023. How language can be a path away from neo-colonialism in geosciences. Nature Geoscience, 2023-12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01337-6
7. Wilkins, J., Schoville, B.J., Pickering, R., Gliganic, L., Collins, B., Brown, K.S., von der Meden, J., Khumalo, W., Meyer, M.C., Maape, S., Blackwood, A., Hatton, A. 2021. Innovative symbolic and technological behaviours 105,000 years ago in a wetter Kalahari. Nature, 592, 248–252 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0
8. Pickering, R., Herries, A., Woodhead, J.D., Hellstrom, J.C., Green, H.E., Paul, P., Ritzman, T., Strait, D.S., Schoville, B.J., Hancox, J. (2019) South African hominin record restricted to dry phases as demonstrated by U-Pb dated flowstones. Nature, 565, 7738, 226-229, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0711-0

Courses Lectured

• GEO1006S: general introduction to geology, minerals, crystals, rocks and palaeontology
• GEO3001S: chemostratigraphy, isotope geochemistry, palaeoclimatology, climate change
• GEO4000W: Quaternary Geology

Graduated Students

Biography

Degrees

• Ph.D; Dr.phil.-nat., summa cum laude, University of Bern, Geology, 2009
• M.Sc., with distinction, University of the Witwatersrand, Geology, 2005
• B.Sc. Hons, 1^st class, University of the Witwatersrand, Geology & Palaeontology, 2002
• B.Sc., with distinction, University of the Witwatersrand, Geology & Archaeology, 2001

Employment

• Lecturer, University of Cape Town, 2016 onwards
• ARC DECRA Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia, 2012-2015
• McKenzie Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia, 2010-2012
• Swiss National Science Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia, 2009-2010
• Post Doctoral Fellowship (declined), University of Bergen, Norway, 2009-2011

Scholarships, Fellowships and Sponsorships Awarded

• NRF - African Origins Platform, 2016-2018
• NRF Incentive Funding for Rated Scientists, 2016-2021
• Australian Research Council – Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), 2012-2015
• National Science Foundation Archaeology Collaborative Research, co-investigator, 2012-2015
• Australian Academy of Science Travel Award, 2012.
• INQUA (International Union for The Quaternary) international travel prize, 2011.
• University of Melbourne, McKenzie Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 2011-2013
• Swiss National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 2009-2010    
• Palaeontology Scientific Trust (PAST) Travel Award, 2004         
• NRF Mobility Grant x2, 2003, 2004
• NRF Scare Skills MSc Bursary. 2003-2004
• PAST MSc Bursary, 2003-2004    
• PAST Travel Award (visiting student at the Australian National University), 2003                     

Awards and academic honours

• NRF P rating, University of Cape Town, 2016-2021
• Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, University of Melbourne, 2013
• Invited to the Prime Minister’s Science Awards Dinner, Canberra, 2012, 2013
• Top 100 most influential people in Melbourne, The Age Newspaper, 2010
• Best poster prize, Swiss Quaternary Society meeting, Bern, Switzerland, 2009
• Prize for 2^nd best poster, 97th Geologische Vereinigung, Bremen, Germany, 2007
• Corstorphine Medal, John Handley Award, best MSc thesis, GSSA, 2005