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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

Dr Troy Sternberg

Background

Deserts, nomads, states in transition attracted Troy to Geography. Vast, exquisite perspectives and enduring lives in drylands and steppes from Wyoming to Mongolia became his research interest. Extensive travel across continents presented the promise and perils of today's world and drew questions about the interaction of natural and social realms. In arid lands relationships are distilled as the environment so often determines human possibilities. Geography provides the opportunity to examine how landscapes impact people, the role of human action and policy in defining an environment, and the causes and implications of physical processes over time. As desert regions have similarities across continents an essential role of academics is to coordinate research with, and communicate findings to, relevant communities at local and international scales.

Academic Profile

Troy is a British Academy Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Geography. He completed his DPhil at the department with Prof. Dave Thomas and Dr Nick Middleton. His thesis examined the Gobi Desert environment, exploring the physical landscape and how the environment interacts with pastoralists in Mongolia. Strong associations with the Mongolian Institute of Geography, National University of Mongolia, and the Chinese Institutes of Geography and of Anthropology are integral to his research. He is a member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster and Prof. Viles' Rock Breakdown laboratory where he pioneered work on ivy impact (largely positive) on historical walls and buildings in England.

Current Research

Troy's research focuses on how natural hazards interact with societies and the environment in the Gobi Desert, Asia. Research focuses on hazard identification, social exposure and resilience and evolving climate and hazard impact on human systems. He investigates how drought, dzud (extreme winter) and climate influence human opportunity and security in the Gobi region of northern China and southern Mongolia. The project is a rare critical focus on the unusual dynamics of the Gobi with implications regionally as well as for the global community as it increasingly engages with East Asia.

His interests centre on desert processes - natural hazards, water, drought, climate, degradation, pastoralism, livelihoods, development and expanding dryland knowledge. Troy wants to better integrate desert research through a desert initiative that brings together core participants and disciplines that live, work, and research within the multiplicity of desert expanses.

Selected Publications