Dr. Zhen Yang

• Environmental history (in pre-modern East Asia and contemporary Europe)
• Climate history
• Historical geography
• Comparative historical research
• Cultural heritage
• Environmental policy

• Climatic and Societal Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions in 17th-Century China: A Comparative Study, as part of the research for the VICES (Volcanic Eruptions, Climate and Society in History) project (Duration: 2025–2027)
• Investigated the importance of marine life to human societies over the last two millennia, with a focus on East and Southeast Asia, for the ERC Synergy project 4-Oceans (Duration: Since 2022)

Publications (selected)

• Yang, Z. and Ludlow, F., 2025. Climatic and societal impacts of volcanic eruptions in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE): a comparative study. Climate of the Past, 21(11), pp.2061–2081.
• Guillet, S., Corona, C., Yang, Z., Oppenheimer, C., Lavigne, F., Ludlow, F. and Stoffel, M., 2025. Challenges in detecting volcanic forcing in climate and societal proxies: insights from the 1170/1171 CE eruption. Climatic Change, 178(3), p.58.
• Kostick, C., Hill, A., McGovern, R., Medenieks, S., Yang, Z. and Ludlow, F., 2023. Vulkaanuitbarstingen in de Oudheid: Reacties op Plotselinge Klimaatschommelingen in de Eerste Acht Eeuwen voor Christus [Volcanic Eruptions in Antiquity: Responses to Sudden Climatic Variability in the First Eight Centuries BCE]. Phoenix, 69(1).
• Guillet, S., Corona, C., Oppenheimer, C., Lavigne, F., Khodri, M., Ludlow, F., Sigl, M., Toohey, M., Atkins, P.S., Yang, Z. and Muranaka, T., 2023. Lunar eclipses illuminate timing and climate impact of medieval volcanism. Nature, 616(7955), pp.90–95.
• Mackay, H., Plunkett, G., Jensen, B.J.L., Aubry, T.J., Corona, C., Kim, W.M., Toohey, M., Sigl, M., Stoffel, M., Anchukaitis, K.J., Raible, C., Bolton, M.S.M., Manning, J.G., Newfield, T.P., Di Cosmo, N., Ludlow, F., Kostick, C., Yang, Z., Coyle McClung, L., Amesbury, M., Monteath, A., Hughes, P.D.M., Langdon, P.G., Charman, D., Booth, R., Davies, K.L., Blundell, A. and Swindles, G.T., 2022. The 852/3 CE Mount Churchill eruption: examining the potential climatic and societal impacts and the timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the North Atlantic region. Climate of the Past, 18(6), pp.1475–1508.
• McConnell, J.R., Sigl, M., Plunkett, G., Burke, A., Kim, W.M., Raible, C.C., Wilson, A.I., Manning, J.G., Ludlow, F.M., Chellman, N.J., Innes, H.M., Yang, Z., Larsen, J.F., Schaefer, J.R., Kipfstuhl, S., Mojtabavi, S., Wilhelms, F., Opel, T. and Steffensen, J.P., 2020. Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(27), pp.15443–15449.

Presentations (selected)

• Yang, Z. 2025. Climatic and societal impacts of volcanic eruptions in 17th century China: A comparative study. Oral presentation at The First Biennial Conference of the Asian Association for Environmental History (AAEH 2025), Kagawa University, Takamatsu, 30 September 2025.
• Yang, Z. and Ludlow, F. 2024. Mapping environmental impacts on the uses of marine resources in East Asia, from the 15th century onward. Oral presentation at Commodities and Environments in Early Modern Global Asia 1400–1800 Conference, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 13 November 2024.
• Yang, Z. 2024. Mapping marine transitions in East Asia, c.1400–1900 CE. Oral presentation at WCEH 2024 Oulu (4th World Congress of Environmental History), University of Oulu, Finland, 21 August 2024.
• Yang, Z. 2024. The potential climatic and societal impacts of volcanic eruptions in the Former Han Dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE): A comparative study. Oral presentation at Climpast 2024: Climate of the Past and Societal Responses to Environmental Changes, University of Bern, Switzerland, 5 June 2024.
• Yang, Z. and Ludlow, F. 2023. The changes in quantities and movement of Pacific herring along the coasts of the Korean Peninsula during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). Oral presentation at The 4-OCEANS Project Workshop, The University Museum (Vitenskapsmuseet), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, 16 October 2023.
• Yang, Z. 2023. The possible climatic and societal impacts of volcanic eruptions in the Former Han Dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE). Oral presentation at XXI INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Congress, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 19 July 2023.