Julian D. Hartmanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6256-9989,^1,* Francesca Sangiorgihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4233-6154,^1,** Peter K. Bijl<sup>1,***

1</sup>aMarine Palynology and Paleoceanography, Department Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaa

^*JULIAN HARTMAN started his PhD in the Marine Palynology and Palaeoceanography group, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in January 2014 under the supervision of Henk Brinkhuis, Stefan Schouten, Francesca Sangiorgi and Peter Bijl. His PhD research focusses on reconstructing past surface-water conditions close to the Antarctic margin using palynology and organic geochemical proxies in order to reconstruct cryosphere dynamics during periods of warming since the Oligocene. He is currently in the final stages of his PhD research.
^**FRANCESCA SANGIORGI earned a PhD in marine environmental sciences at the University of Bologna (Italy) and she is currently an assistant professor in the Marine Palynology and Paleoceanography group, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University. Her research mainly focuses on the ecology and palaeoecology of dinoflagellate cysts and on the Neogene climate evolution of polar oceans, where she combines marine palynology with organic geochemical proxies. She works on several international projects dealing with the environmental and climatic evolution of the Southern Ocean.
^***PETER BIJL finished his PhD in 2011 in the Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, with Henk Brinkhuis, Stefan Schouten and Appy Sluijs. His research focuses on the environmental and climatological evolution of the Cretaceous–Cenozoic Southern Ocean, by applying palynological and organic geochemical proxies and comparing with numerical models. Peter is currently an assistant professor of applied biostratigraphy in Utrecht, and director of the LPP Foundation.