Research in the Bradley lab aims to shed new light on the biological and biogeochemical processes underlying the cycling of nutrients and energy that shape the Earth, including past, present, and future life and climate. Our research encompasses marine, cryospheric, and terrestrial settings, including: glacial geomicrobiology, permafrost and soil biogeochemistry, bio-energetics, the deep subsurface, and the global carbon cycle. The diverse settings we study are linked by overarching themes of life in extreme environments, global biogeochemical cycles, climate, and anthropogenic change.

Geobiology
Co-evolution of life and Earth​
​Microbial ecology

Extreme environments
Limits of life
Arctic & Antarctica

Global biogeochemical cycles
Carbon burial and preservation
The deep biosphere

Polar microbiology
Glacial ecosystems

Microbial & bio-energetic modelling
​Biogeochemical modelling

Arctic soils & permafrost
Climate warming and global change

Funding

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO)
Svalbard Integrated Observing System
INTERACT (Horizon 2020)

Humboldt Foundation
Centre for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)
Scott Polar Research Institute
John Muir Trust
​Research Council of Norway

Research in the news

​BBC Earth Podcast

"Strange creatures that eke out a life in a world so difficult and different to ours its hard to even imagine".

​James features on the BBC Earth Podcast, discussing the survival of life in the deep biosphere, extreme energy limitation, and the implications for alien life. 

Listen here!
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Feature starting at 07.45

PHOTO CREDIT
Top middle: Thomas Boothby; top right: Geoff Wheat; bottom left: Gary Barker; bottom right: Birgit Sattler.