Staff profile

August 2021 - Head of Department, Earth Sciences

2016 - 2019 — Deputy Head of Science Faculty (Postgraduate)

2015 - 2016 — Academic Director, NERC IAPETUS Doctoral Training Partnership

2014 - present — Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Durham

2013 – 2015  — Deputy Director, Natural Sciences, University of Durham

2005 – 2014  — Reader, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Durham

2003 – 2004  — Deputy Chief Geologist, CASP. Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge

1993 – 2004  — Geologist, CASP, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge

1990 – 1993  — Computer Officer, Leicester University

1991  — PhD, Leicester

1987  — BSc Hons 1st class: Durham

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Career Research Highlights

My research has focused on interdisciplinary studies of Eurasian orogenic belts and sedimentary basins, notably the interactions of deformation, climate and sedimentation in tectonically active regions such as the Caspian, and the Zagros mountains of Iran. I also study aspects of petroleum systems at all scales from the regional, to the effects of fault systems and sedimentary architecture on fluid migration. My PhD involved a lot of igneous geochemistry, and I have recently returned to this subject by looking at the young volcanic rocks of the Iranian plateau. This includes being the PI of a NERC funded project on Orogenic Plateau Magmatism. I use many techniques and disciplines within Earth Sciences, including field-based structural geology and clastic sedimentology, remote sensing, geomorphology, basin modelling, regional synthesis, igneous geochemistry and seismic interpretation. I work closely with specialists in many other fields, including seismology, microstructures, fluid inclusions, heavy mineral provenance studies, isotopic geochemistry/geochronology and gravity/magnetics.

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Committee and Society Service

2021 - Member of Council, Geological Society, London

2005 – 2010— Secretary, Northern Regional Group of the Geological Society

2001 – 2006 — Geological Society Petroleum Group committee member

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Conferences and Workshops

2012, 2013 —Organiser of Convergent Margin session theme - EGU General Assembly

2011 — Geological Society of London Coupling of Tectonics and Surface Processes, Convenor.

2010 — Orogenic Plateaux session, Convenor - EGU General Assembly

2009 — Arctic and Russia session, Co-convenor. Petroleum Geology Conference #VII

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Editorial Roles

2017 - present - Editor, Solid Earth

2003 – 2017 — Editor-in-chief of Geological Magazine

2005 – present — Editorial board member, Tectonophysics

2006 – 2012 — Editorial Board Member, Petroleum Geoscience

2006 — UK national correspondent for ICGP Project 480 “Tectonics of Central Asia”

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Keynotes

2021 - Keynote speaker, EGU Annual Meeting

2020 - Keynote speaker, EGU Annual Meeting

2019 - Invited speaker, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2019 - Invited speaker, China Earthquake Administration

2018 - Invited speaker, Caltech, California

2011 – "Interactions of Tectonics and Climate in Eurasia" - University of Michigan Smith Lecture Series

2008 – International Union of Geological Sciences 33rd International Geological Congress

2004 – AAPG Hedberg meeting on lacustrine sedimentation, Baku

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Prizes & Awards

2004 — AAPG Jules Braunstein Award

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Recent and Current Grants

2011 – 2014 — ‘Orogenic Plateau Magmatism’ NERC Standard Grant NE/H021620/1 PI, Co-Is: Davidson, J.P., and Van Hunen, J.

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• Eurasian orogenic belts and sedimentary basins, notably the interactions of deformation, climate and sedimentation in tectonically active regions such as the Caspian and the Zagros mountains.

• 2018: Invited speaker, Caltech:
• 2017: Editor, Solid Earth:
• 2016: Degree programme External Examiner, University of Oxford:
• 2014: Member of NERC peer review college:
• 2014: Editor-in-Chief, Geological Magazine:
• 2013: Degree programme External Examiner, University of Cambridge:
• 2013: Co-ordinator, Convergent Tectonic settings sessions, EGU:
• 2011: Smith Lecturer, University of Michigan:
• 2006: UK national correspondent for ICGP Project 480 “Tectonics of Central Asia”:
• 2005: Editorial board member, Tectonophysics, from Dec 2005:
• 2004: Keynote speaker: AAPG Hedberg meeting on lacustrine sedimentation, Baku, 2004:
• 2004: AAPG Jules Braunstein Award:
• 2003: Editor of Geological Magazine since February 2003:
• 2001: Geological Society Petroleum Group committee member: