Biographies

Background of members of Council 2011/2012

Brief biographies of members of Council 2011/2012

Philip Allen

I would like to think of the Geological Society as a hub for exciting developments in geoscience and its many applications, including the hosting of key, strategically important meetings on issues of major concern. My main motivation? Get more people involved in the Society, forge better lateral links with other learned societies, be inclusive, be representative, be visible, be influential. I am currently Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial Collect, but have lived and worked in three European countries. I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1974 and PhD from Cambridge in 1979. I have been a Fellow for 30 years. My areas of special interest include sedimentology, geomorphology and basin analysis, and I have written text books entitled Basin Analysis and Earth Surface Processes. I am the holder of a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award, and was honoured with the Geological Society’s Lyell Medal in 2007.

Samme Brough

I am a young Geoscientist working in the oil and gas exploration and production sector, and hold a BSc. (Hons) in Environmental Earth Science from the University of East Anglia (2007). Since first becoming involved with the Geological Society, and joining the Education committee in 2009, I have gained valuable insight into the Geological Society operations, and its desire to embrace new developments and promote our passion to the wider scientific community.

These objectives reflect my own efforts to promote the geosciences to younger generations, and the wider society. I have been an active Geoscience Ambassador for several years through my voluntary involvement in STEMNET’s (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Network) Science Ambassadors scheme. This nationwide scheme relies on its inspiring role models to promote these core subject areas to, and inspire, students of all ages in schools and higher education. In 2009 my commitment was acknowledged with an award for being the “Most Dedicated Ambassador”.

My experiences as a Geoscience Ambassador have highlighted to me the importance of both encouraging and supporting young geoscientists within the Geological Society, and a necessity to build a positive profile into the wider community, where the geosciences are under-appreciated.

As a member of Council, I am privileged to represent young and early career Geoscientists within the Society. I hope that my existing role as an Ambassador for Geosciences, and the Society, will inform and inspire younger generations outside of this learned community.

Malcolm Brown

I am Senior Vice President, Exploration for BG Group. I am responsible for exploration in 20 countries, where we employ 300 geoscientists, an exploration budget of some £800 mm pa and delivery of new resources to drive the company’s growth.

After completing my BSc Geology from Kingston Polytechnic in 1976, I started ‘at the bottom’ as a mud logger in Libya. I then spent two years in Saudi Arabia in directional drilling, before concluding that I ought to get a proper job and returned to the UK in 1981 to complete an MSc in Petroleum Geology at Imperial College.

I joined British Gas in 1982 and during my career I have worked in a variety of hydrocarbon provinces including the North Sea, West Africa and South America. I was Exploration Director with worldwide responsibility from 1996 to 2000, during which time BG had major discoveries in Egypt, Kazakhstan, Trinidad, UK, Bolivia and Indonesia.

I then spent some time in general management roles, but such jobs lacked the challenge of the ‘detective story’ that is hydrocarbon exploration and I returned to Exploration in 2005. Since then BG has enjoyed success in such differing environments as the giant oil discoveries in 2000m of water in Brazil and the challenge of developing coal bed methane to Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) activity in Australia.

I received an Honorary Doctorate from Kingston University in 2007. I am currently on the Advisory Board of the Energy Geoscience Institute and have held positions on the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, UKOOA, IPIECA and Connect Reading, a local charity. I am Sponsorship Chairman for the 7th Petroleum Conference and a member of the Development and Fundraising Committee of the Geological Society.

I believe there are three current challenges where geology has a key role to play. Firstly, the UK has to address the issue of security of energy supply for the first time since the advent of the North Sea some 40 years ago. Secondly, in an energy hungry world, how do we handle the issue of ‘waste’, be it nuclear or CO2 sequestration? Thirdly, how do we inspire enough UK teenagers to want to become geologists? None of these questions have easy answers, but I would very much like to contribute to the answers as a member of the Council.

Rob Butler

After graduating in 1981 from Leeds and completing a PhD in Swansea in 1984, my career has taken me through Durham, the OU and back to Leeds. In 2008 I took up a chair in Tectonics at the University of Aberdeen to establish stronger collaborative links especially between university and industry-based structural geologists.

Although my best-known research is from the Western Alps and Scottish Highlands, I have worked extensively in Italy, where I have held various honorary positions, the Middle East, Pakistan and currently New Zealand, This has focused on studying the deformation of continental lithosphere, especially the structure of thrust belts. Much of my current research is directed at understanding the structural geology of submarine slopes, from shear fabrics developed in the sea bed beneath turbidity currents right up to the evolution of deepwater fold and thrust belts.

Since 1980 I have been Junior Associate, then Fellow of the Society and have been honoured with a President’s Award (1986) and the Wollaston Fund (1995). I currently serve on the Awards Committee and have acted as chair of the Tectonic Studies Group (1995-6). I am Director of the Virtual Seismic Atlas – an open-access community internet resource that, while sharing the geological interpretation of seismic data, showcases remarkable subsurface imagery. I also hold memberships of the American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, Geological Society of New Zealand and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

I am a passionate advocate of core geoscience skills – especially of excellent field training. I believe it is important to promote the major advances in our science both for their own sake and for their societal relevance. Funding councils and university managements should be encouraged to value more these sustaining activities. The UK is blessed with excellent links between industry and academia that should be fostered: there remains much that we can learn from each other. I look forward to a Society that is increasingly inclusive and outward-looking.

David Cragg

I am an Associate Director with URS / Scott Wilson Ltd working in the fields of engineering geology, geotechnics and the remediation of contaminated land and groundwater. I hold the degrees of BSc [Hons] Physical Geography and Geology [Liverpool, 1978], MSc Engineering Geology [Leeds, 1979] and MSc Contaminated Land Management [Nottingham Trent, 2001]. A Fellow of the Society since 1979, I became a Corporate Member of the Institution of Geologists in 1987. With the unification of IG and the Society I became a Chartered Geologist in 1990. I am also a Chartered Engineer with IMMM and a Specialist in Land Condition with IEMA. I have been a scrutineer of applications for chartered status since 2000 and I am currently a member of the Society’s Chartership Committee.

The majority of our professional work goes on unnoticed by the general public and many geologists are given to lamenting our perceived lack of professional status in the wider world. This is not helped by the way in which, while adverse global events and natural disasters such as volcanic ash clouds, tsunamis and earthquakes merit explanations in the media by eminent geologists, the benefits of the application of professional geological expertise to the challenges of, for example, civil engineering, security of energy supply, renewable energy, waste disposal and environmental regulation are only rarely promoted to society at large. We need to change public perception.

I would like to help to promote the role of the members of the Society, in academia and industry, in benefitting society at large and to help to promote the value of an education in geology both for its own sake and for the crucial contribution that our professionals can make in addressing the issues of the day and into the future. I believe the Society needs to coax and cajole the UK’s university-based academics to become Fellows in far larger numbers; and to promote to them as well as to industrial practitioners the benefits of becoming Chartered Geologists. The Society also needs to consider what professional attributes are likely to be required of practicing geologists in future and to promote itself as the main forum for developing the necessary academic and professional excellence. These are the issues I would like to focus upon as a member of Council.

Jane Francis

I am Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds and currently Dean of the Faculty of Environment. I have a BSc in Geology and PhD in Geology/Biology from the University of Southampton, held a NERC postdoc Fellowship at the University of London and was a postdoc Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide in Australia for five years. I have also worked for the British Antarctic Survey. My current research focuses on ancient environments of the polar regions, particularly using fossil plants as indicators of past climates. I have been awarded the Polar Medal for my contribution to polar research and have given public lectures about my polar work in the Geological Society Shell lecture series. I am also currently a member of NERC’s Science Innovation and Strategy Board (SISB), President of the Palaeontological Association and represent Antarctic science on various committees.

In the challenging times ahead the Earth Science community will no doubt look to the Geological Society as its professional body to support and represent the discipline as geological activities are threatened. For example, vocational training in masters courses are no longer supported by NERC and cuts to university funding may make such specialised courses unsustainable. Only with the enhanced support from industry, both practically and financially, will the supply of well-trained graduates continue in future, and the Geological Society is well placed to help encourage such partnerships. In addition, much of Earth science research currently relies on responsive mode funding whereas research councils are now focusing on specific strategic priorities, which at present exclude many areas of Earth science. The Geological Society therefore has an even more important role to play these days in helping to ensure the health of the discipline in future.

Alastair Fraser

I have had the good fortune to be actively involved with the Society since graduating from Edinburgh University and joining BP as a young Petroleum Geologist in 1977.

After over 30 years with BP as a Petroleum Geologist/Exploration Manager working in many of the world’s great petroleum basins, I have recently taken up the position of EGI Chair in Petroleum Geoscience at Imperial College in London. A natural progression, I believe, as throughout my industry career I have sought to build and maintain strong academic links. I have always found the Geological Society a place where I could reconnect with my geological routes and recharge the technical batteries through participation in the many excellent meetings and active membership of the Petroleum Group and Barbican Conference committees. I have long held the belief that a combination of best Industry practice and technology coupled with Academic science and innovation is the most effective way to efficiently find and produce oil and gas. The Society has been an excellent vehicle for promoting this collaborative relationship and I will be looking for new ways to reinforce this fundamental role for the Society in the future.

Our science has never been more relevant to society, particularly in the energy sector, where an insatiable global demand for energy, is seriously challenging our ability as Geoscientists to find and produce new resources and provide longer term, sustainable solutions. One of my great passions is analysing the potential of the Arctic as probably the last conventional Oil & Gas province on the planet. How do we access the undoubtedly vast resources but in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner? In the tradition of the great Society debates of the past, I will be actively looking for ways to progress what promises to be a lively debate over the next few years.

A key motivation in moving to Imperial College was to help encourage, develop and train a new generation of Geoscience professionals who will play a major role in delivering the world’s future energy needs. One of my main objectives as a member of Council will be to actively champion greater student involvement in the Society and its meetings and in doing so, hopefully inspire new students towards a future career in geology.

Sally Gibson

I have been a Fellow of the Geological Society of London for 25 years and served on the editorial board of the Journal of the Geological Society of London for 8 years. I have also been a member of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group Committee. I am currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, following postdoctoral research at the University of Durham, PhD research at Kingston Polytechnic and a bachelor’s degree at the University of Sheffield. My main research interests are concerned with the physical and chemical processes that are involved in the generation of melts within the Earth’s mantle. This has involved research and collaboration with scientists on almost all of the world’s continents and has resulted in over 50 publications. In addition to my academic research and teaching I am also involved in outreach activities.

Tricia Henton

I have been a Chartered Geologist since 1990 having served on the Hydrogeological Committee of the Geological Society and on the Council of the Institution of Geologists from 1975 to the early 1980s. I also helped establish the regional group in east of Scotland.

Until the end of 2010 I was Director of Environment and Business at the Environment Agency but continue to be involved in environmental and geological matters through my non- executive position on the Coal Authority and as a Trustee of environmental charities.. I have spent most of my professional life in environmental management, initially in technical roles as a hydrogeologist working on mine water rebound, waste management and landfills before moving into senior management. I spent 13 years with Aspinwall & Co building their consultancy business in Scotland through the 1980’s and 1990’s before joining the Scottish Environment Protection Agency as the Environmental Strategy and then Chief Executive. I returned briefly to consultancy with Enviros before joining the EA.

I bring to the Council an extensive senior level record in strategic thinking; knowledge and experience of how Government and the private sector work; wide trustee experience in professional bodies (including GSL and IG) and NGOs; over three decades of environmental management, much of it addressing geological issues, all allied with a passionate belief that geological science matters.

I believe there is a need to promote the relevance of geological science and the crucial contribution geologists will make to solving the big challenges that face society. In doing this, the role and standing of the professional geologist in whatever organisation they operate is extremely important. I am committed to promoting the importance of the public being able to rely on competent, professional standards. 

Richard Hughes

I graduated from the University of Wales (Cardiff) in 1980 and was awarded a PhD by the University of Cambridge in 1984. I have been a Chartered Geologist since 1998, and am a member of the Society’s Information Management Committee. I have over twenty years of varied professional geoscience experience in the UK and internationally, including the developing world. I am a member of the British Geological Survey Board and Senior Leadership Team. In my current role as BGS Director of Information and Knowledge Exchange I oversee the National Geoscience Data Centre, information management, the creation of national digital data-sets, websites, press, outreach, libraries and the delivery of a wide range of information services that serve all sectors of our diverse user community.

There is a pressing need for a much higher level of public understanding of the societal relevance of geoscience in order to inform debate on critical environmental and resource challenges from local to global scales. Raising the visibility of geoscience is also key to ensuring a continued flow of high calibre geoscience graduates to serve the needs of all sectors of the geoscience community, and to underpin the future success of the Society. I think it is particularly important for the Society to look at how it can reach out to the next generation of geoscientists and become more relevant to their needs. To achieve this goal it will need to consider new approaches including, for example, more web-based collaboration and networking. In standing for election to Council I am especially motivated to contribute to the realisation of these goals.

Adam Law

I have been an active member of the geoscience community since an undergraduate at University College London. I completed my PhD at Cambridge in 1993 and then worked within the oil and gas industry, holding a variety of positions within British Gas plc and Amerada Hess Ltd.

I became a Principal of ERC Equipoise Ltd in 2003.

Throughout my industrial career, I have continued to foster a keen interest in geology as a whole. I have published a number of papers reviewing aspects of geology and geophysics within the oil and gas sector, and have also helped organise a number of conferences through the Society’s Petroleum Group. Latterly, I have been a member of Council, and was recently appointed to the position of Treasurer. I am looking forward to serving the Society over the coming years as Treasurer, ensuring that our funds are used to best further the objectives of our Society, and our science.

Richard Lisle

I am a structural geologist, trained at Birmingham (BSc 1969; DSc 2006) and Imperial College (MSc 1970; PhD 1974), and with a career in lecturing and research at the universities in Leiden, Utrecht and Wales (Swansea). I am currently Professor of Structural Geology at Cardiff University.

My teaching has been focussed on training in basic geological skills; interpreting and making of geological maps, fieldwork, structural geology and engineering geology. This has led to publication of textbooks; Geological Structures and Maps, Stereographic Projection Techniques in Structural Geology and Basic Geological Mapping (in prep). Regardless of new priority directions in research, I believe it is important not to neglect these fundamental skills in undergraduate earth science curricula. A major challenge will be the continued provision of real fieldwork training given the current financial constraints.

My research includes the development of innovative techniques in structural analysis which have found application to hydrocarbon reservoirs. I am the author of over 100 research publications and textbooks including Geological Strain Analysis and Techniques of Modern Structural Geology (with J.G. Ramsay FRS) and received, jointly with S. H. Treagus, the Best Paper Award of the Geological Society of America (1999).

I have served as Chair of the Tectonics Studies Group and as a past editor of the Journal of Structural Geology where my services were acknowledged by Top Reviewer Award in 2007 and 2008.

Alan Lord

BSc Geology, Hull 1964; PhD Micropalaeontology, Hull 1968. FGS 1964. Academic posts at UEA, Aarhus, Aberystwyth, and UCL – Professor of Micropalaeontology, Dean of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Pro-Provost – 33 years and 33 successful research students. Current post: Section Leader, Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.

Research interests: post-Palaeozoic micropalaeontology, stratigraphy, environmental change. Current research: Holocene ostracods and climate change in the Skaggarak; Neogene biostratigraphy and Neotectonics of central Cyprus.

Scientific service: past Chair, Micropalaeontological Society, past Chair International Research Group on Ostracoda, past Vice President Geologists’ Association, and Council service for Geological Society of London, Palaeontological Association, etc. Long-term association with Hydrocarbon Industry via UCL Micropalaeontology MSc programme, research projects and funding, and spouse who is a geophysical database manager.

In seeking election to Council I have three priorities in mind: firstly, to help build upon and sustain the momentum in Society affairs generated by the Bicentenary Year; secondly, to ensure that services to Fellows and to the Earth science community at large continue to develop, as this is the key to growing our membership; and finally to promote sedimentary geology sensu lato within the Society.

Bryan Lovell, OBE

As Senior Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, I work with Nicky White and colleagues on control of surface elevation of Earth by episodic variations in mantle convection. (The path followed on the way to this happy occupation is described in Proof in the Puddingstone, a three-part essay published in Geoscientist in 2008.) As a former international exploration manager with BP, I had to apply such science wisely. I also had to keep a grip on the engineering and finance involved in some hefty projects, while leading negotiations with governments for whom a British company might not be first choice. In such circumstances quality of staff is crucial. In the early 1990s I led the development of a new programme of graduate recruitment and early training in BP. I am still involved with that Challenge programme as consultant, and over the years have directed field-based training for international recruits from a range of academic disciplines, in many different locations worldwide. The carbon cycle has naturally featured in that training, more so as environmental pressures on the oil industry have mounted.

As a member of the Board of the British Geological Survey in the 1990s I was introduced to the notion of putting back underground the carbon that as an oil man I was then striving to take out. This early interest in carbon capture and storage was revived as our Cambridge research on the North Atlantic Paleogene led me to take a hard look at the 55 Ma warming event as a guide to present concerns on climate change. Challenged by Carbon: the Oil Industry and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2009) reflects these various converging interests. This book aims to bring geology into centre stage in developing both the conviction that we have a problem with anthropogenic climate change, and the means to cope. In writing this I have drawn on experiences going right back to student days at Oxford and Harvard in the 1960s, through lecturing, consulting and politics at Edinburgh in the 1970s, to Chief Sedimentologist and then exploration management with BP in the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout these years the Society has provided an increasingly welcome home for those of us who try to combine our academic passion for geology with business. The broad embrace of the Society is an immensely valuable quality in an organisation. Those of us fortunate enough to be on Council have much to promote and protect.

Paul Maliphant

My career has encompassed coal mining (1985-1993), local authority services (1993-1996) and consultancy (1996 to date) and I am now Associate Director (Engineering Geology) and Market Sector Director with Halcrow Group Ltd serving on the management team of its business in Highways and Transportation, UK & Europe. My qualifications include BSc (Hons) (Edinburgh/Bristol, 1985), CGeol (1992), MSc (Cardiff, 1995 (distinction)), EurGeol (1995). Society experience includes:

• Founder Honorary Secretary (1992-1993), chairman (1994-1996 and 2007 to date) and committee member (1996 – 1999) of the Southern Wales Regional Group (which has chosen to create an annual Early Careers Geologist award in my name);
• Chairman of the meetings subcommittee of the Engineering Group (2004-2007) and committee member (2007 – 2008);
• Member of the Professional Services and Regional Groups committees (2007 to date); and
• Active chartership scrutineer.

My interests within the Society centre around the critical roles of the specialist and regional groups in developing the professional (rather than academic) side of the society supporting geologists working in commercial practice; the societal value and professional status of geologists; the enhancement of links with other professional bodies; and a long standing interest in supporting geologists in the formative years of their careers. I would bring to the Council significant experience of Society matters at regional and specialist group level combined with extensive managerial and commercial geology experience harnessed to a desire to implement and effectively manage change, where appropriate and required, for the betterment of the Society and the geological profession.

Susan Marriott

I am a sedimentologist working mainly on alluvial sediments and soils in ancient and modern environments. I studied geology courses part-time with the Open University before undertaking a BSc (Hons) in Geology at the University of Bristol, followed by a doctorate in Sedimentology from the University of Reading (Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology). I have published research on alluvial architecture, palaeosols and environmental change. My employment experience is in academia at Keele University and the University of the West of England, Bristol, where I am continuing to develop courses in geology as part of environmental management, geography and engineering degrees and CPD courses for industry partners. I hold editorial positions on two international journals in sedimentology and I am the book series editor for the Geologists’ Association. I have been a Fellow of the Geological Society and Chartered Geologist for eight years, recently taking on a role as mentor for women in geology. I am engaged in outreach activities with local schools and RIGS group. The Geological Society has a major role to play in communicating geoscience at all levels and in forging and maintaining strong links between policy makers, industry and academia. I believe that this is particularly important in relation to response to environmental change and sustainable use of natural resources. As a member of Council my teaching and learning and communications skills will support the range of the Society’s activities, bringing the importance of the study of geoscience to as wide an audience as possible.

Stuart Monro, OBE

Stuart Monro, Scientific Director of Dynamic Earth with continuing responsibility for the scientific content, is a geologist who graduated with a First Class Honours degree at Aberdeen University in 1970 and has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He spent most of his career with the British Geological Survey (BGS) working on sedimentary rocks, the evolution of sedimentary basins and on environmental geology but is now heavily committed to public engagement. He retains academic links with the Open University where he is a tutor in Earth Science and with Edinburgh University where he is a Visiting Professor in the School of Geoscience. He has a strong interest in schools science and the role of Earth Science in the curriculum and is on the management group of the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum and Chair of the Earth Science Trust which raises funds from Industry and Trusts for Earth Science education. He is a Trustee of the National Museums Scotland, a non-executive Director of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and Independent Co-Chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council that advises Scottish Government on science policy. He was awarded an OBE for services to science, December 2006.

David Shilston

I am Technical Director for Engineering Geology at Atkins, a major employer of geologists and geoscientists, and have more than 30 years of UK and international geo-consultancy, managerial and contracting experience to the role of President-designate. I am a Chartered Geologist and have a BSc in geology (Nottingham University), an MSc in engineering geology (Imperial College), and a Post-graduate Certificate in archaeology (Cambridge University).

My particular geological interests lie not only in the professional engineering geology and applied geohazards work that I do at Atkins, but also in the wide range of pure and applied subjects that together comprise geology - from geomorphology to tectonics, and from geological materials to palaeoecology. Outside work, I have given lectures to MSc and undergraduate courses, made presentations at conferences and technical meetings, and participate in careers days at local schools. Geology and the geosciences are fascinating subjects – I endeavour to pass my fascination on to others, both at work and play.

My involvement with the Geological Society commenced with service as a member of the Engineering Group Committee (where I chaired the Meetings Sub-committee) and on the former Fellowship & Validation Committee. I was elected to Council in 2004 and subsequently became Professional Secretary. The recently-introduced changes to the Chartership process and arrangements were developed and agreed with Council during my time as Professional Secretary. I have also been an active scrutineer of chartership candidates and member of the Chartership Committee and Accreditation Panel.

In seeking election as President-designate, I gave my general objectives as:

1. to help ensure that the various academic and industrial/ business ‘constituencies’ within the Society continue to move closer together to mutual benefit;
2. to broaden the reach of Chartership within the Society into sectors and disciplines where it does not yet have a strong presence;
3. to develop further the Society’s outward facing and outreach activities (to the general public, students, teachers, government, industry and fellow learned and professional institutions); and
4. to help the Society and its Council plan and manage its affairs in a period of rapid economic change, that will touch us all, from academe to industry and from seasoned practitioner to undergraduate.

Colin Summerhayes

The Society needs to continue bridging gaps between the disciplines, and building links with sister organisations abroad. I would help Council to ensure that its international and interdisciplinary partnerships were as effective as they need to be in this new age, and that our policy makers do not forget the geological dimension to climate change. To that end I can bring skills in major international project management and in the provision of scientific advice to policy makers developed while working for 7 years as a UNESCO project Director, and for 6 years as Executive Director of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) of the International Council for Science. For SCAR I provided annual scientific advice to the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, based on all aspects of Antarctic and the Southern Ocean science. In November 2009 I published with colleagues ‘Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment’ – to inform the debates at the Copenhagen climate conference. I have also advised DTI, DEFRA, the Defence Research Agency, and the Inter-Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology, and was a member of the Government’s Technology Foresight Panel on the Marine Sector.

As geologists are the first to appreciate – everything is connected, and I take a holistic Earth System Science approach to scientific problem solving that enables me to work easily with scientists and engineers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Much of my work since leaving the oil business, where I worked as a petroleum geochemist for Exxon in the late 70s and as Stratigraphy Branch manager for BP Research in the early 80s, has involved marine geological and geochemical studies on the role of the oceans in climate change – past, present, and future. Given the Society’s growing interest in the geological perspective on climate change I would hope that my extensive marine scientific experience, for example as Director of the NERC’s Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory – now the core of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton - would add a new dimension to Council’s deliberations on climate change. As current President of the Society for Underwater Technology, a Chartered Marine Scientist, and a Fellow of the Institute for Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, I can see fertile ground for further collaboration between the marine science sector and the Society. My current role as Emeritus Associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University offers additional links to the science of the polar regions.

My academic qualifications include a BSc in geology from University College London, a PhD in geochemistry from Imperial College, and MSc and DSc degrees in geology from Victoria University Wellington, NZ. I am a Chartered Geologist, a past member of Council (1995-1997), a former chair of the Marine Studies Group, and editor of Special Publications 21 and 64. I am Vice President with responsibility for the Development and Fundraising Committee.

John Tellam

I am a professor of hydrogeology at Birmingham University with about 30 years of research and teaching experience. My main research concerns the mobility of inorganic pollutants in groundwater, increasingly with an emphasis on particulate pollutants, especially viruses and manufactured nanoparticles. My teaching has covered a range of subjects, including hydrogeology, engineering geology, geophysics, and basic geological fieldwork. Through research, the Hydrogeology MSc Course at Birmingham, CPD courses, reviewing, and consultancy, I have strong links with water industry regulation, supply, and consultancy organizations. Amongst other academic and research roles, I have served as head of department at Birmingham Earth Sciences, on the steering group of the UK Groundwater Forum, on the editorial boards of international journals, in NERC and EPSRC review colleges, and as a specialist advisor in the recent higher education Research Assessment Exercise.

Jonathan P Turner

After completing my PhD at Bristol University in 1988, on the South Pyrenean thrust belt, I worked for Shell and latterly LASMO. I joined Birmingham University in 1993 where I carried out teaching and research in structural geology, basin dynamics and their applications to petroleum geology. My research has generated over forty papers focusing on rifted continental margins, especially the uplift and denudation of their continental interiors, and I am involved also in the development of innovative methods of interpreting seismic data. I have served as Secretary of the Tectonic Studies Group, have been a series editor for the GS special publications - working with the Publishing House to maintain the international reputation of our books - and am currently Secretary of the Publications Management Committee. Since 2009 I have worked for BG Group as a structural geologist in their Advanced Geoscience team. My role is much like that of an internal consultant, providing structural geological advice and services to the regional assets, and feeding information from the many research and development projects that BG sponsors.

David Vaughan

I am Professor of Mineralogy and Director of the Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science at the University of Manchester. I have also served as Head of the Geology Department at Manchester (now a School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences). My research interests centre on the physics and chemistry of minerals, specifically the metal sulphides and oxides, and the application of fundamental knowledge of these materials to understanding the formation of ore deposits, mineral extraction, and environmental contamination. In recent years I have been increasingly involved in interdisciplinary research into environmental problems involving chemists, physicists, materials scientists, microbiologists and engineers; examples include arsenic contamination of drinking water, the fate of depleted uranium munitions in the environment, the environmental impact of engineered nanoparticles, and the factors controlling acid mine drainage systems. I have been active in various learned societies (Past President of the Mineralogical Society, and of the European Mineralogical Union, former Vice-President of the Société Francaise de Mineralogie et Cristallographie) and am currently a member of the Geological Society Awards Committee. As well as research, I have interests in writing, including textbooks and monographs on Earth resources, sulphide minerals, ore mineralogy, and environmental mineralogy, and in editing journals (currently I am Associate Editor of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, and Principal Editor of Elements). These writing activities are complemented by my other interests in communicating with geoscientists and the general public (I have served as Distinguished Lecturer for both the Mineralogical Society of America, and the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland). I believe that geoscientists should be centre-stage in our attempts to solve the great environmental and resources problems faced by humankind, and that the Geological Society has a key role to play in fostering debate and communicating the expert views of geoscientists at this critical time.

Nick Walton

A hydrogeochemist by profession, with over 30 years membership of the Geological Society, I am a Chartered Chemist, Environmentalist and Geologist, and have worked throughout the world in many forms of international, national, governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as private industries, consultancies and as an individual scientist/troubleshooter. I am thus very inter- as well as multi- disciplinary in my work and outlook, which is where the real challenges of the new Anthropocene age lie. Water and the environment have always been my core subjects, and these are where there is a growing need to focus geoscience efforts in the service of mankind for this century. My overseas work in some 25 countries has enabled me to gain social and cultural understandings amongst the many stakeholders in environmental geo-science and water-based projects which are often the key to implementing successful and sustainable scientific projects.

I am currently the Environmental Programme manager of the Environmental Science Programme of courses run by the University of Portsmouth, and am a Board Editor of the Society’s QJEGH journal, and recently retired member of the Hydrogeology group committee. I have organised and convened a number of conferences whilst on the committee, and previously with the Engineering group. My focus, if elected, would be on Education, Education and Education, to try to influence school pupils and teachers into understanding and taking part in the fascinating world of environmental geoscience, which underpins our entire existence on this planet, for the sake of all our futures.