Biographies of current Council members

My involvement with the Society commenced over twenty years ago as a Candidate Fellow, becoming a Fellow in 2004 after graduating from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (Hons) in Earth Science. I obtained a MSc in Engineering Geology from Imperial College London in 2009 and qualified as a Chartered Geologist in 2014.

After volunteering on the Central Scotland Regional Group's committee, I served on Council from 2017 to 2022 becoming Vice President for Regional Groups in 2019. I currently chair the Byelaws Review Group. While on Council, I sat on the Professional and Chartership Committee, participated in the Fellowship categories review and in the discussions on the future of Burlington House, which led last year to the historic acquisition of a long lease on our London base.

Through my time on Council and in various working groups, I have gained valuable insights into the operation of the Society, including a comprehensive understanding of governance. This, coupled with my empathetic approach and willingness to listen and learn, I hope will put me in good stead to be an effective leader of the Geological Society. I look forward to serving as President.

Why did I want to join Council? This is a classic 'giving something back' pitch. I've gained a great deal of benefit and a great many friends and contacts through my Society membership. As I approach partial retirement, I'd like to put this experience and knowledge to good use. I've learned via involvement in many construction projects, and latterly in construction-related disputes, that collaboration is key to organisational and project success.

My main areas of interest and activity for the past decade or so have been quaternary engineering hazards, soft ground tunnelling, and contractual methods of sharing construction-related ground risk. I also have several years' experience as a trustee of a former employer's pension fund. I'm also a member of the British Geotechnical Association, British Tunnelling Society, Geologists' Association and Northern Mine Research Society.

My geological research background is in igneous critical-metal ore-deposit geology. I have served on the Society's Information Management Committee and the MinSoc's Applied Mineralogy Group, and I'm currently Chair of the Society's Discussion Group.

As President of the Royal Chartered Newcastle Mining Institute, I work with local industry on promoting key regional engineering issues, encouraging Chartership via the Society and other Institutes, and organising geotechnical and engineering events in Newcastle. At Cambridge, I manage critical materials research programmes and interdisciplinary energy transition events, and provide responses to parliamentary materials, resource and energy consultations, alongside supervising Part IB geology students. I have worked with the Canadian and Australian embassies to develop international critical metal links and research with the UK.

This year will also bring news on Burlington House and the Charter and Bye-Laws review, and I can bring to Council experience in charity law and legal issues involving revising Royal Charters and Bye-Laws.

Treasurer and Trustee for the charity Diversity in Geoscience, an Enterprise Advisor for local schools and an active STEM Ambassador, I am a keen advocate for diversity and inclusion within the geosciences, with a focus on outreach to secondary school children within deprived areas in the UK. In 2019, I won the Rising Star Award at the EMAP Ground Engineering Magazine Awards due to my contribution to STEM initiatives and my passion for advocating that a career in the geosciences is available to all.

I am the current Chair of the South-East Regional Group and have been active on the committee since taking part in the Early Careers Geoscientist Competition. As a member of Council, I hope to use my experience to further diversify the Society and make it more visible and approachable to future geoscientists from variable backgrounds.

I am currently leading a regional geology team with Shell in London, a role that has a global basin search remit. I was a recent President of the PESGB (2017-2019) and a founder of the 'Exploring the Energy Transition' special interest group.

In addition to being a member of Council, I am a Fellow and a Trustee of the Geological Society. I am also a Trustee of The Etches Collection, a museum of Jurassic marine life located in Dorset. I am a member of several advisory boards, including the UK Centre of Masters Training, Royal Holloway University of London School of Life Sciences & the Environment, and the Haliburton STEPS research program.

I have contributed to the Society in many roles over my 25 year fellowship: in my early career as a member of the Petroleum Group and Science Committee, and more recently as Chair of the Energy Group. I have convened a wide range of Society events including the hugely successful inaugural Energy Geoscience Conference. I am also a regular chartership assessor for the Society and a reviewer for the Publishing House.

I am passionate about people and the future of Geoscience. I lead the Shell UK scholarship and university outreach programme, and I am an external examiner and regular visitor at the University of Aberdeen. In my day job, I am responsible for global geology learning at Shell.

I acknowledge the decline of Geoscience in the UK and want to be part of addressing the issue and promoting Geoscience to future generations through my time on Council.

Joining as a fellow in 2009, I became a Chartered Geologist in 2015, then a chartership mentor and member of the Academic Accreditation Committee. Previously, I have served as Vice-President of the Geologists' Association, where I implemented new communication threads to develop a wider reach. I'm actively involved in outreach and public engagement, running a Brownie unit and delivering STEM/Geoscience-themed activities to other local groups.

In my role on Council, I would like to collaborate and build the common values of the Society&'s commitment to 'Advancing and sharing knowledge of planet Earth' with the BGS's strategy to 'Understand our Earth', by considering how we can help grow interest in geosciences and keep geoscientific issues on the wider societal radar. We need to enable a diverse and skilled workforce to fill future skills gaps and foster a growing partnership between the society and stakeholders.

Throughout my academic studies and professional career, I have conducted and interpreted numerous pumping tests and designed and led groundwater pollution investigations. As part of my current role at Affinity Water as the Head of Water Resources Management Planning, I lead a team of scientists and engineers contributing to the long term strategic plan for the business, which also links to the regional plans of Water Resources in the South East and Water Resources East groups. As part of my role, I provide advice and technical support to various departments within the business, ranging from day-to-day operations to drought resilience and flood management of groundwater resources. I am also a committee member of the Groundwater Modellers' Forum since January 2022 and a regular contributor to the Society's Hydrogroup conferences.

I believe that I can help communicate the Society's values by promoting collaboration across various stakeholders and diverse interest groups. I am an advocate for communicating science and technical aspects of hydrogeology and water resources planning to both technical and non-technical audiences, so that everyone understands better the planet we live in and preserves it for future generations.

I was awarded the JGS Early Career Award in 2008 and, over the past 10 years, have organised and co-organised several major conferences and published outputs in three Special Publications. I have served on the Energy Group Committee and, since 2018, on the Books Committee. In addition, I am an Associate Editor of the 'Journal for Sedimentary Research', and I have acted as guest Associate Editor for 'Sedimentology'.

I am excited to serve as a member of Council and am keen to use my extensive experience, both in publishing and on Society committees, to support the Society to grow and face any forthcoming challenges, in particular the increasing complexity of the publications model.

I completed my MSc dissertation in Hong Kong, where I worked for the next 12 years. This early part of my career gave me a foundation in slope stability, natural terrain hazards, and large-scale ground investigations and ground characterisation for major infrastructure projects. I became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1996.

I am the current chair of the Western Regional Group and have been a Chartership Assessor for many years, as I feel strongly about supporting my professional body. I am also part of the Bristol University School of Earth Sciences Partnership Network. This group discusses how changes to the current curriculum can benefit future employers, the challenges facing University Earth Science education and retaining Earth Sciences as an A level subject.

I have a particular interest in professional matters and chartership and, as a line manager and mentor to junior staff, I want to bring my experience to Council to support the future generation of Earth Scientists.

I joined BP as a geologist in 1987 where I had both senior technical and commercial roles. After leaving BP in 2000, I was the managing director of an energy software company and an advisor to numerous energy companies on strategy and partnership issues. 

I was the co-founder and managing partner of Richmond Energy Partners, providing research and advice to investors in smaller oil and gas companies. REP went on to launch the Wildcat exploration intelligence service which is now relied upon by E&P companies globally. REP became part of Westwood Global Energy Group in 2015 following its sale to Energy Ventures private equity.

I have been a Fellow of the Geological Society since graduating. I have published papers on a range of topics, including in five Geological Society Special Publications, and co-authored a textbook on Sequence Stratigraphy.

I have a keen interest in the oil sector's governance and have been an Associate fellow at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House. I have led capacity building initiatives for the parliaments of several emerging oil and gas-producing countries and I serve on the advisory group for the Natural Resource Governance Institute.

I strongly value a fair, inclusive and transparent environment, where everybody can thrive and inclusion, collaboration, supporting careers and education is at the core. I care about inclusivity, fairness and making science accessible and relevant to people. I believe that as a woman that also belongs to the LGBTQ+ community and as a non-UK born, I can offer a different perspective to the Council enhancing the relevance of Earth science in our society.

I am Principal Researcher and head of the Volcano Petrology group at the Natural History Museum of London. I am also Co-Editor-in-Chief for Earth and Planetary Science Letters (EPSL) and Science Officer of the EGU Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology (GMPV) Division. I was committee member of Mineralogical Society and of Volcanic and Magmatic Specialist Group (VMSG). My research focusses on fundamental questions on the tempo, architecture, origin, evolution, dynamics and impact of magmatic systems and their eruptions.

As a leader, I have been Chair of the BGS Board, President of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain and Earth Science Teachers Association, and am now the founding President of the Geothermal Energy Advancement Association. From 2011-2014, I served as Head of Department in Earth Sciences at Durham University.

Since joining Durham University in 2009, I have helped drive the national agenda on carbon capture and storage, and have led both the research and deployment of geothermal energy in the UK. Other research has included the co-creation and testing of the first ever exploration strategy for helium and the beginnings of the same for natural hydrogen.

April 2023 saw me step down from my role as Executive Director Durham Energy Institute having led it for six years. It is time for a new challenge, and I relish the opportunity to lead our wonderful Society, a society which should and will play a critical role in the global energy transition as well as helping ensure the global-society gets to live on a sustainable planet where resources are used and reused wisely.