Profile

I live near Oxford in the UK with my wife, three kids, a cat, and a dog. In my spare time, I love reading and watching sci-fi books and movies.

I work at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, UK, studying metamorphic rocks and tectonic processes, and using them to understand how the Earth has evolved over time. I also apply these analytical and modeling techniques to studying other planets in our solar system, and beyond! In simple terms, this means that I research the general process of plate tectonics, which helps geoscientists understand how mountain belts grow, how ocean basins open and close, and what is happening at various depths in the Earth’s inaccessible crust and mantle. I have previously performed research in Germany and the United States, but am glad to now be working with colleagues and supervising students at one of the world’s best universities.

My activities vary depending on where I am. If I’m giving lectures/teaching at the University, it’s pretty straightforward. I get up, travel to work, quickly revise what I am talking about (!), and then give my lecture or lab exercise. Then it’s time for coffee with my friends. In the afternoon, I’ll do research. This involves studying rocks using a microscope or analyzing them using a variety of high-tech pieces of equipment that fire beams of electrons or lasers at the minerals. The information that we get back tells us about what the Earth looked like millions (or billions!) of years ago. Fieldwork is an activity that we do before our analyses, because we have to go out and collect the rocks before we can study them.