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Career History

1973-6

I did an undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Had first introduction to Glaciology on a trip underneath the Glacier d'Argentière with Geoffrey Boulton and Liz Morris.

1977-81

My post-graduate degree was in the Geography Department of Durham University, thesis title "Modelling Glacial Erosional Landform Development", supervised by Ian Evans. This comprised various modelling exercises of hard-bed erosion. It was examined by John Glen and Nick Kusznir.

1981-4

After leaving Durham I worked at the Atomic Energy Authority Establishment at Winfrith, Dorset, modelling North Sea oil reservoirs (Piper and Balmoral) for the Department of Energy. This meant oil-company work at civil-service salary so it wasn't too hard to return to research, but a blessing was meeting Chris Farmer.

1984-86

Back in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia in a NERC project run by Geoffrey Boulton and Leslie Morland on ice-sheet modelling. During this period I first visited Kolumban Hutter at VAW, ETH Zürich. Various papers on ice-sheet numerics emerged from this project.

1986-90

Geoffrey Boulton obtained a Chair and further money to employ me in the Grant Institute at the University of Edinburgh. I worked for a year on a commercial project with Brian Horsfield, modelling diamond-tracer dispersion in Quebec, and we managed to explain the Mystery of the Missing Diamonds (phantom kimberlite pipes). During this period deforming beds became big, and I undertook a new project modelling deforming sub-glacial sediment beds. Papers on deforming beds, thermo-mechanical coupling and similarity solutions emerged.

1991-2019

I then moved to the British Antarctic Survey. Here I worked on a large number of topics that are listed in my home page.

2019-

I retired in January 2019, but continued as an Emeritus Fellow at the British Antarctic Survey and an Honorary Professor at the University of Durham. I am working on a broad range of topics with collaborators from three different continents.

Awards, Honours and Prizes