I am a Professor in Structural Geology and a member of the Continental Margins Research Group Centre for Energy and Resources (Ceres)  and Director of the Salt Dynamics Groups and the Analogue Tectonic Modelling Laboratories (ATML@RHUL) at the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway.

Personal profile

I have 32 years of professional experience as researcher and lecturer in structural geology, energy geosciences, salt tectonics, neotectonics, and geomechanics. Before I came to Royal Holloway University in 2007, I have worked as Senior Researcher & Adjunct Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2003 – 2007), Research Associate at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) Germany (1999 - 2003), and Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University Hamburg, Germany (1994 - 1999) and the Institute of Geology, Technical University Berlin, Germany (1989 - 1994).

Research interests

My research areas include modern and ancient continental margins, fold-and-thrust belts, and related sedimentary basins. My research focuses on the mechanics of brittle continental deformation at basin-, fault- & fracture scales, on coupled tectonic, climate and sedimentation/erosion processes, on basin modelling and salt tectonics at rifted continental margins, and on the development of innovative physical modelling methods and strain monitoring techniques to support petroleum exploration.

• Energy geosciences in structurally complex basins and fractured reservoirs
• Subsurface energy storage including Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) and Hydrogen Energy Storage (HES) in salt structures in the North Sea.
• Geomechanics of fault and fracture processes and related non-linear deformation processes on structural, reservoir and basin scales.
• Physical simulation of tectonic deformation processes from basin to fracture scale
• Development of physical modelling & strain monitoring techniques, material testing & scaling and integration with physical, seismic, basin, and geomechanics modelling concepts
• Geological processes at rifted continental margins occurring at different temporal and spatial scales from plate-scale to basin-scale (COMPASS).
• Salt tectonics in intra-continental rift basins and passive margin sedimentary basins
• Methods: structural, neotectonic and morphotectonic analysis, seismic interpretation and structural balancing, geomechanical and analytical modelling, material testing and scaled physical experiments

 Educational Background

• 2015       Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• 2009       Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Practice in Teaching and Learning (CAPITAL)
• 1996       Doctorate (Ph.D. equivalent) in Geology (Technical University of Berlin)
• 1988       Diploma (M.Sc. equivalent) in Geology (Technical University of Clausthal)