The British Geophysical Association
Who wants to be a geophysicist?
Members of the BGA committee (Jenny Jenkins, Amy Gilligan and Lidong Bie) published an Astronomy & Geophysics paper with an initial analysis of the results from the BGA Geophysics questionnaire. The paper focusses on three questions: Why aren’t students signing up to study geophysics? Are they unaware of how in-demand it is? Or are they just too cool for geophysics school?
2024 Gray-Milne travel bursary for PhD students
The British Geophysical Association (BGA) invites applications for a travel bursary supported by the Gray-Milne Trust. The bursary will provide funding up to a value of £500 to support geophysics-related work, training, and travel.
Application closing date: 16 September 2024 at midnight UTC.
The electronic application form can be found here: https://forms.gle/bUbbvV6tzBH34Fxo9
And please also complete the EDI form: https://forms.gle/eVk4AcTD8AHjwLcXA
Eligibility:
- Must spend the money prior to your PhD thesis submission deadline.
- Must already be enrolled on a PhD course at a UK university.
- We welcome applications from students funded by any means.
- Successful applications will be required to provide a short report to the BGA on their work and how the funds have helped.
- The supported work should be completed by December 2025.
- Fieldwork and travel must comply with university guidance, including any risk assessments.
If you have any questions, please contact the BGA Competitions Officer
Learning to be accessible
Members of the BGA committee (Jenny Jenkins and Andrew Curtis) and President of PGRiP Organising Committee (Sophia Baker) publish an Astronomy & Geophysics paper describing how the BGA is working to make its meetings and conferences accessible to all through a new online guide.
Royal Astronomical Society 2024 award winners
Congratulations to the past and present BGA committee members on their 2024 Royal Astronomical Society awards.
The 2024 RAS Gold Medal, the Society’s highest honour, has been awarded to Professor John-Michael Kendall (University of Oxford).
Professor Kendall was awarded the Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions in the field of solid Earth geophysics. Using seismology, he has made important contributions across academia and industry, from the deep Earth to volcanoes, and from ice sheets to the energy transition. One of his biggest contributions has been through supporting geophysics more widely, where he has taken on a number of leadership roles and has supported the next generation of seismologists by advising and supporting more than 70 PhD students and Postdoctoral Research Associates.
The 2024 Price Medal is awarded to Professor Christopher Davies (University of Leeds).
Professor Christopher Davies is awarded the Price Medal for a series of investigations modelling the fluid dynamics and material properties of the Earth’s core. This work has helped understand the thermochemical evolution of the Earth and importantly, how the Earth can sustain a geomagnetic field.
The 2024 Higher Education Award is awarded to Dr David Cornwell (University of Aberdeen)
Dr David Cornwell has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to undergraduate and postgraduate geophysics teaching over a number of years. In particular, he has used his knowledge as a mental health first aider to provide individual support and mentoring to many students, supporting their personal wellbeing, and stressing the importance of that wellbeing to their professional success.
Bullerwell Lecturer 2024
The British Geophysical Association is delighted to announce that the Bullerwell Lecturer for 2024 will be Dr. Iraklis Giannakis from the University of Aberdeen.
Iraklis completed his PhD in 2015 on numerical modelling of ground penetrating radar for landmine detection at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by postdoctoral research positions at Delft University of Technology, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of West London, before moving to the University of Aberdeen in 2020.The main focus of his research is using innovative artificial intelligence concepts, signal processing and inversion to solve problems in applied geophysics and non-destructive testing. His research extends across a wide range of disciplines and has focused on topics with high societal value such as landmine detection, marine geophysics and forestry applications.
The title of his Bullerwell lecture is:
“Exploring the far side of the Moon using Ground-Penetrating Radar”
New BGA undergraduate mailing list
The BGA is delighted to announce that a new BGA undergraduate mailing list has been setup. For more information, please see our joining the mailing list page.
Bullerwell Lecturer 2023
The BGA is delighted to announce that Dr. Zoe Mildon from University of Plymouth, is our Bullerwell Lecturer for 2023! Zoe’s research is focused on understanding tectonics, active faulting and earthquakes. She currently holds a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship investigating earthquake interaction and seismic hazard.
Bullerwell Lecturer 2022
The BGA is delighted to announce that Dr Tim Craig from University of Leeds, is our Bullerwell Lecturer for 2022. The main focus of his research is the relation between intraplate earthquakes and tectonics. Tim completed his PhD in 2013 on the topic Constraining Lithosphere Rheology using Earthquake Seismology at Bullard Laboratories in University of Cambridge; this was followed by a PDRA position in pRais, before moving to Leeds in 2015.
British Seismology Meeting (BSM) 2022
The 2022 BSM will be held at Downing College Cambridge from September 12-14th. Registration and abstract submission are now open. The theme of the meeting is “multidisciplinary seismology”, and we welcome submissions across a broad range of topics in seismology and allied fields. Further information can be obtained from the BSM website at https://wserv4.esc.cam.ac.uk/bsm/
Covid-19 Support Fund
The BGA is inviting applications for funding to help support those UK student geophysicists whose work or capacity to work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. See the awards menu for details.
The British Geophysical Association 