Our 2025 Award Winners
Below is the complete list of our 2025 Award, Medal and Fund recipients, who have made exceptional contributions to geosciences and the geoscience profession. Our warmest congratulations to all!
Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar, University Professor in Earth Sciences, University of Toronto
Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar’s receipt of the Geological Society of London’s most esteemed medal is credit not only to her exceptional wealth of research into ancient waters and the deep subsurface biosphere, but also their real-world applications.
This includes pioneering the development of isotopic analysis for a new natural isotope tracer, which has proved vital to identifying hydrocarbon contamination remediation strategies in the natural environment, improving our knowledge of microbial and chemical contamination of groundwater to aid remediation of unsuitable drinking water. Barbara’s research has thus been critical to meeting the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals for clean and sustainable water supplies. Her work has also revealed some of the deepest yet discovered microbial communities and aided understanding of how they survive in the subsurface kilometres below the Earth’s surface.
She has also contributed to assessments of sequestration repositories for nuclear waste disposal and carbon capture and storage initiatives, plus alternative sources of clean energy, namely from hydrogen-rich rocks. But it’s not only Earth benefitting from her expertise, as Barbara’s knowledge of groundwater chemistry and habitability are providing valuable insights for mission planning for Mars, Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Throughout her 40-year career thus far, Barbara has made an impact on the geological community through her generous contributions to over 60 bodies, 30 within the last decade alone. Currently, this includes chairing The Royal Society Policy Briefing on Natural Hydrogen as Future Energy and Resources for the green energy transition, and being Vice Chair of the United States National Academy of Engineering Search Committee for International Members. She was previously President of the Geochemical Society, co-founding its Best Practice Guide for operations and supporting equality and diversity measures, which has proved foundational to other professional organisations worldwide.
Her work has received numerous past accolades including the Eni Award in Protection of the Environment in 2012 and Companion of the Order of Canada in 2016 - an honour bestowed on only 180 living Canadians and most recently the 2025 Nemmers Prize in Earth Sciences. It is both an honour and a pleasure to present such a worthy recipient with the 2025 Wollaston Medal.
The Wollaston Medal
Thank you so much. It's such an honour to be here today with such an array of talent and congratulations to all of the colleagues. It's just inspirational to see the citations and the work represented.
To Jon (Gluyas) and to the Geological Society. It is impossible to describe how it feels to be part of the commitment, and the more than 200 year history that the Geological Society has brought to the world. The Society over the years, has always stood for of the use of observations, of fact, and calculations, to challenge existing paradigms and revolutionise time after time what we understand about the planet, the planet's history, the age of the planet, the atmosphere, life and Evolution. As with the motto of the Geological Society of serving science, profession, and society through the use of fact-based decision making. I cannot think of anything more relevant in our current chaotic time than this continued principle, so thank you to the Geological Society for that leadership.
I’d like to also thank the myriad of people who've contributed to the work that you'll see represented here today. But there's a couple I have to call out first and foremost, who've just been so foundational to the discoveries that we've made, to the collegiality of what Jenny Collier described so beautifully as science as a team sport. That would be Christopher Ballentine at Oxford and Oliver Warr at the University of Ottawa, for the work that we've done together in noble gas geochemistry. The late Dr. T C Onstott from Princeton who was deeply engaged in the microbiological work that I'll talk about today. And the collaborations we've had with Verena Heuer and Kai Hinrichs at Bremen, who've also been major contributors.
I would be remiss without thanking my family, and in particular my son Jack, who's come to help represent the family here today. Jack, your passion, your joy, your principles are an inspiration to me every day. Thank you.
Professor Hugh Jenkyns, Emeritus Professor at Oxford University
Professor Hugh Jenkyns has made seminal contributions to sedimentary geology, chemostratigraphy and palaeoceanography during an illustrious career spanning over 60 years. His expertise explores a wide range of disciplines, including sedimentology and stratigraphy, geochemistry and diagenesis, chemical oceanography and palaeoclimatology, and tectonics and basin evolution. Hugh’s pioneering research centres around understanding major global events in Earth’s history by examining their sedimentary and geochemical records, with a focus on Jurassic and Cretaceous marine and lacustrine sediments.
In 1976, Hugh and Seymour Schlanger proposed that globally widespread contemporaneous deposits rich in organic carbon were evidence of what they termed ‘oceanic anoxic events’ (OAEs), a concept that was to rapidly gain ground and set the agenda for much of Mesozoic palaeoceanographic research in the following decades. This insight placed Hugh at the forefront of developments in Mesozoic palaeoceanography, and the Early Jurassic OAE now carries his name (the ‘Jenkyns Event’). His subsequent models have made significant contributions to industry, particularly as regards the timing of source-rock genesis. Throughout his research, Hugh has often been the first (or amongst the first) to recognise the significance and potential of new geochemical proxies to solve sedimentological, palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic problems in deep time. Over the years, Hugh has used his role as a UK representative on numerous Ocean Drilling Program panels to support investigations into the oceanic sedimentary archives from the Mesozoic greenhouse world.
Beyond research, Hugh was the first European editor of the Geological Society of America’s Geology journal, which became one of the most highly cited geoscience periodicals during his tenure in the early 2000s. He has spent almost five decades at the University of Oxford, with spells teaching internationally in Italy, mentoring and inspiring countless students to take up the geoscience mantle and pursue careers in the field.
Whilst Hugh has previously received the Wollaston Fund and Coke Medal from the Geological Society of London, the Lyell Medal now honours an outstanding lifetime of contributions to soft-rock science.
The Lyell Medal
Thank you, Mr President for your kind words. I’m particularly grateful to the Society, the Awards Committee, and those who nominated me, for finding me deserving of this award. I am surprised, flattered and honoured to join the prestigious company that has gone before me.
It's the summer of 1966 and I’m looking at the bulletin board in the Geology Department of Southampton University where is pinned a list of potential PhD topics at Leicester, including one entitled ‘Sedimentology of limestones in western Sicily’. I applied, was interviewed by Peter Sylvester-Bradley and, a few days after graduation, found myself on a train bound for Palermo, clutching a freshly purchased copy of 'Teach Y–ourself Italian'. Once there. occupying a well-appointed flat in the centre of the city, I encountered Hugh Torrens, who was studying the local Jurassic ammonites and had with him a considerable volume of pertinent regional literature, variously written in French, German and Italian. Deciphering these papers continued on my return to Leicester, as the pile of thin-sections on my desk continued to mount. John Hudson (Lyell medallist, 1985) arrived at Leicester some way through my thesis work and was unerringly stimulating as a supervisor. In a joint field trip to sample Tethyan Mesozoic sediments we made good use of Ron Oxburgh’s 'Geological Excursion Guide to the Eastern Alps'.
Recognition of fossil manganese nodules in the pelagic successions of western Sicily, given their present-day occurrence on current-swept seamounts, was the key to unlocking the mid- to Early Jurassic palaeogeography of the region, which we would now view in terms of tilted fault blocks on a proto-continental margin undergoing extension. Thence, in 1969, to Basel, Switzerland, where I began my collaboration with Daniel Bernoulli, which has continued over a timespan of 50 years. Next to Oxford, where Bruce Sellwood was a kindred spirit, his impish sense of humour making him an ideal field companion. Two years at Oxford were followed by my first teaching job at Cambridge, where my late afternoon’s conversations with Alan Smith (Lyell medallist, 2008) on the geology of the Hellenides, were a particular highlight.
Between moving from Cambridge to Durham in late 1973 I had the immense good fortune to participate in the Deep Sea Drilling Project in the mid-Pacific and our surprise discovery of an organic-rich black shale in the Lower Cretaceous led to the concept of Oceanic Anoxic Events, as you’ve heard from the President, changing my career path forever. Having moved to Oxford after three years at Durham, I began working with like-minded colleagues, among whom I would like to mention Andy Gale, Stephen Hesselbo and Graham Weedon. They seemed equally happy to sample unbecoming fine-grained sedimentary rocks in excruciating stratigraphic detail.
In closing, I would particularly like to thank my wife Evelyn for continued support throughout the years and for humouring me in my desire to continue research past the traditional age of retirement. Thank you all, once again!
Professor Jenny Collier, Imperial College London
A central theme throughout marine geophysicist, Professor Jenny Collier's, career has been the relationship between tectonics and magmatism. She has made commendable contributions to our understanding of volcanic rifted margins, using seismic and magnetic methods. Specifically, her research has primarily focused on the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, highlighting that their geological histories are far more complicated than simple models often envisage. Her 1990s papers on imaging melt beneath mid-ocean ridges have been a bedrock for further research into exactly where volcanic melt resides, at both fast and slow spreading ridges. Recent work involves investigating the link between volatiles in the incoming plate to arc magmatism at the Antilles subduction zone. Through this, Jenny has been at the forefront of applying modern seismic techniques to understand diverse geological phenomena, with her research characterised by combining state-of-the-art observational data acquired from experiments at sea with numerical modelling.
Jenny conducted the first ever multi-beam bathymetric survey of the UK continental shelf, which led to the discovery of a megaflood landscape carved into the floor of the English Channel. This not only captured the public’s imagination, but has helped to inform interdisciplinary research into human migrations and early settlement of Britain. Significantly, this has led to the establishment of an offshore protected area by the UK government.
Beyond her research, in recent years Jenny has been an editor for multiple journals, President of the British Geophysical Association and appointed to the Science Committee of the Dover to Calais UNESCO Cross-Channel/Transmanche Global Geopark. This is an international partnership committed to the long-term conservation of and community engagement with the geological assets of the English Channel.
After more than 25 years at Imperial College London, Jenny’s tales of numerous sea expeditions and applying modern techniques to age-old conundrums have influenced students and peers alike. Alongside this, her groundbreaking impact on the study of the structure of the oceanic lithosphere and the Quaternary evolution of continental shelves is undoubtedly deserving of the 2025 Murchison Medal.
The Murchison Medal
Thank you so much, I feel slightly overwhelmed by that. I'd like to thank the President, the Society, the Awards Committee, and also, of course, my nominators. I'm very, very humbled by this award.
Thinking about who influenced me in my early career, I had the good fortune to do my Master's project with Martin Bott in Durham and my PhD with Bob White in Cambridge, and my first postdoc with Tony Watts in Oxford. If you are in my subject, Marine Geophysics, this is basically a hat trick, that's all I can say. This was not planned, it is just how it happened, and all three of treally influenced and set me on the path in terms of setting high standards. Hard work will pay, and that's really what I tried to sort of continue throughout my career.
I'd like to thank all of my colleagues and collaborators, but I decided not to single any out, because I really want to emphasise teamwork in marine science. I really wanted to stress that I go to sea to collect data which relies on everybody, from the captain down to the deck hands. Everyone is actually of equal importance, and I think over the years I've seen the assessment of my more junior colleagues become more and more metricised and measured and weighed and so I'd really like to emphasise the importance of teamwork.
Here I am in this photo where my job is to hold the instrument up as the someone with more electronic skills than me is fixing something and so really without teamwork, we don't get anywhere. This is something that's really my take home message that I'd like to make and so my award is really in recognition of everyone I've worked with. Thank you.
Professor David Selby, Durham University
Both the geological community and industry have benefitted greatly from Professor David Selby’s 30-year career in applied and economic geology. He has earned global recognition for his work on rhenium-osmium geochronology and isotope geochemistry and their novel applications to metallic and hydrocarbon economic geology. These have supported ore deposit studies and commercial mineral exploration strategies through supporting global users of his established radioisotope geochronometer. This has proven vital to our current landscape of addressing critical mineral resource shortages, as well as yielding new insights into petroleum formation and migration. But the benefits of this isotope geochronometer have not been limited solely to the fields of mineralogy and hydrocarbons, with interdisciplinary applications in ocean anoxia studies, ice sheet dynamics, archaeology, atmospheric pollution and geological timescale calibration.
Beyond his personal research that has taken him from his early years at the University of Alberta to an established position at Durham University, David has supported the next generation of applied geologists through supervising more than 30 PhD and early-career researchers, chaired conferences on his field of expertise, and sat on the editorial committee of multiple economic geology journals.
Previously, awarded the William Smith Fund in 2009, it is wonderful to see that the crucial work he is doing culminate in receiving the William Smith Medal today.
The William Smith Medal
Thank you very much, especially to the Geological Society, and especially to my mystery nominators. It's a very, very kind gesture. In the short time that I have up here I would particularly like to thank all the PhD and early career researchers that I've had the pleasure to work with over the last 30 odd years. I’ve had the pleasure to have worked with people from all around the world and it's been an incredible experience working with young minds, and some of them are just incredibly bright, and have gone on to do exceptional things.
At Durham, I wish to acknowledge particularly two people that have supported me and my research group since my arrival, and those are Geoff Nowell and Chris Ottley. But lastly, and very importantly, I would like to thank Robert Creaser at the University of Alberta because, without his invitation to be involved in the initial stages of development of the Re-Os methodology, I would not have the opportunity to stand here today, so it's to Rob for his patience, his friendship, and his willingness to always allow me to try something new. Thank you.
Dr Richard Brown, Durham University
Described as “one of the leading field geologists of his generation”, Dr Richard Brown is globally renowned for his exceptional ability to extract meaning from complex volcanic landscapes, leading to significant impacts on the field of physical volcanology over 25 years. Spanning large-scale structures to the forensic micro-analysis of ash aggregates, Richard’s publications not only transform our understanding of volcanology, but have also helped to inform future hazard assessments, particularly across the Canary Islands and Italy.
He is an outstanding field teacher, capable of inspiring young minds with no prior knowledge of fieldwork through visits to schools and leading international trips, as well as convincing experienced volcanologists to interpret evidence in a new way. In fact, his field studies have helped lead to a complete reframing of the accepted model for kimberlite eruptions.
Beyond this, Richard has also provided services to the geological community through being Secretary of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group and Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Bulletin of Volcanology. Additionally, he led Durham University’s Volcanic Margins Research Consortium, which focussed on knowledge exchange of research and training between universities and geology-related industries. Now, Richard continues his contagious passion for volcanology as Associate Professor at Durham university.
The Dewey Medal
Thank you, it was an honour and a surprise to be notified of this award, and I extend my deep thanks to my nominators and to the President, the Council, the society, and to Professor John Dewey, a scientist whose prowess and success in the field was really extensive, unrivalled, and influential.
We're all reflections of those around us, and I've been fortunate over my career to work with some of the very best mentors and teachers, and I'd just like to highlight a few. I was introduced to geology by my A-level teacher, Rob Setchel at Richard Huish College in Somerset and my first experience of learning in the field was transformational for me and set me off on this path. Through my work as Admissions Director at Durham, I see how important A-Level teachers are in turning school children on to geology - it's an important role that they excel at.
I went on to be trained at Aberystwyth, where we had a very good team of people who put fieldwork at the heart of the teaching. Denis Bates, Alex Maltman, Bill Perkins, Max Dobson, and others, really cemented my love of field work, but I cut my teeth in the field with Mike Branney and Peter Kokelaar at Leicester and Liverpool respectively - two superhuman geologists who effortlessly were able to extract meaning and insight from rocks in the field, and I owe much to their brilliance. I was then fortunate to continue working with the best. I moved to Italy to work with Giovanni Orsi and Sandro de Vita at the Vesuvius Observatory. I spent a lot of time at Bristol with Steve Sparks, a simply amazing volcanologist, and then Steven Self at the Open University.
Since arriving at Durham, I've been continually amazed and surprised by the passion of my colleagues and friends and students and postgraduates and postdocs. And that really reminds me that fieldwork is really at its best when it's a shared kind of collaborative effort.
Field work by necessity requires time away, and I'm indebted to my wife, Charlotte Vye-Brown, herself a formidable geologist and mapper, and my children, Sebastian and Arianna, who are great collectors of rocks and pebbles, for suffering my absence over the years.
I'd like to end on an advocacy for the broad importance of field work in times when we turn on the news, and we see actors overseas cancelling and disrupting and corrupting science, much of it to the detriment of the planet. I think it falls on us as Earth scientists, to inform and infuse and engage and excite people about the wonder of the planet. It's our great power, as Earth scientists, to be able to take people outside and guide them to the wonder and the beauty and the majesty of the planet and I think that's a really important thing for us to do so. Thank you Mr President, thank you Society, and thank you all.
Dr Joel Gill, Cardiff University / GfGD
Dr Joel Gill is a leading advocate for geoscience as a driver of international development and sustainability. In 2011, after two placements in Tanzania evaluating water programmes, he founded the charity Geology for Global Development (GfGD). With a focus on the Global South, GfGD aims to improve understanding of, access to, and capacity for applying geoscience in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Joel has devoted significant time to leading the charity. Over 14 years, he has delivered presentations and convened conferences benefiting hundreds—if not thousands—of students. He is engaged at the science-policy interface, particularly at UN levels. Under his leadership, GfGD secured observer status with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. Through this work, Joel has helped amplify the voice of geoscience in policy arenas where it was previously underrepresented.
His publications on geoscience and sustainability have reached tens of thousands of readers, deepening understanding of the discipline's role in sustainable development both within and beyond the geoscience community.
Joel's dedication to the geoscience community is further evident in his long-standing service to the Geological Society of London. He was an active member of the External Relations Committee for nearly a decade, including three years as Chair of Secretary for Foreign and External Affairs while on Council.
Since 2021, Joel has been a lecturer at Cardiff University, modelling his commitment to impactful, public-good science. Before this, he spent six years with the British Geological Survey, working on international development projects. His interdisciplinary research bridges natural and social sciences, focusing on natural hazards and disaster risk reduction. Recognised internationally for his work on multi-hazard risk, Joel has advised a range of national and international bodies, including the UK Cabinet Office and the International Science Council.
The Coke Medals
Thank you for this honour, thank you to those who nominated me, and congratulations to all those who are recognised today including my fellow Coke Medal winner, whose commitment to international development is really inspiring. It means a great deal to receive this from the society, and I'm grateful to staff and Council members who I've had the pleasure to work with, who've supported me. All those who contribute to the society's excellent external relations work, it's always a pleasure to work with you.
The Society has been a supporter of GfGD almost since the beginning. Edmund Nickless and Nic Bilham embraced our vision and offered much-needed advice, so thank you. Nic has served as chair of trustees for nearly a decade. His guidance and dedication and friendship have been invaluable.
I've been lucky to work with lots of inspiring people who've supported me along the way. Bruce Malamud, my PhD supervisor who invested so much in me, Melanie Duncan at BGS and Faith Taylor at KCL, who model the very best of research culture. All those who volunteered with GfGD over the last 15 years, including Viki O'Connor as co-CEO and Emily White, who was instrumental in shaping our current strategy. Martin Smith at BGS for enabling my six years there to be rich in learning, and everyone at Cardiff, students and staff, who've given me such a warm welcome as I made that transition into the academic space. And thank you to all those around the world from Kagera in Tanzania to the villages around Fuego Vulcano in Guatemala who opened their doors and spoke honestly about their lived experiences and day-to-day demonstrate their commitment to delivering a better world.
And to my family, my parents nurtured a passion for learning, those walks at Mallam Cove, that trips the Natural History Museum, had a big impact. My grandma, Joyce, great aunt and uncle, Pam and Alan all supported me. My children, Chloe and Leo, who keep me smiling and supplied with lots of pictures of volcanoes. And above all, my wife, Stephanie, your suggestion back in 2009, to go to Tanzania changed everything and there has been lots more trips and more evenings, weekends, hours of committee meetings at the Society and other things that have have taken time away from other things and you've made big sacrifices to enable my journey to continue, so thank you.
In closing, I just want to briefly recognise the significant work that lies ahead. Average annual disaster mortality rates are still almost three times higher in least developed countries and there are still around 703 million people that lack even a basic access to a water service. Geology is part of the solution, but business as usual won't be sufficient to address these challenges. So, in receiving this award, I just want to recommit myself to being part of that solution, pressing forwards and continuing to play my small part in contributing to a better, more sustainable, resilient world. Thank you.
Dr Kathryn Goodenough, British Geological Survey
Dr Kathryn Goodenough’s focus on critical minerals is now more important than ever, with her keen interest in their sustainable development helping decarbonisation initiatives into the future. Her research is vitally important to our understanding of the critical minerals needed for modern green technologies, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy. Aligned to this is her passion in changing perspectives around mining to obtain these resources, and its importance for a low-carbon world. This has culminated in an expansive record of high-impact publications and TV and podcast appearances. Her prominence was recognised through being nominated as one of the ‘100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining’ in 2020. This not only celebrates her outstanding contribution to the field, but also highlights Kathryn as a trailblazing role model for future generations of female geoscientists.
After almost 25 years at the British Geological Survey, Kathryn is also Head of Regional Geoscience International, with a focus on development of international partnerships across BGS’s remit, particularly supporting the delivery of UK government priorities overseas. To this end, she has worked tirelessly in numerous countries in Africa and more widely, leading capacity-building projects to support geologists tackling global challenges such as managing natural resources, living with geological hazards, and planning infrastructure development.
Kathryn is also Chief Editor of the Geological Society’s first fully open access journal Earth Science, Systems and Society since its launch in 2021. She embodies the scope of the journal - cross-disciplinary geoscience with societal relevance - and has been instrumental in building a diverse and inclusive community around it.
The Coke Medals
Thank you Jon and thank you so much to the Society for this award. It's hugely appreciated and particularly thank you to the people who nominated me as I know how much work goes into that. I'm really pleased to share the Coke Medal this year with Joel, our work is so aligned, and we've been working together for several years.
I went off to Edinburgh just over 30 years ago to go and do a PhD working on rocks in Greenland and looking at these things called rare earth elements, that nobody really cared about very much at the time so it's astonishing now to be in a situation where the sort of work that I do is all over the news and being talked about by the US President and generally, a hot topic.
I feel that I've been really lucky. I had some amazing PhD supervisors known to many of you, Brian Upton, Ian Parsons and Adrian Finch and that work, looking at rare earth elements in Greenland, really set me up for everything that I do now.
I've been at the BGS for something like 25 years after a bit of time at the Scottish Government and I'm not even going to attempt to thank everybody I've worked with in that time at the BGS, and more widely, and some of you here in this room. There's a fantastic team of people at the BGS that I work with on critical minerals and across the whole international piece and really, I'd just like to thank all of them, and all the many people I've worked with.
There's just a couple of people I'd like to highlight: Frances Wall, who's really supported me through so much of this critical mineral work and been there as a great partner. Andrew Bloodworth, who was Head of Minerals when the whole critical minerals thing kicked off and who I worked with so closely.
Finally, I'd like to thank my long-suffering other half, Simon Price, who many of you may know. You can imagine how our holidays are when we're talking about rocks.
Dr Adam Law, Sproule ERCE
Dr Adam Law has over 30 years of experience in the energy sector, which began as a graduate trainee with British Gas in 1994.
After almost a decade as a geophysicist for energy companies, Adam branched out into the world of consultancy as a Founder Director of ERC Equipoise Ltd, which became Europe’s largest employee owned energy consultancy before it merged with the Canadian Sproule group to become Sproule-ERCE earlier this year. Adam has been fortunate enough to have played a pivotal role in the evaluation of some of the largest hydrocarbon discoveries in the world in recent years.
His service to the geoscience community is extensive. He is one of the founding members of the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers’ European Chapter, which is the primary regulatory body for oil and gas reserves accreditation, is currently Past President of the European Region of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and was previously a member of the PESGB Council. Adam has supported the Geological Society for over twenty years, including service on the Geological Society's Council as Treasurer - a key role with a substantial remit - and still today continues to provide his knowledge and expertise as a member of the Finance and Planning Committee as well as being a keen supporter of the society's work.
Beyond industry, Adam has been involved in teaching petroleum geology at numerous universities, including Durham and Royal Holloway, where he was an honorary reader. This has extended to inspiring many students to become interns at ERCE, through a graduate development scheme accredited by the society, and continue their careers in the industry.
The Distinguished Service Award
I'll be mercifully brief. Concretions and nodules: that's why I'm here. Trevor Greensmith, sedimentology professor at UCL, would always set us the most difficult of essays, and this was the most challenging of all. So 30 or so years ago, I found myself in the lower library with a friend who was also a student member of this august body, in a fit of abject panic. Guardian angel as she always was, Wendy, the librarian, descended and helped to sort it all out. The essay thankfully was done. And at that point I thought I better give something back to this society, and here I am 30 years later.
So it has been an absolute pleasure, and, as they say on LinkedIn an honour(!), to have been involved in the service of the Society for so long. What's been the most exciting thing is to have played a small part within a group of professional staff and volunteers, to ensure that the Society's finances were always on an even keel, and very recently for it to do this – to purchase the lease for Burlington House - and secure its future. That’s been an absolute, brilliant thing for us to achieve.
Mr President, thank you very much for the award and I look forward to being of service to the Society as long as I can be useful. Thank you
Clive Oppenheimer, University of Cambridge / Etna Observatory (INGV)
Professor Clive Oppenheimer is a world-leading volcanologist, who has made significant contributions to the chemical surveillance of volcanoes and volcanic emissions over the last 30 years. His work has been highly influential in areas from satellite remote sensing of volcanic heat and gas, to ground-based measurements of volcanic gas emissions and their impacts on the atmosphere. Clive has made notable additions to interdisciplinary studies of past volcanic eruptions and their wider impacts, and to innovations in measurement and analysis, including a patented radiation monitoring device. With over 300 peer-reviewed publications, he was previously awarded by the Royal Geographical Society for his prominent input to our understanding of geographical science.
Clive’s volcanology expertise has taken him far beyond academia, supporting over 30 films and documentaries, as well as radio broadcasts and multiple books. He has devoted creative time and energy to share with the wider public his fascination with volcanoes and volcanic phenomena, from Antarctica to North Korea. These outstanding contributions to geoscience outreach and education have been widely acclaimed and nominated for many awards, having helped highlight the interconnectivity of geology, climatology, ecology, archaeology and anthropology to global audiences. Through all of this, Clive has inspired and supported numerous young scientists through the early stages of their careers, and created a standout lasting legacy to encourage future generations of volcanologists.
The R H Worth Award
Prof Katharine Hendry, British Antarctic Survey
Professor Katharine Hendry is an outstanding and energetic chemical oceanographer and marine biogeochemist. She investigates the impacts of changes in marine nutrient cycling and biogeochemical-ocean-climate feedbacks through leading interdisciplinary projects in the polar regions. Significantly, she also has a keen interest in reducing the carbon footprint of oceanographic research.
Since completing her PhD, Katherine has had an exceptional career over the past 17 years, including a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the University of Bristol, a Postdoctoral Scholarship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a lecturer position at Cardiff University and is now Senior Ocean Climate Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey.
Alongside her research, Katharine has promoted engagement with oceanographic sciences through an exhaustive catalogue of publications and seminars, chairing conferences, advising national and international bodies and being an editor for multiple journals, as well as appearances at science festivals, and on TV and radio.
Generous with her time, Katharine is a champion for equality and diversity in Earth Sciences. She sits on the Challenger Society for Marine Science council as chair of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Accessibility working group, and is a member of the Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative committee. She also keenly participates in mentoring networks for women in science, particularly junior researchers to encourage their confidence in developing careers in the field.
The Bigsby Medal
Thank you very much, it’s a great honour to be here. Thank you to the President, the Council of the Society for this award – I was over the moon to receive it so thank you. It was just before Christmas when I got the news about this award, and so it was a lovely Christmas present, but also what made it really special is that I was actually sitting in my office in the laboratory at the Rothera Research station in Antarctica when I got the news so that made the news even more special that I was in one of my favourite places to receive it.
Now, of course, none of this is done in isolation, so I've got a lot of thanks, so I'll try to keep it short. I've had so much luck in my career to have wonderful mentors and role models, so I won't list them all. But the important ones, my wonderful PhD supervisor at Oxford University, Ros Rickaby, who was always there for me- she's been fantastic. Laura Robinson, who was my postdoc advisor at Woods Hole and then a beloved, cherished colleague at the University of Bristol, and Mike Meredith at the British Antarctic Survey, who I met at the beginning of my PhD and he still seems happy that I'm kicking around 20 years later so thank you to him.
As I grew my group over the last 15 years or so I've just been honoured to work with wonderful early career researchers and their hard work really put me to shame and honestly, I wouldn't be here without them, I won't list them all but many thanks to them.
And lastly, my wonderful husband, who is here in the audience, who is so understanding when I do silly things like not only spend Christmas in Antarctica, but I also miss New Year's, my birthday, his birthday, and our 14th anniversary so thank you for putting up with that. Thank you very much.
Prof Gavin Foster, University of Southampton
Professor Gavin Foster is a gifted geologist, who combines painstaking laboratory work and novel methodological developments with a unique ability to see the “big picture” of his science. He has helped to make important advances in long-standing geological conundrums, often with critical relevance to society.
Primarily an isotope geochemist, his major achievement over the last two decades has been to develop the boron isotope proxy for ocean acidity and atmospheric carbon dioxide. This has allowed researchers to move beyond the ice core record and provide a window into the relationship between carbon dioxide and temperature on timescales of millions of years, for the quantification of climate sensitivity. His world-leading expertise in this area has been recognised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and in 2021 he was a contributing author on the Sixth Assessment report. One of the key statements in the Summary for Policymakers that carbon dioxide levels are higher today than any time during at least the last 2 million years was based on his work. This finding raises the profile of geology in climate science and illustrates the importance of studying our past climates to put anthropogenic climate change in its correct context.
Gavin has also established an international working group, the Palaeocean-CO2 Project, bringing together geologists, geochemists, and palaeoceanographers with the aim to improve multi-proxy carbon dioxide reconstructions from marine archives, furthering exploration of the impact of anthropogenic climate and environmental change on Earth’s systems.
The Aberconway Medal
Thank you very much for that kind citation. Thanks very much to family and my collaborators over the years for enabling me to achieve some of the things that were just mentioned, and thanks for the Society for this award it really does mean does mean a lot. First of, it's really nice to be considered mid-career, that always feels a bit like a win these days.
Secondly, I'd really like to thank the Society for recognising my research on past climate as applied Geology and applied geoscience.
I think we all know and are all aware of the historic role that geology has had in the current climate crisis, and I think it has a really important role to play in our sustainable future and I'm very thankful that my research has been recognised as playing some small part in that. So, thanks again, it's a real honour. Thank you very much.
Dr Amy McGuire, University of Leeds
Dr Amy McGuire’s research aims to correlate records of past climate change, providing critical insights into the climatic teleconnections driving environmental responses across Quaternary climate oscillations.
Following a BSc and MSc in Geography at the University of Manchester, her PhD at the University of Cambridge focused on the propagation of abrupt climate change within the Mediterranean region, and the differential rates at which ecosystems respond to past climate change. She is particularly interested in climate and environmental dynamics under warmer-than-present interglacial periods and how this may inform future climate variability.
Most recently, as a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, Amy has been tasked with updating the chronostratigraphy of the Southern North Sea, alongside interdisciplinary global collaborators. Her detailed palynological analysis shows the shallow subsurface of the Southern Bight, just off the Dutch coast, may be almost 1 million years older than existing dating frameworks suggest. Amy’s important finding has implications beyond academia, with industry benefitting from a benchmark review useful for geohazard assessment and offshore wind development.
Beyond her research, Amy passionately advocates for diversity within the field, especially through mentoring younger geoscientists and leading Sutton Trust Summer Schools. As an exemplary teacher, she has inspired numerous students to continue their studies and pursue careers within the field.
The Wollaston Fund
Dr Fred Bowyer, University of Leeds
Dr Fred Bowyer’s expertise explores one of the fundamental questions of geoscience, the inextricable link between environmental change and the evolution of life. Numerous high-impact publications stemming from his research have helped to shape the scientific community’s understanding of this coupling.
As an early career field and lab-based sedimentologist, stratigrapher and geochemist, Fred’s postdoctoral work integrates stratigraphic, palaeontological and geochemical data to understand Proterozoic and Phanerozoic Earth Systems change. Fuelled by his own curiosity, Fred has humbly embarked upon integrating the notoriously difficult stratigraphic record of the late Precambrian, and in doing so has made several major discoveries, alongside pioneering a new method constructing hierarchical age frameworks that calibrate geochemical and palaeontological information in space and time.
Highly regarded for his extensive knowledge, Fred is currently co-supervising multiple PhD candidates and has been invited to speak at numerous specialist conferences and seminar series, culminating in his appointment as a voting member of both the Cryogenian and Ediacaran subcommissions of the International Commission on Stratigraphy in 2024. Furthermore, his outreach activities span co-convening sessions at international conferences since 2018, as well as hosting regular outreach and community building efforts in Africa.
The Lyell Fund
Francesca Willcocks, University of Leicester
Driven by her thirst for knowledge, Francesca Willcocks' research into planetary science has been recognised in numerous high-impact publications alongside international collaborators. Indeed, she had a role in the non-destructive analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite from 2021, the first to be found on UK soil in 30 years.
In addition to classifying meteorites, Francesca is further developing these analytical techniques now during her PhD in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. Specifically, her current research focuses on the geology of Gale Crater within the Curiosity rover team and preparation for future sample return missions from Mars.
Throughout Francesca’s BSc and Research Masters at the University of Plymouth, she strived to signal the importance of public outreach, spearheading Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre’s social media presence with a series of highly regarded live events, as well as hosting workshops for a Girls into Geoscience initiative and presenting in community meetings both nationally and internationally. Now, her enthusiasm as a geoscience communicator continues as she brings Martian geology, and planetary science as a whole, to a wider audience.
The Murchison Fund
Dr Sam Wimpenny, University of Bristol
As a leading early-career researcher in fault mechanics and tectonics, Dr Sam Wimpenny is a recognised expert on the tectonics of the Andes and a newly appointed lecturer at the University of Bristol, after completing a number of fellowships following obtaining his PhD in 2019. Sam’s research explores the behaviour and dynamics of Earth’s lithosphere, with significant contributions to our understanding of earthquake cycles and associated tectonic activity. His high-impact publications on cutting-edge research have been widely received, including recent work to quantify the frictional properties of natural fault zones and how fault properties change through time.
With supportive funding from Research England, Sam has also led recent efforts to develop resources to support equitable and inclusive fieldwork. His commitment to equality and diversity has seen him launch a series of summer research internships aimed at improving entry of PhD candidates into natural hazards disciplines from demographics who have historically had less access. He currently serves as Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes and Tectonics.
The William Smith Fund
Dr Kushboo Gurung, University of Leeds
Dr Khushboo Gurung is only a few years out of her PhD but has already shown exceptional promise as a leader our field.
Her route into geoscience was non-traditional and interdisciplinary, beginning with undergraduate education in biodiversity and conservation, followed by a PhD on the evolution of plants and plant-environment feedbacks over deep time. During her PhD, Khushboo developed a novel vegetation computer model that simulates plant behaviour and distribution over the geological past. Following on from this through her current Research Fellowship at the University of Leeds, Khushboo has now linked this vegetation model to an Earth system model that explores how plants altered Earth’s climate and how tectonics and palaeogeography influenced plants’ geographic range.
As well as leading scientific advances, Khushboo is active in community building through her supervision of PhD and masters students, organising conference sessions and outreach events, and as a committee member of the Geological Society of London’s Earth System Science Professional and Scientific Interest Group.
The President's Awards
Dr Divya Persaud, University of Glasgow
With a unique interdisciplinary skillset garnered through education in the UK and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States, Dr Divya Persaud is not only making waves in the field of planetary geology, but also shining a light on space ethics. Her research focuses on developing novel methods of applying remote sensing datasets to mission planning for surface exploration of celestial bodies, crucial for understanding extraterrestrial landscapes, processes and life. Already her work has been recognised internationally via a wealth of invited talks and media appearances, including on the BBC.
She is actively dedicated to fostering a positive culture within geoscience, particularly for marginalised researchers and thus generously gives her time to furthering equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives. This includes co-leading the interdisciplinary virtual conference Space Science in Context, with elements of the inclusivity model ensuring its success subsequently adopted by high-profile organisations, such as NASA.
Divya also brings a personal element to her research, through exploring the connection between science and creativity as a musician, including referencing the parallels between Earth, space and the human experience.
The President's Awards
The Awards ceremony
We celebrated our outstanding 2025 medallists and award recipients at an awards ceremony on 11 June 2025, as part of President's Day.
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