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Meet Jonathan Paul

New lecturer in Geoscience

  • Date02 May 2020

Jonathan Paul

jonny-paul

Jonathan joined the Earth Sciences Department in April

I am a Lecturer in Earth Science, trained as a geophysicist, with particular interests in interrogating the causes and effects of geohazards, especially those related to water. I spent the first few years of my life in East Africa; an experience that would go on to inform some of my later research into landscape development and dynamic topography. I am keen to ensure the societal relevance of my research and often collaborate with social scientists and NGOs.

I am looking forward to teaching courses in geodynamics and hydrogeology, and including some personal examples from fieldwork in Madagascar, Africa, and Nepal. Water is already one of the key resources of the 21st century: an understanding of the way it flows on the surface and through the subsurface, interacting with rocks, will become increasingly important.

I chose to work at the Earth Sciences department at RHUL because of its welcoming, friendly atmosphere, and extraordinary breadth of research, from the core to the surface, atmosphere, and indeed beyond our own planet. Many aspects of research in the department are especially relevant in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Outside work (though somewhat related to it), I am interested in literature and possible overlaps with geoscience. I also try to travel as widely as possible, and dabble occasionally with electronics. Some prototypes for measuring e.g. water level or microseismicity have proven useful both for plugging data gaps, and for involving non-scientists in research ('citizen science').

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