The team leading the catalyst project includes:
Bryne Ngwenya is a Reader in Microbial Geochemistry in the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh. Bryne’s PhD at Reading University (1991) was on the Magmatic and Post- Magmatic Geochemistry of Phosphorus and REEs in Carbonatites. Following a 6-year post- doctoral fellowship at Edinburgh, he was appointed to a lectureship in 1996, and founded a Microbial Geochemistry group
Simon Harley has >33 years experience in high P-T experimental research, including calibration of mineral geothermobarometers, mineral-melt phase equilibria, uptake of CO2 and H2O by minerals, partitioning of volatiles and REE between minerals and melts, and the impact of saline fluids on mineral dissolution. He has advanced the use of SIMS for analysis of volatiles in minerals and mineral trace element partitioning as a tool to interpret zircon U-Pb ages and evaluate the role of accessory minerals in crustal processes.
Linda Kirstein was appointed Lecturer in the School of Geosciences in 2011. Her PhD and early career focussed on large igneous provinces. Following a post-doctoral position in the Netherlands she returned to the UK in 2000 on a Marie Curie personal fellowship. This was followed by a Royal Society of Edinburgh SEELLD fellowship (2003) and a NERC fellowship (2007). She has published on a diverse range of topics including the importance of halogens in the geochemical evolution of magmas; the crystallisation of alkaline igneous rocks in Greenland and constraining the geochemical evolution of magmas using major-, trace- and REEs.
Ian Butler is a Research Fellow and manager of the Edinburgh Experimental Geoscience Laboratories. Ian's PhD from Cardiff University was on metal sulphide geochemistry. Subsequently at Southampton and Cardiff Universities he focused on hydrothermal mineralisation, geochemical kinetics and isotope geochemistry. Appointed to Edinburgh University in 2006 his research in experimental geoscience has included metal isotope fractionation mechanisms during mineral formation and the development of x-ray microtomography techniques.
Geoffrey Bromiley is a lecturer in Experimental Geoscience at Edinburgh and member of the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions with >15 years' experience in extreme conditions research. He is expert in the development of high-pressure/temperature equipment, and investigates planetary processes by studying the physics and chemistry of Earth materials. He has published 39 papers and worked on trace element incorporation in minerals and melts, techniques for rad waste storage, effects of P-T on mineral structure and the structure and chemistry of partially molten systems. He uses the NERC ion microprobe facility and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) at Grenoble. He was recently elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy and chairs the Mineralogical Society's Mineral Physics special interest group.
Kate Saunders is a Lecturer in Volcanology, whose research focuses on the genesis of magmatic rocks, including the behaviour of HREE in magmas. Her research involves the application and development of in-situ micro-analytical techniques to characterise the chemical composition of individual aspects of magmas such as crystal zones. Recent work has included the development of analytical protocols to achieve sub-micron resolution geochemical analyses of zoned minerals. She is one of the few people in the Geosciences applying these techniques at this spatial resolution.
Rachel Walcott is head of the Earth Systems section at National Museums Scotland (NMS). She obtained her BSc and research MSc at Otago University, New Zealand, latterly working on sub-solidus mixing in an Antarctic high grade metamorphic and igneous complex. After a PhD in high-pressure metamorphism she won a NERC Daphne Jackson Fellowship, followed by a RSE/BP fellowship at the University of Edinburgh before joining NMS in 2011. She has experience in organising exhibitions, given outreach presentations and written articles for magazines. She is currently co-supervising a PhD student studying the mechanisms required to generate melts during earthquakes. She provides expertise at transferring specialist scientific knowledge into the public arena.
Andrew Walker is a computational mineral physicist at the University of Bristol with 10 years' experience of simulating impurities in crystals. His research spans from the Earth's core to the early solar nebular and combines experimental and computational approaches to understand trace element incorporation in minerals. He is an expert in using density functional theory to link structural models and thermodynamics with the calculation of vibrational and X-ray spectra. Andrew's research has been supported by a NERC Postdoctoral Fellowship and by substantial awards of time on high performance computing resources over the last three years. He is co-investigator on a HECToR distributed computer science and engineering project. His research has been recognised by the Mineralogical Society (Max Hey medal, 2009) and the Geological Society (President's Award, 2005).
Fred Mosselmans is Principal Beamline Scientist on the I18 Microfocus beamline at Diamond and has led the development of the UKs first µ-focus spectroscopy beamline. He has worked in the field of X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy for over 25 years and has co-authored over 100 published papers. His research interests lie in environmental science, in particular in the application of XAS to the geochemical cycling of heavy metals.