Executive Director & Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk in the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience Executive Editor, International Journal of Natural Hazards & Earth System Sciences (NHESS)
Since 1 March 2023, He has been the Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk, and the Executive Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR), Durham University, where He is also affiliated with the Geography Department.
His research focuses on multi-hazard interrelationships along with single hazard research in landslides, earthquakes, floods and wildfires. Research subthemes include anthropogenic processes, invasive species, time-series analyses, mathematical models, visualization, complexity, confronting models with data, and communicating science.
Previous to coming to Durham University, He received a BA in physics from Reed College (1986), spent two years in the US Peace Corps (1986-1988) as a high-school teacher of chemistry/physics in Niger, West Africa, and three years at Stanford Linear Accelerator (1988-1991) as an accelerator operation and operations engineer. He then received a PhD in geophysics/stratigraphy from Cornell University (1998) working with Terry Jordan and Don Turcotte, after which He was a Fulbright Fellow (1998-1999) studying natural hazards at IANIGLA in Mendoza, Argentina. Most recently (9/2000−2/2023), and the majority of his academic career, He spent a very enjoyable 22.5 years as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and then Professor of Natural & Environmental Hazards in the Geography Department, King’s College London.
He was President for four years (2007−2011) of the Natural Hazards Division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), Programme Committee Chair for the EGU General Assembly (2010-2011) and Programme Co-Chair of the AOGS–EGU Conference Series on New Dimensions for Natural Hazards in Asia (2018−2022).
From 2015-2022, He was PI on 6 research grants (£1.9M to KCL, NERC/EC/FCDO/DFID/ESA) and Co-I on 5 research grants (£2.8M to KCL, NERC/EC/ESRC/GCRF), particularly acting as workpackage or theme leader on multi-hazard interrelationships.
He is also executive editor of Natural Hazards & Earth System Sciences (NHESS) and have authorship on >80 peer-review publications with >10,000 citations (Google Scholar) to his publications.
” Using AI Ethically in Research and Manuscript Preparation: Personal Reflections and Tips “
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools presents both opportunities and challenges for academic research and manuscript preparation. This one-hour workshop offers a personal perspective on the ethical integration of AI into research workflows, highlighting its potential to improve writing clarity, support critical literature reviews, assist with data interpretation, and provide feedback on drafts of manuscripts and grant proposals. Through practical examples, the session explores how AI can enhance, but not replace, the research process—emphasising the need for transparency, authorship integrity, and human oversight. Framed within current academic ethical guidelines, the workshop invites participants to critically engage with the evolving role of AI in scholarly practice, and offers practical guidance for its responsible use.