Profile

Global seismology maps the Earth’s deep interior from the upper mantle to the inner core, elucidating the internal structure and dynamics of our planet. My goal is to connect seismology with other disciplines such as mineral physics, geodynamic modelling and geochemistry, and determine what causes the heterogeneity found in the Earth. Ultimately, this will provide a consistent picture of the way in which the Earth convects and evolves.

Biography

I am a professor of structure and composition of Earth’s deep interior at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Before arriving at Utrecht in 2014, I spent ten years at the University of Cambridge as a fellow of Pembroke College and lecturer (and then reader) in Earth Sciences. I received a ‘Drs.’ (MSc) with distinction in geophysics from Utrecht University in 1998 and a D.Phil (PhD) from the University of Oxford in 2002. My research focusses on using seismic waves generated by earthquakes to image the Earth’s deep interior, similar to making a brain scan. I am particularly interested in using whole Earth oscillations, which make the Earth ‘ring like a bell’. I also teach MSc courses in seismology and geophysics and supervise PhD students on projects in global seismology and deep Earth structure.