context

focus: the thermal and mechanical structure of the continents, addressing issues such as

• how feedbacks between primary tectonic processes (such as deformation, magmatism, erosion and sedimentation) determine the long-term thermal and mechanical character of the Earth’s crust (e.g. Sandiford & McLaren 2002).
• the role of gravitational body forces in the evolution of the Earth’s major mountain belts (Sandiford & Powell 1990; Sandiford 1988).
• how tectonic stress is sourced at the global scale (Coblentz et al. 1993) in ways that explains the observed natural variability in stress state in our tectonic plates (Coblentz et al. 1995; Coblentz & Sandiford 1995).
• the links between intraplate earthquakes and geomorphic records (Sandiford 2003) in ways that allows the development of geologically constrained models for earthquake hazard (Quigley et al. 2007).
• the geomorphic response to dynamic processes deep in the Earth’s mantle and how it explains many previously enigmatic landscape features such as Australia’s unique record of continental tilting (Sandiford 2007), as well as emblematic landscapes such as the Lake Eyre Basin (Sandiford & Quigley 2008).
• the links between earthquakes, landslides and river incision (Egholm et al. 2013) and their application to understanding natural hazard vulnerability in settings such as the Indian Himalaya (Morrell et al., 2015) and Timor (Sandiford, 2008).

and …

• how distributed energy technologies impact mature energy markets (McConnell et al. 2013, 2015).

recognition: includes as

• a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences.
• several honorific awards including the Australian Academy of Sciences Mawson Medal for “outstanding contributions to earth science in Australia”.
• a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the the University of Melbourne.

impact: my work on

• the thermal structure of the Australian continent helped motivate for the search for geothermal energy in South Australia,
• active tectonics and earthquake occurrence has been used in hazard assessment and has been used by Geoscience Australia to develop new approaches groundwater resource management.
• tectonic stress has been used in unconventional resource development and assessment of storage potential for energy wastes.
• the geomorphic evolution of the continent has seen application in biodiversity assessments.
• on energy system has impacted government policy settings and industry investment including the Cultana pumped hydro project.

leadership: as

• Chair of the Science Advisory Board of AuScope ¹,
  
• in shaping the national geoscience research agenda.
• lead of the $23 million Education Investment Fund (EIF) round 3 bid for the Australian Geophysical Observing System, which saw $7.5 million invested at the University of Melbourne.
• lead in the University of Melbourne’s $11 million component of the successful $51 million CCSNET EIF bid.
• one of two geoscience representatives on the Environmentally Sustainable Australia working group as part of National Research Infrastructure Council (NRIC) framework that contributed to the “2011 strategic roadmap for the Australian research infrastructure - exposure draft”.
• lead of group of geoscientists to produce the “Australian Earth Observatory - Infrastructure Roadmap” on behalf of AuScope.
• the Australian representative on the Exploration Technologies Reference Group for the International Partnership for Geothermal Technologies, I contributed to the “IPGT Exploration Whitepaper” released in June 2011.

promotion: as

• the Inaugural Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute (2009-2016) where I was responsible for coordination and facilitation of energy research across the University of Melbourne. In this role I was responsible for building teams and seeding new interdisciplinary programs in areas as diverse as renewable energy integration, energy market design, direct geothermal utilization, geological carbon storage, and sedimentary basin management. The programs I initiated as Direcror of the Institute secured more than $34 million in external funding.

development: in

• leading significant geological programs in developing regions across Asia, including in Timor-Leste, India, Bhutan, Indonesia and Tibet, supported in part by Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade aid prorgrams. Outcomes include the production of the first detailed geological maps of Timor Leste since its independence, as part of an ongoing program that aims to map the country at a scale of 1:50,000. In 2013, at the invitation of the Indian Government Department of Science and Technology, Ie particpated in a review the 2012 Kedarnath landslide disaster in which as many as 20,000 people may have perished (> 5000 confirmed).
• as I co-editor an international publication focused on the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China, in which about 88,000 people perished and more than one million were displaced.
• in documenting the record of great Himalayan earthquakes in the central Himalaya and Bhutan using novel proxies was funded jointly by the Australian and the Indian Governments.

engagement: having

• contributed extensively to the national debate on environmental and energy policy issues, having contributed over 70 commentaries to major national newspapers (including op-eds in both the Fairfax - the Age and Sydney Morning Herald - and the Murdoch press - the Australian) and on-line venues (the Conversation, RenewEconomy, Business Spectator), the reach of which is reflected in the statistics for my column Energy and the Earth on the Conversation website which have been viewed more than 920,000 times.

synopsis

history

• Chair of Geology, University of Melbourne 2010+
• Director, Melbourne Energy Institute, University of Melbourne 2009+
• ARC Professorial fellow, University of Melbourne 2000-2009
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader, University of Adelaide 1987-2000
• CSIRO postdoctoral fellow, University of Cambridge 1986-1987
• PhD, University of Melbourne 1985
• BSc(Hons), University of Melbourne 1978

recognition

• Carey Medal, 2014 Geological Society of Australia
• Hobbs Medal, 2012 Geological Society of Australia
• Mawson Medal, 2005 Australian Academy of Sciences
• Stillwell Medal(s), 2003, 2005 and 2009 Geological Society of Australia
• Elected Fellow, Australian Academy of Sciences, 2013 Australian Academy of Sciences
• Elected Fellow, Geological Society of Australia, 2011 Geological Society of Australia
• Distinguished Visiting Professor, Paris, France, 2008 Ecole Normale Supérieure
• ARC Professorial Fellow, 2005-2009 Australian Research Council
• ARC Professorial Fellow, 2000-2004 Australian Research Council
• CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1986-1987 Cambridge University

service

• IMAGE project review, Pisa Italy, 2015 EU Commission
• Review of Geosciences, 2015 Victoria University, New Zealand,
• Department Science and Technology, Indian Government Review of Kedarnath landslide disaster, Uttrakhand, India, May 2014.
• EON Research Centre, Science Advisory Board, 2011-2012 RWTH Aachen Germany
• Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure, 2011 Department Industry, Australian Government
• SUNConnect Advisory Board, 2011
• International Partnership for Geothermal Technology, Exploration technologies working group, 2010-2012
• Geology, Editorial Board, 1999-2001 and 2009-2011
• AuScope-AGOS EIF Science Advisor, 2009-2013
• ARC College of Experts, 2009-2011 Australian Research Council
• AuScope Science Advisory Board (Chair), 2007-2012
• Australian Journal of Earth Science, Editorial Board, 2005-2008
• Tectonophysics, Co Editor-in-Chief, 2004-2009
• PMD*CRC Science Advisory Board, 2000-2002

funding

• Competitive Research Program Grants (inc. ARC DP, ARC Linkage,AISRF, NDG) $4,416,000
• Infrastructure grants at University of Melbourne (EIF, MNRF) $8,343,000
• Infrastructure grants at other universities (ARC LIEF) $1,875,000
• Other non-competitive funding - $2,457,000

academic

Google Scholar Total citations - 12679 , Hirsch-index - 69 , i10-index - 173

Top five papers

• Egholm, D., Knusden, M.F., Sandiford, M., 2013, Lifespan of mountain ranges scaled by feedbacks between landsliding and erosion by rivers, Nature, 498, 475–478, doi:10:1038/nature12218 , # citations 173
• Sandiford, M., 2007, The tilting continent: a new constraint on the dynamic topographic field from Australia, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 261, 152-163 doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.023 , # citations 161
• Sandiford, M., McLaren, S., 2002, Tectonic feedback and the ordering of heat producing elements within the continental lithosphere, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2002, 204, 133-150 , # citations 190
• Coblentz, D., Sandiford, M., Richardson, R, Zhou, S., Hillis, R., 1995, The origins of the Australian stress field, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 133, 299-309. , # citations 195
• Sandiford, M., Powell, R., 1986, Deep crustal metamorphism during continental extension, ancient and modern examples. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 79, 151-158. , # citations 469

Other Key papers (total of 170 peer-reviewed publications)

• Morell, K.D., Sandiford, M., Rajendran, C.P., Rajendran, K., Fink, D., Alimanovic, A., Sanwal, J., 2015, Geomorphology reveals active decollement geometry in the central Himalayan seismic gap, Lithosphere, 7, 247-256, doi:10.1130/L407.1 , # citations 57
• McConnell, D., Hearps, P., Eales, D., Sandiford, M., Dunn, R., Wright, M., Bateman, L., 2013, Retrospective modeling of the merit-order effect on wholesale electricity prices from distributed photovoltaic generation in the Australian National Electricity Market, Energy Policy, 58,17-27, doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.01.052 , # citations 147
• Sandiford, M., 2008, Seismic moment release during slab rupture beneath the Banda Sea, Geophysical Journal International, 174, 659–671 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03838.x , # citations 38
• Sandiford, M., 2003, Neotectonics of southeastern Australia: linking the Quaternary faulting record with seismicity and in situ stress, eds Hillis, R.R. Muller, D., Evolution and dynamics of the Australian Plate, Geological Society of Australia, Special Publication, 22, 101-113 , # citations 239
• Coblentz, D., Sandiford, M., 1994, Tectonic stresses in the African plate: Constraints on the ambient stress state, Geology, 22, 831-834. , # citations 131
• Coblentz, D., Richardson, R.M., Sandiford, M., 1994, On the gravitational potential of the Earth’s lithosphere, Tectonics, 13, 929-945. , # citations 139
• Turner, S., Sandiford, M., Foden, J., 1992, Some geodynamic and compositional constraints on “post-orogenic” magmatism, Geology, 20, 931-934. , # citations 376
• Sandiford, M., Powell, R., 1991, Some remarks on high temperature-low pressure metamorphism in convergent orogens, Journal of Metamorphic geology, 9, 333-340. , # citations 207
• Sandiford, M., 1989, Horizontal structures in granulite terrains : a record of mountain building or mountain collapse? Geology, 17, 449 - 452. , # citations 147

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1. Auscope administers the federal government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program for the Earth Sciences↩︎