About
David (he/him) is a Senior Lecturer in Geology, current Head of the Earth Sciences Research Group (ESRG), and Deputy Director of the Scanning Electron Microscopy Shared Research Facility (SEM SRF). David's research and teaching centres on links between structure, stress, mineralisation, and fluid flow and how these geological features and processes effect energy-critical geosystems such as geothermal resources, mineral carbon capture, and ore deposits, and geohazards such as fault stability and slow slip earthquakes.
Current research projects include understanding investigating hydrothermal mineral alteration processes at the mid-Atlantic Ridge with the International Ocean Discovery Program, exploring the geomechanical controls of carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) in the Irish Sea, exploring the potential for mineral carbonation in Ireland and the UK, investigating lithium distribution in altered granites, and mineral nucleation and growth mechanisms in fractured energy critical resources such as geothermal reservoirs and critical material resources such are ore bodies.
David conducted his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and his PhD in structural geology and metamorphism of high grade metamorphic terrains at the University of Liverpool. After finishing his PhD, David worked for eight years as a research scientist and industry consultant with the Natural Resources Division of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, New Zealand, until taking a Lectureship in Geology at the University of Galway, Ireland, before returning to University of Liverpool in 2019.
Prizes or Honours
- Adjunct Professor (Reykjavik University, 2017)
- Honorary Research Associate (Victoria University Wellington, 2014)
- Royal Society of New Zealand President’s Award (Royal Society of New Zealand, 2011)
- Edge Prize (Trinity College Dublin, 2003)
Funded Fellowships
- IODP 372 & 395C Expedition Shipboard Participation (Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), 2020 - present)
- IODP 372 Expedition Shipboard Participation (2018 - 2020)
- Understanding Petroleum Source Rocks, Fluids, and Plumbing Systems (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2015 - 2019)
- Geothermal Supermodels (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2013 - 2017)
- Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (Irish Research Council, 2018 - 2021)
- iCRAG-GSI Environmental Geosciences Postgraduate Studentship (Science Foundation Ireland, 2018 - 2022)