Prof Geoff Duller

BA Geography 1987 (St Catherine's College, Oxford) PhD 1992 (Aberystwyth)

Professor Geoff Duller has been on the staff at the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences since 1995, and was awarded a personal chair in 2005. He studied for a degree in Geography at St Catherine's College Oxford (BA 1987), and then spent a year teaching geography at Massey University, New Zealand. He returned to Aberystwyth in 1989 to study for a PhD on luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments in New Zealand (PhD 1992). As part of this thesis he developed the first widely adopted single aliquot methods for luminescence dating. He undertook postdoctoral research at Aberystwyth, and then at the University of Adelaide and Risø National Laboratory.

In 1995 he returned to Aberystwyth to take up a lectureship. In 2000 he became director of the Aberystwyth Luminescence Research Laboratory.

In 2012 he was awarded the Bigsby Medal by the Geological Society of London in recognition of his work in the development and application of luminescence dating.

Module Coordinator

• GS21910 - Reconstructing Past Environments

Tutor

• GS34040 - Geography Dissertation
• GS35240 - Environmental Science Dissertation
• GS35320 - Advanced Fieldwork Skills
• GS21910 - Reconstructing Past Environments
• GS11520 - How to Build a Planet

Lecturer

• GS21120 - Physical Geography and Environmental Science Research Design and Fieldwork Skills
• GS21420 - Environmental Earth Science Research Design and Fieldwork Skills
• GS20020 - Geography Research Design and Fieldwork Skills
• EAM4660 - Dissertation in Environmental Change Impacts and Adaptation
• GS35320 - Advanced Fieldwork Skills
• GS11520 - How to Build a Planet
• EAM1120 - Advanced Research Skills 1: science communication and data analysis

Coordinator

• GS21910 - Reconstructing Past Environments

Grader

• EAM4660 - Dissertation in Environmental Change Impacts and Adaptation
• GS35140 - Environmental Earth Science Dissertation

Research Interests

My research is focussed on the development and application of luminescence dating. The ultimate outcome of this research has been the dating of key geological, geomorphological and archaeological sites, providing an improved understanding of Quaternary environmental change, and of the rate of operation of a range of geomorphological processes.

I was involved in the NERC funded BRITICE-Chrono project which ran for five years and has provided unprecendented chronological control on the last deglaciation of the British and Irish Ice Sheet. My role in this project focussed on the application of single grain and small aliquot methods that I have developed for dealing with incompletely bleached sediments.

As well as being an Associate Editor of Radiation Measurements and editor of Journal of Quaternary Science, I am also on the editorial board of the journal Ancient TL, a journal dedicated to luminescence and electron spin resonance dating methods.

Current PhD Students

• Robyn Pinder
• Svenja Riedesel
• Nina Ataee

Research Staff

• Dr Melissa Chapot
• Hollie, Wynne
• Dr Xianjiao Ou

• Member of Research and Strategy Committee
• Co-Director of Aberystwyth Luminescence Research Laboratory
• Radiation Protection Supervisor for DGES

• Quaternary Environmental Change Group