Robert Stephen John Sparks#
| Membership Number: | 3285 |
| Membership type: | ORDINARY |
| Section: | EARTH & COSMIC SCIENCES |
| Elected: | 2012 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED KINGDOM |
| Homepage(s): | http://www.gly.bris.ac.uk/people/rsjs.html |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2009 - 2012: Director of Bristol Environmental Risk Research Centre: BRISK
- 1989 - present: Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, UK (1989-1994 Head of Department; 1998-2003 NERC Research Professorship; 1996-2008 Director of Research Centre Environmental & Geophysical Flows)
- 1996-1998: Chief Scientist (one of 5) at Montserrat Volcano Observatory
- 1982-1989: University Lecturer in Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK
- 1978-1982: University Demonstrator in igneous petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK
- 1976: NATO Research Fellowship at Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, USA
- 1974: Research Fellowship (Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851) at Department of Environmental Sciences, Lancaster University, UK
Fields of Scholarship
- Earth Sciences in general
- Fluid mechanics
- Geology
- Geophysics
- Mineralogy and petrology
- Risk assessment methodologies for natural hazards
- Sedimentology
- Volcanic and igneous processes
Honours and Awards
- 2011 Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London
- 2010 Joseph Preistley Award 2010 (Dickenson College, Pennsylvania, USA)
- 2010 Commander of the British Empire (CBE)
- 2008 Thorarinsson Medal of IAVCEI
- 2008-2012 President-elect and then President of Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology (VGP) of American Geophysical Union
- 2006 Science Award of the Chiba University, Japan
- 2005 Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) Institute de Physique de Globe de Paris, Université de Paris
- 2004 Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Geosciences Union
- 2002-2007 Royal Society - Wolfson Merit Award
- 2002-2005 Honorary Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum
- 2000 Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America
- 2000 Bakerian Lecture of Royal Society
- 2000 Doctor of Science (Honorary) Lancaster University
- 2000 Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) Universite Blaise Pascal, Clermont Ferrand, France
- 1999-2003 President of International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior
- 1998 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
- 1998 Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London
- 1994-1996 President of the Geological Society
- 1993 President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Section C)
- 1988 Fellowship of Royal Society
