I am a Reader in Polar Geodesy & RCUK Academic Fellow in the geodesy group of the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University (UK).

Together the Newcastle geodesy group uses geodetic tools to work on problems relating to Earth geophysics, notably Earth's global water cycle, sea level change and polar ice mass balance. We also seek to advance the accuracy and precision of those geodetic tools (e.g., Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS/GPS), GRACE and SLR).

For more information on my research, check out the tabs above. I work most closely with my colleagues in the Newcastle geodesy group (part of a wider geomatics group):

Philip Moore, Professor of Space Geodesy: orbit determination, gravity fields, real-time GNSS orbit and clock determination

Peter Clarke, Professor of Geophysical Geodesy: Earth deformations (from tidal to secular periods), tectonics, reference frames

Stuart Edwards, Senior Lecturer: Water vapour from altimeters, engineering deformations

Nigel Penna, Lecturer in Geomatics: GPS error modelling and mitigation, tidal effects in geodetic studies, precipitable water vapour estimation using GPS

Rory Bingham, Research Associate: Consistent multi-technique geodetic estimates of present-day contributions to regional sea level change

Ian Thomas, Research Associate: GPS-based estimates of precipitable water in Antarctica, GPS-based ocean tide loading displacements and Global GPS Reprocessing (1995-present)

Sophie Bassett (from October 2009), Research Associate: Secular geocentre motion, glacial isostatic adjustment

Maxim Keshin, Research Associate: Precise Point Positioning, Troposphere, Earth deformation at tidal timescales

Sibylle Göbell, Research Associate: Sea ice freeboard, subsidence monitoring with GPS

Matt Burke, Field Geoscientist: installing continuous GPS in Antarctica

Visiting members of staff: Geoff Blewitt, Visiting Professor: GPS Geodesy, David Lavallée, Visiting Fellow: GPS Geodesy

The remainder of our Geodesy team is made up of our current PhD students: Craig Hancock, Nadim Dayoub, Ian Martin, Liz Petrie, Dave Booker, Matthew Goode, Matthias Kunz

Thinking of undertaking a PhD? We have a fully-funded NERC studentship available in PhD topics related to climate, sea level, geodesy (GPS/GNSS, gravity, orbits, etc.). See the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences postgraduate page for details of topics.

My wife, Julia, and I have been living in the UK on 'Tyneside' since September 2001, in Newcastle upon Tyne until 2007 and now over the River Tyne in Gateshead, after moving from Tasmania, Australia. Julia now looks after our two daughters, Lara (2) and April (0!) on a full-time basis. We recently shifted to a brand new church in Gateshead. A number of Christian Lecturers and Postdocs recently wrote an open letter to the students of Newcastle University to encourage them to consider the Christian faith. The Christian faith may be summarised quite easily: there are two ways to live ...