Professor Chris Davies

Profile

Positions held:

• 06/2021 – Present Professor in Theoretical Geophysics, University of Leeds, UK
• 04/2018 – 05/2021 Associate Professor in Theoretical Geophysics, University of Leeds, UK
• 01/2015 – 12/2019 NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
• 04/2014 – 12/2014 Green Scholar, Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego, USA
• 04/2011 – 03/2014 NERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
• 01/2010 – 03/2011 Green Scholar, Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego, USA
• 06/2009 – 12/2009 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Leeds, UK

Awards:

• 2024: William Gilbert Medal of the American Geophysical Union
• 2024: Price Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom
• 2016: Doornbos Memorial Prize of the Committee on Studies of the Earth’s Deep Interior
• 2014: Winton Capital Award (G) of the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom

Responsibilities

• Deputy Directory, Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics (https://fluids.leeds.ac.uk/)

Research interests

My research is focused on understanding the dynamics and evolution of Earth’s deep interior. I am particularly interested in the generation of Earth’s magnetic field by fluid motion in its electrically conducting outer core and the manner in which this process is controlled by the overlying mantle and the solid inner core. To this end, I design theoretical and numerical models that describe the thermodynamic evolution of the core-mantle system and the fluid dynamics of magnetic field generation.

I have applied these models to analyse fluid dynamic processes that arise from couplings between the fluid and solid cores and the mantle, constrain properties of the deep Earth that are not directly observable (such as the core-mantle boundary heat flow and the age of the inner core) and to interpret geophysical data.

Topics associated with these research themes are:

1. Geodynamo theory
2. Convection
3. Thermal history of the Earth
4. Core-mantle interactions
5. Numerical methods
6. High-performance computing
7. Role of magnetic fields in planetary habitability

I currently advise the following PhD students:

• Brad Davy (with Jon Mound and Steve Tobias)
• Jo Kershaw (with Jon Mound and Steve Tobias)
• Rhiannon Nicholls (with David Hughes and Evy Kersale)
• Oliver Jackson (with David Hughes and Evy Kersale)
• Naomi Shakespeare-Rees (with Phil Livermore)

• 4D Earth Swarm
• A new energy budget for the Earth's core
• Beyond 1D Structure of Earth's Core - Reconciling Inferences from Seismic and Geomagnetic Observations
• Earth's core as a layered system
• MC2: Mantle Convection Constrained
• NSFGEO-NERC: On the origin of extreme variations in Earth's magnetic field
• NSFGEO-NERC:Integrated Experimental and Dynamical Modeling of Top-down Crystallization in Terrestrial Cores:Implications for Core Cooling in the Earth
• Resolving the Inner Core Nucleation Paradox
• The first self-consistent dynamical simulations of asteroid dynamos

Qualifications

• PhD, Geophysics, University of Leeds
• MSc, Computational Fluid Dynamics, University of Leeds
• BSc, Computer Science, University of Leeds

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

Student education

I an module leader for:

• SOEE3530/5665M Global Geophysics.
• SOEE3058/5310M Geophysical Project.

Research groups and institutes

• Deep Earth
• Geodynamics and Tectonics
• Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics
• Planetary Exploration

Current postgraduate researchers

• Naomi Shakespeare-Rees
• Jennifer Sides-Crump