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About Our Team

Ass. Professor Heather Stewart
Director

Heather has more than 20 years of experience in multidisciplinary marine research and exploration with a focus on characterising the geology and physical character of the seabed and sub-seabed. She has participated in more than 35 marine expeditions globally and taken part on a number of remote land-based fieldwork expeditions.

Heather’s current research has two themes: the geomorphology and sediments of hadal and abyssal systems like subduction trenches and fracture zones; and assessing the dynamics, configuration, and sedimentary record of former ice-sheets. Working across disciplines Heather uses her expertise in shallow seismic, sidescan sonar, multibeam echosounder and sample data to work across a number of complementary fields.

Heather has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and commercial reports, is an experienced scientific and public presenter having given more than 60 conference presentations and university guest lectures, in addition to over 20 invited public talks. She has completed a number of crewed submersible dives to abyssal and hadal depths, and recently, alongside expert submersible pilot and legend Kate Wawatai, became a member of the deepest diving all female submersible team.

Additionally, Heather is adjunct to the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre where she is Deputy Director of Geoscience for the multidisciplinary team led by Prof. Alan Jamieson.

View Ass. Professor Heather Stewart’s research profile here:
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Dr Joana Gafeira

Joana is a marine geologist with more than 20 years of experience. Joana began her career with the marine geology team of the Portuguese Geological Survey before moving to the UK to complete a PhD at the University of Edinburgh before joining the British Geological Survey. Since then, Joana has contributed to various government funded marine mapping projects, blue skies scientific research and worked on numerous commercial projects. Joana’s ongoing research spans all aspects of marine geomorphology and geohazards, and specialises in the interpretation of multibeam bathymetric, backscatter data and seismic data.

From her focus on ensuring that innovative digital processes are embedded into mapping activities, she co-developed the CoMMa Toolbox, that is an ArcGIS Pro toolbox created for semi-automated morphology mapping. Joana is an active member of the International Seabed Geomorphology Mapping (ISGM) Working Group, an ongoing collaboration that focused on developing multi-scale approaches for the creation of standardised geomorphology maps.

View Dr Joana Gafeira’s research profile here:
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Dr Devin Harrison
Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Devin is a postdoctoral research fellow at Kelpie Geoscience. His research utilises high-resolution topographic models of the seafloor and complimentary geophysical and geospatial datasets to understand the geomorphic evolution and process landform relationship of the deep sea and the continental shelves. Furthermore, Devin has a wealth of expertise in geophysical soundings of terrestrial systems, including: glacial outwash systems and ice-marginal environments, peatland environments, and fluvial landscapes.

Devin earned his PhD at Newcastle University, United Kingdom. His PhD research focused on the utilization of geophysical techniques (e.g. ground-penetrating radar) to characterize the evolution of terrestrial glacial ice-margins and outwash plains in southeast Iceland. During his PhD Devin published a number of papers on glacial outburst floods and their geomorphic impact, and the long-term evolution of glacial forelands prone to repeat high-magnitude outburst floods.

Currently, Devin is working on the Inkfish open ocean project as a geoscientist with the aim to understand deep sea geomorphic processes, and characterise the spatial complexity and variability of the seafloor for habitat classification. Devin’s ongoing research interests include glacial geomorphology, the geomorphology of the deep sea, landform and landscape evolution, submarine landslides, peatland environments, and glaciofluvial sedimentology.

View Dr Devin Harrison’s research profile here:
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Dr Nemi Walding

Nemi is a postdoctoral research fellow at Kelpie Geoscience. Her research integrates high-resolution topographic models with photography and video analysis to investigate submarine volcano geomorphology and the characteristics of volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits to reconstruct the geological evolution of the seascape.

Nemi earned her PhD at the University of Hull, United Kingdom. Nemi’s research combined geotechnical experiments, analogue flume modelling, and fieldwork to investigate the geomechanical changes of pyroclastic material in response to moisture addition. Her findings underscored the significance of even minimal moisture variations in influencing pyroclastic density current behaviour and resulting volcanic stratigraphy. In addition to her academic expertise, Nemi has prior experience working in the geotechnical industry, with proficiency in soil and rock logging, as well as environmental and geotechnical sampling.

View Dr Nemi Walding’s research profile here
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Marine Geologist Heather Stewart working with scientific landers onboard RV Dagon in the Pacific Ocean

How to Contact Us

We are located at the Edinburgh Innovations Enterprise Hub on the University of Edinburgh King’s Buildings campus, two miles south of the city centre.
For general enquiries:

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