Tamsin A. Mather

Education Mather was born and raised in Bristol, the daughter of William Mather and Felicity Mather. She was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1999, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in 2000 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2004. Her PhD involved working in Chile, Nicaragua and Italy.

Career and research Mather studies volcanic behaviour working to understand volcanoes as natural hazards, planetary scale processes and natural resources. Mather is a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and a fellow of University College, Oxford.

She is part of the Centre for the Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) project, which is a "collaborative centre for understanding tectonic and volcanic processes and hazards though the integrated application of Earth Observation (EO) data, ground-based measurements, and geophysical models".

Other current projects include: the European Research Council funded project Revealing hidden volcanic triggers for global environmental change events in Earth's geological past using mercury (Hg); Rethinking Natural Resources funded by the Oxford Martin School.

Previous projects include the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded RiftVolc project, researching past and current volcanism and volcanic hazards in the main Ethiopian rift; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded Volatiles, Geodynamics & Solid Earth Controls on the Habitable Planet programme researching deep Earth influences in the long-term evolution of the Earth; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Strengthening Resilience in Volcanic Areas collaboration, (STREVA) which looked to establish a risk assessment framework for volcanoes.

Her research into the role of volcanism in planetary scale processes and the potential of the element mercury as a tracer for past large-scale volcanism with widespread environmental impacts including mass extinction events.

Mather's other research includes investigations into volcanic plumes, the effects of volcanic emissions and aerosols on the environment, and the structure and stability of volcanoes. and is interested in the mercury cycle, as well as other biogeochemical cycles.

Mather has led or collaborated on work studying volcanoes around the world, both in situ and using remote sensing data from ground or satellite based platforms. Hekla, and Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, the Santorini caldera in Greece, the Villarica, Lascar, Chaitén and Calbuco volcanoes in Chile, Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua (where she was held up at gunpoint), Mount Etna in Italy, Galeras in Colombia, the Santiaguito lava dome complex in Guatemala, and the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia.

Mather's research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Research Council and the Royal Society. producing a POSTnote note on Carbon capture and storage, she served as co-editor-in-chief of Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014–2019, on the board of directors of the Geochemical Society 2017–2019, and the Police Science Council.

Media and outreach In 2016 Mather appeared on the BBC World Service discussing volcanoes and earthquakes. Mather was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific in 2017. She has taken part in Pint of Science, lectured at the Royal Institution and appeared on podcasts. and spoke at New Scientist Live in 2018.

In 2024 she published her first book 'Adventures in Volcanoland' in the UK (Abacus) and USA (Hanover Square Press).

Awards and honours 2024: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 2022: Appointed a geochemistry fellow by the European Association of Geochemistry 2021: Elected a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE) 2018: Awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award of the Royal Society. 2010: Awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize by the Leverhulme Trust. 2008: Awarded the national L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award. 2005: Awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship by the Royal Society, which funded the study of volatile emissions from volcanoes.