Professor Chris Hawkesworth FRS

Chris Hawkesworth currently holds Emeritus positions at the Universities of Bristol and St Andrews. Previously he was Deputy Principal and Vice-Principal for Research, and Wardlaw Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of St Andrews (2009–2014), and before St Andrews he was Professor of Earth Sciences at Bristol and the Open University. Hawkesworth’s research uses isotopes and trace elements to study natural processes including those involved in the generation of magmas, the formation and evolution of the continental crust, the development of base metal deposits and environmental changes throughout time. He is particularly interested in constraining rates of natural processes from the geological record.

Hawkesworth was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2002, and his research has been recognized with awards including the Schlumberger Medal of the Mineralogical Society in 2002, the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society in 2012, and the Bunsen Medal of the European Sciences Union in 2014. He has served on the governing bodies of the Universities of Bristol and St Andrews, and of a number of learned societies. He has chaired a Scientific Advisory Board for the Max Planck Society, review panels in Australia and South Africa, and served on the Scottish Funding Council Research & Knowledge Exchange Committee. He currently chairs the National Geological Screening Independent Review Panel for Radioactive Waste Disposal.

Professional position

  • Senior Research Fellow, School of Earth Sciences (Wills Memorial Building), University of Bristol
  • Emeritus Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews

Subject groups

  • Earth and Environmental Sciences

    Geochemistry, Geology

Professor Chris Hawkesworth FRS
Elected 2002
Committees Participated Role
Hooke Committee January 2019 - December 2022 Member
Council January 2018 - November 2021 Member
Grants Committee January 2017 - December 2022 Member
Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences December 2015 - November 2017 Chair
Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences December 2014 - November 2015 Member
Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences December 2004 - November 2007 Member
Research Appointment Panel A(i) January 2004 - December 2007 Member