Simon Redfern

Biography

Simon is professor of Mineral Physics at the University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences. Before coming to Cambridge, Simon was Lecturer in Geochemical Spectroscopy in the Departments of Earth Sciences and Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He is the Chair of the NERC Cambridge Earth System Science DTP as well as being a Director of Studies at Jesus College. Simon is currently a member of the NERC Science & Innovation Strategy Board, the Peer Review College, as well as serving as a member of Science Board at STFC. Recently, Simon served as a British Science Association Science Media Fellow at the BBC, experiencing the mechanisms by which scientific discovery and journalistic exposition interact, both in written and broadcast media. He is keen to help in efforts to make scientific methods and processes, as well as discoveries, accessible to a wide audience.

Research Interest

Simon's research covers a broad range of interests all linked by their relationship to the atomic-scale, nano-scale and microscopic structure of minerals. They all deal with the relationship between mineral structure & microstructure and chemical & physical properties. He is interested in the relationships between structure, dynamics and properties of crystalline solids from the Earth's core to the biosphere, and how these properties impact upon broader Earth and environmental processes. This includes the relationship between microstructure of biominerals and the physical properties of the structures that they form, the microstructure of rock-forming minerals and their seismic signatures (relevant to interpretations of deep Earth data), and the microstructures of manufactured materials based on mineral structures which may form the basis of new wasteforms for clean energy production. His work employs experimental methods in the lab and at national Synchrotron and Neutron radiation facilities.