Julian Dowdeswell

Julian Dowdeswell graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1980, and studied for a Masters Degree at INSTAAR in the University of Colorado and for a Ph.D. in the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.

His research interests include: (a) the dynamics of large ice masses and their response to climate change; (b) the application of airborne and satellite geophysical techniques in glaciology, and (c) processes and patterns of sedimentation in glacier-influenced marine environments. He has worked, on the ice and from airborne platforms, in a number of areas of the Arctic, including Svalbard, Russian Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya, Iceland, Greenland and Baffin, Devon and Ellesmere islands in Arctic Canada. He has also undertaken many periods of work on icebreaking research vessels in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, in the fjords and on the continental shelves of Svalbard and Greenland, and in the Weddell, Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas off Antarctica.

Julian was Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute from 2002 to 2021.

Julian has been awarded the Polar Medal by Her Majesty the Queen for 'outstanding contributions to glacier geophysics' and has also received the Founder's Medal (2008) and the Gill Memorial Award (1998) from the Royal Geographical Society. In 2011 he was awarded the Louis Agassiz Medal by the European Geosciences Union for 'outstanding contributions to the study of polar ice masses and to the understanding of the processes and patterns of sedimentation in glacier-influenced marine environments.' In 2014 he was awarded the IASC Medal by the International Arctic Science Committee, and in 2018 the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London. He has recently been elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

Career

• 2001 to present: Professor of Physical Geography, University of Cambridge
• 2002-2021: Director, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• 1998-2001: Professor of Physical Geography and Director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre, University of Bristol
• 1994-1998: Professor of Glaciology and Director and Head of Department, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth (1997 to 1998)
• 1992-1994: Assistant Director of Research, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• 1989-1992: Senior Assistant in Research, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• 1986-1989: Lecturer in Physical Geography University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Qualifications

• B.A. in Geography, University of Cambridge,
• M.A. University of Colorado, INSTAAR
• Ph.D. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• ScD University of Cambridge

Research

Major research interests

• Glaciological investigations of the form and flow of glaciers and ice sheets. Continuing integrated programme of field and numerical modelling work on high Arctic ice masses and their responses to climate change.
• Processes and patterns of glacial sedimentation in marine environments, emphasising links between geophysical measurements and numerical modelling of sediment delivery to continental margins.
• Satellite remote sensing studies of large ice masses. In particular, the quantitative analysis of satellite datasets to solve glaciological problems and to provide boundary conditions for numerical models.

Publications

Books

• Charlier, G., de Pomereu, J., Dowdeswell, J. and Macleod, A., 2020. Shackleton’s Endurance: the Photographs of Frank Hurley, Salto Ulbeek Publishers, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and the Scott Polar Research Institute.
• Charlier, G., de Pomereu, J. and Dowdeswell, J., 2019. Captain Scott's Antarctic Photographs, 1911, Salto Ulbeek Publishers and the Scott Polar Research Institute. 84pp.
• Dowdeswell, J.A. and Hambrey, M., 2018. The Continent of Antarctica, Papadakis. 298pp.
• Dowdeswell, J.A., Canals, M., Jakobsson, M., Todd, B.J., Dowdeswell, E.K. and Hogan, K. (eds.), 2016. Atlas of Submarine Glacial Landforms: Modern, Quaternary and Ancient, The Geological Society of London. v. 46, 618pp. doi:10.1144/M46.
• Dowdeswell, E., Dowdeswell, J.A. and Seddon, A., 2014. Ernest Shackleton: Antarctic Explorer, Hinemann-Raintree. 32pp.
• Dowdeswell, E.K.L., Dowdeswell, J.A. and Seddon, A., 2012. Scott of the Antarctic, Heinemann-Raintree.
• Dowdeswell, J.A., de Pomereu, J., Charlier, G. and Lane, H., 2009. Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition, 1911-13: the Photographs of Herbert Ponting, Salto Ulbeek Publishers and the Scott Polar Research Institute.
• Dowdeswell, J.A., de Pomereu, J., Charlier, G. and Lane, H., 2009. Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition 1911-13: The Photographs of Herbert Ponting, Salto Ulbeek Publishers and the Scott Polar Research Institute.
• Dowdeswell, J.A. and Lane, H., 2006. The Antarctic Paintings of Edward Seago. 98pp.
• Dowdeswell, J. (ed.), 2002. Glacier-influenced sedimentation on high-latitude continental margins, Geological Society Pub House.
• Dowdeswell, J.A. and Hambrey, M.J., 2002. Islands of the Arctic, Cambridge Univ Pr. 280pp.
• Elverhøi, A., Dowdeswell, J.A., Funder, S., Mangerud, J. and Stein, R. (eds.), 1998. Glacial and Oceanic History of the Polar North Atlantic Margins, Elsevier.
• Wadhams, P., Dowdeswell, J.A. and Schofield, A.N. (eds.), 1997. The Arctic and Environmental Change, CRC.
• Dowdeswell, J.A. and Scourse, J.D., 1990. Glacimarine environments: processes and sediments.