Prof. Geoffrey Boulton

Involvement at the ISC

• Member of the ISC Governing Board (2021-2026)
• Member of the ISC Governing Board (2018-2021)
• Member of the Standing Committee for Science Planning (2022-2025)
• Co-Chair of the Forum on Publishing and Research Assessment
• Member of the Oversight panel of the ISC project COVID-19 and implications for national and global policy
• ISC Foundation Fellow (June 2022)

Background

A geologist/geophysicist renowned for his work on the form and flow of ice sheets. He has received numerous honours for his scientific work including the Seligman Crystal of the International Glaciological Society, the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, the Kirk Bryan Award of the Geological Society of America, and Commandeur of de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in France. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s national academy and has received several honorary degrees.

He has been a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, a member of the Council of the Royal Society and chair of its Science Policy Centre. He has been President of CODATA and principal author of reports on open science, open data for the Royal Society, ISC and IAP. He is currently a member of the Governing Board of the ISC and chairs the Academic Advisory Council of the University of Heidelberg.

Past and current positions:

• Metal Box Company – 1962
• Geological Survey of Great Britain 1963-64
• Demonstrator in Geology, University of Keele 1964-65
• Research Fellow in Geology, University of Birmingham 1965-68
• Hydrogeologist – Kenya Department of Water Supply 1968
• Lecturer/Reader, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia 1969-80
• Professor of Geoscience, University of Amsterdam 1980-86
• Regius Professor of Geology, University of Edinburgh (sequentially Head of Geology and Geophysics – Provost and Dean of Science and Engineering – Vice Principal of the University) 1986-2008
• Regius Professor Emeritus from 2008.

Read Geoffrey Boulton’s CV

The page was updated in September 2025.