Science Facilities Directorate

Prof Randy Parrish
Director of Science Facilities

Randy has juggled scientific and managerial leadership for the past 25 years, first in Canada with the Geological Survey of Canada, and since 1996 in the UK as Professor of Isotope Geology at the University of Leicester and as Head of NERC's Isotope Geoscience Laboratory at the BGS. Since April 2011 he has also been Director of Science Facilities in the current Senior Leadership Team of BGS where he leads the efforts to coordinate environmental tracer and physical properties national facilities. While being committed to excellent scientific facilities, he has also been dedicated to innovative collaborative research in isotope geo- and environmental science with a strong focus on PhD and Post-Doctoral training, and this continues. His active research interests involve the Eastern Himalaya – erosion and tectonics, the environmental health impacts of depleted uranium and lead pollution of inhalable particulates, provenance of Chinese Loess, new methods in geochronology, and links between Plio-Pleistocene climate change, Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, and the rise and erosion of mountains of northwest North America. He teaches field geology at the University of Leicester in the Scottish Highlands and Swiss Alps, and was awarded the Murchison and Schlumberger medals in 2010. He holds a doctorate from the University of British Columbia.