Professor Huw Davies

Publication

• Date
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Research

Since September 2025 I have been Research Development Lead and Line Manager for Geosciences in the School. For the preceding 3 years I was the School's Director of Recruitment and Admissions, and before that I was the Director of Research for over 6 years, and earlier still I led the Centre for Solid Earth and Natural Resources (2015-16). l Iead one of its sub-constituent groups, the Mantle Geodynamics Group (MGG) which is part of the Tectonics and Geophysics Research Group.

The Mantle Geodynamic Group tries to understand how the region between the crust and the core, called the mantle, drives Earth dynamics including plate tectonics. We primarily do this using advanced numerical models on high performance computers. We constrain the models using observational data from many disciplines ranging from seismology and geodesy to geochemistry, geology and petrology.

A big project for my group is the "Mantle Circulation Constrained (MC²): A multidisciplinary 4D Earth framework for understanding mantle upwellings" grant awarded to myself as lead PI, together with a further 13 co-Investigators across 9 UK Universities (see below on the grant section). This project supports a PDRA (Dr. James Panton) who models mantle circulation over the past 1 Ga. This includes models assimilating plate motion histories published by Prof. Müller's Earthbyte group at the University of Sydney. The final models are constrained by seismic tomography structures imaged by the MC2 seismologists working with Prof. Ferreira (UCL) and Dr. Koelemeijer (RHUL / Univ. of Oxford). The grant further supports 2 PhD students (Nicolas Récalde and Gwynfor Morgan) in my group who will consider the implications of the mantle circulations models for seismic discontinuities and noble gases. It also supports an isotope geochemist PDRA Dr. Paul Béguelin at Cardiff supervised by Dr. Morten Andersen. In total the project employed 14 PDRAs across the UK and a further Researcher Co-Investigator. The goal of the project will be to understand mantle dynamics. A very large number of publications have been produced by this grant, with a notable all grant publication being published in Proc. Royal Society B (Davies et al., 2025). This project started in November 2020. 

Over the past decade my research has included :-

• Showing that the evolutionary history of the two large low seismic velocity provinces in the deep mantle are different (Panton et al., 2025)
• Showing that our understanding of recycling oceanic crust in geodynamic models matches with Monte-Carlo geochemistry model constrained by geochemical observations (Béguelin et al., 2025)
• Demonstrating consequences of phase changes on mantle dynamics (Morgan et al., 2025a,b)
• Investigating the influence of lithosphere thickness on mantle dynamics during supercontinent cycle (Plimmer et al., 2024)
• Investigating how subduction can weaken an over-riding plate with and without a volcanic arc (Lei and Davies, 2023; Zhang and Davies, 2024)
• Understanding the stability of subducted dense oceanic crust at the core-mantle boundary (Panton et al., 2023)
• Understanding lead isotopes from mantle geodynamics (Panton et al., 2022)
• Global models of water circulation (Price, Davies and Panton, 2019)
• Assimilation of seismic tomography into mantle dynamic models (Price and Davies, 2018);
• Maintaining isotopic domains in mantle circualtion models (Barry et al., 2017)
• Developing a spectral element code for mantle convection (Phillips et al., 2019)
• Breaking supercontinents (Wolstencroft and Davies, 2017)
• Module for global modelling of melting and isotope evolution in the mantle (van Heck et al., 2016)

Over the years I have published on many topics including - 

• Relationship between mantle convection and supercontinent cycle (Plimmer et al., 2024)
• Constraining geodynamics with geochemistry (Béguelin et al., 2025; Panton et al., 2022; Barry et al., 2017)
• Heat Flow (Davies, 2013; Davies and Davies, 2010)
• Subduction dynamics (Garel et al., 2014; Davies 1999; Zhang and Davies, 2024; Lei and Davies, 2023)
• Subduction zone thermal structure and melting (Davies and Stevenson, 1992; Davies, 1999)
• Mantle seismic structure (Rhodes and Davies, 2001; Davies et al., 1992; Gudmundsson et al., 1990; Bunge and Davies, 2001; Davies and Bunge, 2001)
• Slab Breakoff (Davies and von Blanckenburg, 1995, 2024; von Blanckenburg and Davies, 1995)
• Mantle convection (Morgan et al., 2025a, 2025b; Wolstencroft and Davies, 2011; Wolstencroft et al., 2009)
• Adaptivity in mantle convection (Davies et al., 2008, Davies et al., 2007)
• Mantle upwellings (Davies, 2005, Davies and Bunge, 2006; Davies and Davies, 2009)
• Deep lower mantle structure, thermal or compositional (Panton et al., 2024; Panton et al., 2023; Davies et al., 2012)

Recent Grants

NERC Large Grant - PI of Cardiff University component - "Feedbacks between mineral reactions and mantle convection". £36k. Led by Prof. Wheeler at University of Liverpool, also involving University of Cambridge, University of Manchester and UCL. Jan 2023-28 Feb 2028. 

NERC Large Grant - Lead PI - "Mantle Circulation Constrained (MC²): A multidisciplinary 4D Earth framework for understanding mantle upwellings", October 2020- September 2025, ~£3 million. Principal Investigator - Prof. J. Huw Davies (Cardiff Univ.); Co-Investigators - Prof. Elliott, Dr. Myhill, Prof. Wookey (Univ. of Bristol), Dr. Andersen (Cardiff Univ.), Dr. Shorttle (Univ. of Cambridge), Dr. Roberts (Imperial College London), Dr. Davies, Dr. Nowacki, Dr. Walker (Univ. of Leeds), Prof. Biggin (Univ of Liverpool), Dr. Porcelli (Univ. of Oxford), Dr. Koelemeijer (Royal Holloway, Univ. of London), Dr. Ferreira (Univ. College London). Project Partners - Dr. Bower (Univ. of Bern), Prof. Cordier (Univ. de Lille), Dr. Davies (ANU), Dr. Ghiorso (ENKI), Prof. Müller (EarthByte, Univ. of Sydney), Dr. Zaroli (Univ. de Strasbourg).

Horizon 2020, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, The Evolution of Terrestrial Planets: Insights from Models of Planetary Evolution with Coupled Internal, Atmospheric/Surface Development, Dr. Matt Weller, 2019-2021, €212933.76 - ultimately declined. 

NERC Grant – NE/M000400/1 - Lead PI of Cardiff element – “Volatile legacy of the Early Earth”, £124k (FEC) – September 2014-September 2020. This Consortium is led by Prof. Walter (Univ. Bristol) (Part of NERC Programme - Volatiles, geodynamics and solid earth controls on the habitable planet).

NERC Grant – NE/M000397/1   Lead PI of Cardiff element – “Mantle volatiles : processes, reservoirs and fluxes”, £221k  (FEC) - Sept 2014 – Oct 2020. This Consortium is led by Prof. Ballentine (Univ. Oxford) (Part of NERC Programme - Volatiles, geodynamics and solid earth controls on the habitable planet).

NERC Standard Grant – NE/K004824/1  -£428,490  (£240,763 Cardiff element; £192,610 awarded) – Lead PI, co-I James Wookey (Univ. of Bristol) – Project Partners – Rhodri Davies (Australian National University), Christine Thomas (Univ Muenster),  Lars Stixrude and Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni (UCL) - Superplumes, superpiles or superpuddings? Understanding the thermochemical dynamics of the mantle with waveform seismology – September 30 2013 - September 2017.

NERC Standard Grant – NE/I024429/1 - £428,490 (£204,669 from NERC to CU) –Lead PI -Understanding how the mantle transition-zone 'valve' controls slab fate – June 1, 2012 - 2016

Teaching

I lecture on

• Structural Geology and Geophysics (Yr 2)
• Geodynamics (Yr 3)
• Numerical Methods (Yr 4)

In 2019-20 I lectured/taught/or assessed on the following modules

• Planet Earth (yr 1),
• Geophysics (yr 2),
• Numerical Methods (yr 4).

I also lectured on the modules, Plate Tectonics (yr 2), Dynamic Earth (yr 3) and Geodynamics (yr 4), pre-2020. I also support some fieldtrips, and projects modules; e.g. the 60 credit Year 4 MESci Research Project module. In my first decade and more at Cardiff I lectured on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (Years 1 to 3).

I was External Examiner for University of Bristol's Geophysics Degree Programmes, from 2018-2022.

Biography

Career overview

• Professor in Geodynamics - School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University (2015 - present)
• Reader in Earth and Environmental Sciences – School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University (2008  - 2015)
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciencess – School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University (2001 - 2008)
• Lecturer in Geophysics – Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool (1992-2001)
• NERC Research Fellow – Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, University of Cambridge (1990-1992)

Education and Qualifications

• PhD – Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (1989)
• MS – Geophysics, California Institute of Technology (1988)
• BA  Natural Sciences – Physics and Theoretical Physics -  University of Cambridge (1983)

Honours and awards

Honours and Awards (excluding Grants)

• Executive Editor, for Geodynamics/Geodesy, Solid Earth journal, 2015 - 2019.
• President, Geodynamics Division, European Geosciences Union, 2009-11, 2011-13
• Member Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) Peer Review College 2007-2010, 2012-present
• Member European Research Council Peer Review College
• Member European Science Foundation Peer Review College
• Member Editorial Board - Tectonophysics (1998 - present)
• Member Editorial Board - Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (1998 - present)
• NERC Research Fellowship 1990-1992
• NERC Research Fellowship (renewed) 1992
• Scholarship, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Tulsa, OK, USA 1984-1989
• Senior Scholarship for First Class Performance, St. John's College, Cambridge 1982

Professional memberships

• Fellow - Royal Astronomical Society
• American Geophysical Union
• European Geosciences Union
• Cymdeithas Wyddonol Caerdydd
• British Geophysical Association

Academic positions

• 2001-present: Lecturer / Senior Lecturer / Reader /Professor – Cardiff University
• 2014 - Visiting Research Fellow, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University
• 1995 - Visiting Fellow, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University
• 1992-2001: Theoretical Geophysics Lecturer - University of Liverpool
• 1990-1992: NERC Research Fellow, Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, University of Cambridge
• 1984-1989: Research Assistant, Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Committees and reviewing

External Committees

• 2013 - present: Member Geophysics Forum (Geological Society of London and Royal Astronomcal Society)

University Committees

• 2008 - present: Advanced Research Computing at Cardiff (ARCCA) – Oversight Committee
• 2009 - present: Advanced Research Computing at Cardiff (ARCCA) - Operational and User Group Committee
• 2016 - present: University Director of Research Network
• 2016 - present: Physical Sciences and Engineering College Director of Research Committee

School Committees

• 2016 - present: School Executive Commitee
• 2016 - present: Chair School Research Committee
• 2001 - present: School Exam Boards
• 2002-2015: Chair School IT Committee
• pre 2014 - member of School (i) Finance, (ii) Teaching, (iii) Research; Committees

Exernal PhD Vivia Examiner (since 2015)

• External Examiner Marie Pears, UCL, PhD thesis, January 2015

• External Examiner Michael Rubey, Sydney Univ, PhD thesis, Nov 2015

• External Examiner Ka Lok Li, Uppsala University, PhD thesis, 15 September, 2017

• External Examiner Anne Glerum, Utrecht University, PhD thesis, 1 March, 2019

Supervisions

I am interested in lead supervising projects related to

• mantle dynamics
• geodynamics
• subduction
• plumes and mantle upwellings

and co-supervising a broader range of projects where there is

• Geophysics
• Numerical components

The following students have recently successfully completed their PhDs.

• Duo Zhang - Formation of Back Arc Basins (2024)
• Abi Plimmer - relationship between supercontinents and mantle circulation (2025)
• Nicolas Récalde - controls of geodynamics on noble gases (2026)
• Gwynfor Morgan - constraints from seismology on mantle dynamics (2025)

Past projects

Zhibin Lei - 

James Panton - 

Matthew Price - 

Impact

Outreach

Open University Severnside Branch - Presentation on "Mantle Engine", Saturday December 7th 2019, at Christmas meeting.

I have presented to many School Groups who visit the 3D Visualisation Suite in the School. This will be on topics related to mantle convection, including in Welsh.

Impact

I have undertaken research with a range of geoscience companies.

Media (2020 onwards)

MC2 project was covered on BBC News website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52701935 May 2020

Talk Radio - June 2020

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - June 2020

BBC Radio 5 Live - June 2020

Radio National, ABC Australia - June 2020

Naked Scientists podcast - June 2020

News articles

Researchers to study ‘DNA’ of Earth’s interior

18 May 2020

New project aims to produce 4D maps of the Earth’s mantle to help understand some of the most dramatic geological events in our history