Recent Newsletters

No. 68: July 2026

“The earth is full of passages, like a sponge, and everywhere it breathes out fire.
It is a wonder that a single day passes without the whole world being consumed by heat,
when we consider how much fire is trapped beneath our feet, ready to boil over.”

– Pliny the Elder (inspired by Etna and the Aeolian Islands or maybe the MinSoc150 meeting in Manchester a few weeks ago)

Editorial

After a break following the success of VMSG2026 in Southampton, the VMSG Newsletter returns for a bumper summer issue. As well as news about VMSG2027 and the next round of awards and bursaries, we have some changes to the VMSG Committee to report (and people to thank) and new openings on the VMSG Committee to announce alongside much more community news. – David Neave (Newsletter editor, outgoing)

On volunteering

Chairing the VMSG Committee serves as a constant reminder of the value of the volunteer. We have a fantastic committee who spend a lot of time thinking about how to bring our community together. I can see them doing this despite increasing pressures on each of them at their home organizations, and the uncertainty of ‘what next’ for our early career representatives. The annual cycle of awards brings in nominations for people who have long lists of amazing ways in which they have gone above and beyond to feed into what is a lively and supportive community of researchers and professionals at VMSG. Finally, this newsletter contains the announcement of our next January meeting, behind which is already a lot of hard work and planning from the volunteer Cambridge team!

Of course, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the sense of achievement and community that comes with volunteering benefits the volunteer too – but nonetheless without these volunteers that sense of community would disappear faster than a tephra deposit in a rainstorm.

We can’t rely on things staying the same either: at this years January meeting we ‘polled’ attendees about how well we can use our time to best serve the most people. We are in the process of sending out a more general poll too – those who cannot make it to that meeting are as important as those who did! Watch this space!

In the meantime, we’ve a couple of committee spots that have opened up (see announcement) and please do consider nominating some brilliant community members for our awards. And, for all you wonderful volunteers – the committed committee sitters, the workshop wonders, the engagement enthusiasts and beyond – have a wonderful summer and take time to rest and recharge! – Jenni Barclay (VMSG Chair)

VMSG committee changes

The VMSG Committee would like to extend their warmest thanks to Seb Watt (University of Birmingham) who has served as the Secretary for the past three years. Seb has done huge amounts of work behind the scenes to keep VMSG smoothly ticking over, and has made the rest of the committee’s lives considerably easier as a result. Thanks Seb!

Thanks also to Katie Preece (Swansea University) who will shortly be standing down as our Equality and Diversity Officer. Katie has continued to build on her predecessors’ efforts to try and make VMSG as welcoming and inclusive as possible. We’re particularly grateful for her efforts in producing our most recent Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report.

Rahul Subbaraman (University of Manchester) has also recently finished serving as a Student Representative. We’d also like to thanks Rahul for all the work he’s put into building and supporting the VMSG student community over the past two years, from maintaining PhD project lists to supporting buddy schemes and a raft of other stuff besides!

We’d also like to welcome Fathia Lutfiananda (University of Edinburgh) who will be joining us as a new Student Representative. Fathia writes…

Hello everyone! I’m Fathia Lutfiananda, a third-year PhD student in Volcanology-Geography at the University of Edinburgh. I’m originally from Indonesia, and my research focuses on understanding how communities experience the risks posed by pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) and how disaster mitigation and evacuation strategies can be improved. As part of my PhD, I am reconstructing the history of PDC impacts by mapping fatalities, documenting the evolution of PDC footprints, and examining how hazard maps and evacuation strategies have changed over time. I’m delighted to be serving as one of the VMSG Student Representatives, and I look forward to supporting student engagement while helping foster the welcoming and inclusive community that first welcomed me into the UK volcanology community.

In a change of role, David Neave will be standing down from his role as Newsletter Editor to take up the role of Secretary that has been vacated by Seb Watt. – VMSG Committee

Applications sought for the VMSG Committee

We are welcoming volunteers to join the VMSG committee from October 2026. These are for the Newsletter Editor, Equality and Diversity Officer and a general position as an Ordinary Member of the committee. Committee members participate in committee meetings and activities running through the year, including the annual winter meeting.

Terms usually run for 3 years. We welcome applications from related professionals or researchers working within VMSG’s remit. In the first instance please contact  David Neave, the VMSG Secretary (david.neave@manchester.ac.uk) with a brief outline of your interest by Friday 31 August 2026. Please put ‘VMSG Committee Application’ in the email header. If you have questions about what is involved in the Newsletter Editor or Equality and Diversity Officer roles, please contact David Neave (david.neave@manchester.ac.uk) or Katie Preece (k.j.preece@swansea.ac.uk), respectively.

In the case of multiple candidates for each post, we will arrange an anonymous online vote for the VMSG community to elect the positions. We will use a collated list of applicant statements for this.

The VMSG aims to provide a supportive environment where all in the community are welcome and valued, and are keen to promote balance in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, geographical location, physical ability, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background. An important part of helping to achieve this aim is to ensure that the VMSG committee fully reflects the diversity of our members.

Please forward this invitation to any individuals you believe might be interested in this opportunity and encourage them to apply! – VMSG Committee

VMSG2027

The Cambridge Local Organising Committee is delighted to welcome you to Queens’ College for the 2027 VMSG Annual Meeting, from 6–8 January 2027.

Founded in 1448, Queens’ College provides a stunning historic setting for the meeting and offers a unique opportunity to experience life at one of Cambridge’s oldest colleges.

As always, the scientific programme will feature sessions reflecting the breadth and diversity of volcanology and an optional programme of workshops will also be available on 5 January and on the morning of 6 January, ahead of the main conference.

Abstract submission and early-bird registration will open on 31 August and close on 23 October, with standard registration remaining open until 27 November. If you are planning to attend, we encourage you to book your accommodation as early as possible, as availability in Cambridge can be limited.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts and welcoming you to Cambridge in January! – VMSG Cambridge LOC.

Awards and bursaries

Its awards and bursary nomination season again! The closing date for the next round of our annual awards and biannual student bursaries is 15 September 2026.

We are seeking nominations for our three awards: the VMSG Award, the Willy Aspinall Prize and Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award. Please consider nominating someone who you feel has made a substantial impact in their area of research but also gone above and beyond to make a contribution to the research community. Here’s a description of the scope of each of these awards:

• The VMSG Award recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to our current understanding of volcanic and magmatic processes, either through a series of impactful papers or more broadly through science communication, academic service and societal engagement.
• The Willy Aspinall Prize may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on applied volcanology or geoheritage published in English, who is within three years of their being awarded a PhD at a university in the UK or Ireland.
• The Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on a topic within the VMSG remit, who has also made an exceptional contribution to supporting individuals or the wider research community, or to broader society, commensurate with their career stage. The award winner will have the opportunity to present their research as a keynote talk at the 2027 VMSG meeting in Cambridge.

Please see the awards website for further details on each award and how to nominate. We particularly encourage nominations from historically under-represented groups to all these awards. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t nominated anyone for an award before- and if you have any questions please get in touch with the VMSG Awards officer if you have any questions: k.j.chamberlain@liverpool.ac.uk.

We also welcome applications for student bursaries, which offer funding to postgraduate researchers of up to £750 (increased from £500!) to support activities that would otherwise not be possible. Remember, PhD students in their first year are now eligible to apply but you still must have presented at a VMSG conference prior to the application deadline.

Please see the bursaries website for further details and to apply. – Katy Chamberlain (Awards and Bursaries) and VMSG Committee

Student bursary reports

Natasha Keeley (Keele University) writes…

Thanks to the support of the VMSG Student Travel Bursary, I was able to attend the European Geosciences Union (EGU) conference in Vienna from 3^rd-8^th May 2026. At the conference, I gave an oral presentation on part of my PhD research titled “Magmatic processes and timescales of the 726 CE eruption of the Kameni Volcano (Greece)” in the session GMPV10.2 Magmatic textures: petrological insights into igneous processes. I had some really engaging discussions after my talk with researchers working on volcanic petrology, magma processes, diffusion chronology and the South Aegean volcanic region, which gave me useful feedback and new ideas to think about as I continue developing my work into a paper.

I also attended a range of interesting talks and poster sessions related to the Aegean region, submarine volcanic eruptions, volcanic hazards, and petrology. It was especially valuable to hear about current research being carried out across different volcanic systems and new developments in analytical approaches. I discovered that there weren’t many presentations on submarine volcanic eruptions, so I especially appreciated the opportunity to discuss the topic with other researchers working in related areas. Alongside the volcanic petrology sessions, I also attended talks and discussions on topics outside my direct research area, including women in geoscience, volcanic hazards, hazard communication and volcanic monitoring which I found really interesting and important.

One of the highlights of the conference was catching up with familiar faces from previous VMSG conferences and volcanic workshops, friends from university, as well as meeting other researchers working in the Aegean region and reconnecting with my IODP Expedition 398 group. EGU was a great opportunity for me to strengthen existing connections and meet new people within the volcanology community. It was really enjoyable to support the research of my friends and colleagues at the conference.

Beyond the science, it was great to spend time with friends and explore Vienna during the evenings and free time. I especially enjoyed visiting the Natural History Museum and seeing the mineral and dinosaur fossil collections. The conference was a hugely rewarding experience, and I left feeling motivated to finish writing up my paper and continue my research on Santorini and Kolumbo as I move towards the final stages of my PhD. I’m very grateful to VMSG for helping support my attendance at the EGU26.

Natasha presenting her work on Santorini at EGU

New fieldwork grants from the Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is delighted to launch the Kensington Fieldwork Grants: four new annual awards of £25,000 supporting ambitious, innovative field research with the potential to deliver impact locally and globally.

Applications for the new grants are now open and will close on 8 January 2027. Find out more: Kensington Fieldwork Grant | RGS

In addition, we have increased the award values of our other research grants, including:

• Walters Kundert Fellowship (£15,000 for field research in Arctic or high mountain environments)
• Ralph Brown Expedition Award (£15,000 for field research in aquatic environments)
• Thesiger-Oman Fellowships (£15,000 for field research in arid or semi-arid environments)
• Gilchrist Fieldwork Award (£15,000 for challenging overseas field research)
• Small Research Grants (Up to £5,000 for early career researchers)

The deadline for these awards is 16 November 2026. – Sarah Henton De Angelis (Grants Officer, Royal Geographical Society)

Air quality monitoring at St George’s Hill, Montserrat. This research was supported by an RGS grant. Credit: Thiffanie Williams, Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

Recording and interpreting pyroclastic stratigraphies: a workshop report

A joint workshop by the FIAMME Project Team and the IAVCEI Commission for Volcanogenic Sediments.

How do volcanologists approach pyroclastic exposures in the field? What data do they collect and how? How could data collection be optimised for use by analogue and numerical modellers? These are questions that have been troubling the FIAMME project team, as part of the UK-based, NERC-funded project “FIAMME: (An international collaboration for a) Framework for Ignimbrite Analysis Methodologies for Modelling and hazard Evaluation”. To consider some of these questions with the wider community, we held the Recording and Interpreting Pyroclastic Stratigraphies Workshop as part of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group Annual Meeting, Southampton (8th January 2026). The workshop had 15 participants from a range of career stages, from MSc students through to Principal Scientists, from different volcanological and sedimentological backgrounds.

Some photos of the activities throughout the day-long workshop.

The workshop aimed to challenge the way in which we record and interpret pyroclastic stratigraphies, with a particular focus on the deposits from pyroclastic density currents.
The workshop first provided some training on recording pyroclastic sequences. We had some robust discussion of the numerous underlying assumptions and paradigms which we consciously or subconsciously carry with us into the field, and which may dictate different field work approaches.

As a group, we then approached a wall-sized image of an exposure of a pyroclastic sequence and discussed how we would tackle such a locality in our own field work and what data we would collect. We considered existing and accepted practices in qualitative and quantitative data capture, different sampling strategies and conceptual models for sequence interpretation. We practised taking quantitative measurements, with boxes of tephra circulated for participants to measure tephra clasts. Close up images enabled participants to apply a lithofacies approach to describing pyroclastic rocks. Following a logging exercise, we discussed how logging can aid in reconstructing PDC dynamics and depositional histories.

The workshop also served as a source of data for the FIAMME project. We collected the measurements, lithofacies descriptions and logs created by participants and are using these to understand the natural variability in data collection across individuals of different experience levels and career stages. By also capturing the discussions ‘at the exposure’, participants have informed work on developing a robust framework for ignimbrite analysis methodologies, for both modelling and hazard evaluation.

Thank you to all the participants for engaging enthusiastically with the workshop – a great day was had by all. – Rebecca Williams (Loughborough University; Co-Chair Commission for Volcanogenic Sediments), Pete Rowley (University of Bristol) and Natasha Dowey (Sheffield Hallam University)

10th Anniversary UKADR Annual Conference 2026

Science, Society, and Solidarity

Transforming Crisis and Disaster Management Research for a Polycrisis World and the Post-2030 Global Agenda.

Join us for a critical intervention into the future of resilience. A decade of research, defining the next century of survival.

14-15 September 2026, Aston University (Birmingham, UK)

UKADR 2026 | 10th Annual Conference | Aston University

Why come along?

• Share your research and perspectives via oral and poster presentation options (deadline for abstract submission is 15 July 2026).
• Hear from others, across a range of disciplines and sectors.
• Grow your disaster-focused research network; meet others and better connect with a dynamic community of people (including many early-career researchers and professionals).
• Get involved in discussion sessions, sharing your insights and hearing from others, to explore topics such as how the UK disaster research community can engage in post-2030 conversations.
• Learn more about the work of UKADR and how you can get involved in this growing network (spanning academia, the public sector, civil society and more).

Whether you are keen to present your work, or join the conference to engage through the wider discussions, you are warmly welcome to the 10th Anniversary UKADR Annual Conference 2026.

Register today via the link here: https://www.ukadr2026.com/ – Amy Donovan (University of Cambridge)

Congratulations!

We would like to extent the community’s congratulations to Dr Peter Baxter (University of Cambridge) who received an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for ‘services to Public Health and to Protecting Communities from Volcanic Hazards’. – VMSG Committee (with thanks to Steve Sparks for bringing it to our attention)

The Power of Volcanoes

VMSG stalwarts, Tamsin Mather and David Pyle, have teamed up with illustrator Daniel Long and publishers Nosy Crow to produce a new book ‘Think Big: The Power of Volcanoes’, aimed at 7- to 11-year-olds.

When talking about the project, Tamsin said, ‘I have always wanted to write a book about volcanoes for younger readers as I think they are such an exciting way to explore thinking more deeply about our and other planets. I think that the best science books for this age group are all about combining words and pictures to tell a scientific story. Daniel’s illustrations are utterly beautiful, capture the science and are really fun to look at too. I love the way he has drawn from old pictures of eruptions as well as recent photos of volcanoes. It was fantastic to watch him develop his illustrations around our words!’

David said, ‘This was a very rewarding project – starting with the challenge of distilling our technical understanding of “how volcanoes work” into precise but accessible language for the readers. The visuals really make the book come to life. I particularly like Daniel’s images of different rocks in hand-specimen, while the image of a geothermal power plant is a direct reference to our project Rethinking Natural Resources!’

My kids would love this for sure. Maybe some small people you know might love it as well. – David Neave (Newsletter Editor)

Geoffrey Wadge (1949 to 2026)

Geoff Wadge was one of the most influential volcanologists in the UK with important contributions on volcano remote sensing, volcano deformation, volcanic hazards assessment, physical volcanology. He played a pioneering role in the application of remote sensing of active volcanoes. Geoff was educated in geology at Imperial College and came under the inspiring influence of George Walker who supervised his landmark PhD on Mount Etna in a superb documentation of magma production rates. His spent several years at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Trinidad and so began a life-long interest in the volcanoes and tectonics of the Eastern Caribbean. A visiting research scientist post at the Lunar and Planetary Science Unit, Houston gave him an appreciation of the potential of remote sensing to monitor volcanoes. From 1985 to his retirement Geoff was employed in the Department of Meteorology at Reading University where he pioneered research on remote sensing. His many achievements included: influential publications on high resolution geodesy of active deforming volcanoes; writing with Michael Isaacs a prophetic hazard assessment of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat; developing the use of radar in volcanology; and being a key figure in advocating volcano-dedicated remote sensing missions. The importance of his research was recognised in 2015 with award of the Murchison Medal. – Steve Sparks (University of Bristol)

Any more?

Do you have any job opportunities, PhD viva celebrations, or funding announcements that you would like to advertise? If so, please get in touch with David Neave (Newsletter Editor).

Any other business?

Stay in touch!

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and other volcanologists around the world. There are several ways you can do this: through the VMSG PhD and ECR directory (here), the Arizona State University mailing list (here), and the VMSG mailing list (here).

No. 67: February 2026

“The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,–no prospect of an end”

– James Hutton

Editorial

Hello VMSG. In this issue we’ll hear about recent winners of VMSG awards and student presentation prizes. We also have a reminder about the upcoming deadline for Student Bursaries and the Early Career VMSG Fieldwork Grant as well as reports from recent awardees. We also have some information about the MinSoc150 meeting that will celebrate 150 years of VMSG’s parent society, and a reminder about nominating people for MinSoc prizes. We also have a report from some members of the VMSG community who attended the Future Women and Nonbinary Leaders in Geoscience Field camp in January. (The header image is also a quick reminder that the VMSG Discord channel is out there to keep the community ticking over until our next meeting in 2027.) – David Neave (Newsletter Editor)

VMSG Prizes

Every year VMSG confers awards on members across our community. You can find more about the awards here. This year we were thrilled to celebrate the following awardees in Southampton.

The VMSG Award: Paul Cole (University of Plymouth)

The Zeiss Post-doctoral Keynote Award: Emma Watts (Swansea University)

Amongst stiff competition from lots of excellent contributions we were also pleased to make the following awards for student presentations at VMSG 2026:

The Geoff Brown Prize for Best Student Poster: Rahul Subbaraman (The University of Manchester) for “Microstructural Record of Icelandic Crystal Mushes Preserved in Gabbroic Nodules”

Honourable mentions: Katherine Wale (University of Bristol) for “Volcanic Ash Fall Risk to Marine Traffic and Infrastructure” & Kendra Ní Nualláin (University College Dublin) for “Tracing the Triggers: Modelling Dome Collapse Dynamics at Volcán de Colima”

The Bob Hunter Prize for Best Student Oral Presentation: Jacob Nash (University of Southampton) for “The submarine record of the largest volcanic eruption of the 21st century”

Honourable mention: Rebekah Rhodes (University of Oxford) for “Controls on Fissure Location and Fire Fountain Dynamics: Insights from Webcam Observations of the Svartsengi Volcanic System, Iceland”

MinSoc150 meeting

The Mineralogical Society is celebrating its 150^th birthday in 2026!

To mark this milestone, the MinSoc is running a celebratory conference:

Mineralogical Society at 150: Past discoveries and future frontiers

The meeting will be held 23–25^th June 2026 at the University of Manchester.

There will be a lots going on at this meeting for members of the VMSG community, especially for those with interests that overlap with many of the other special interest groups of the MinSoc, including the Geochemistry Group, Mineral Physics Group, Metamorphic Studies Group and Mineral Deposits Studies Group.

The deadline for early bird registration is here the 20th of March.

Lots more information can be found here: https://minsoc-150.org/

Mineralogical Society awards

The Mineralogical Society would like to draw your attention to the following awards that are now open for nominations!

Neumann Medal

The Neumann Medal will be awarded annually to a mid-career scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to applied mineralogy, clay mineralogy, environmental mineralogy, geochemistry, geomicrobiology, metamorphism, mineral physics or volcanology and magmatic studies, reflecting the diverse and worldwide interests and membership of the Society. Evidence of such excellence should be in the form of the impact of the applicant’s/nominee’s work, their publications, service to industry, outreach/promotion of science, leadership or other service to the community, teaching and work to improve equality, diversity and inclusivity in our science.’ Nominees/applicants do not have to be Members of the Mineralogical Society or nationals of the UK or Ireland.

Details at: https://www.minersoc.org/neumann

Collins Medal

The Collins medal will be awarded annually to a scientist who, during a long and active career, has made an outstanding contribution in applied mineralogy, clay mineralogy, environmental mineralogy, geochemistry, geomicrobiology, metamorphism, mineral physics or volcanology and magmatic studies, reflecting the diverse and worldwide interests and membership of the Society. Evidence of such excellence should be in the form of the impact of the applicant’s/nominee’s work, their publications, service to industry, outreach/promotion of science, leadership or other service to the community, teaching and work to improve equality, diversity and inclusivity in our science.

Details at: https://www.minersoc.org/collins-medal

Max Hey Medal

The Max Hey Medal will be awarded annually to a scientist who is in the early stage of their career. Its purpose is ‘To recognise existing and ongoing excellence in applied mineralogy, clay mineralogy, environmental mineralogy, geochemistry, geomicrobiology, metamorphism, mineral physics or volcanology and magmatic studies, reflecting the diverse and worldwide interests and membership of the Society. Evidence of such excellence should be in the form of the impact of the applicant’s/nominee’s work, their publications, service to industry, outreach/promotion of science, leadership or other service to the community, teaching and work to improve equality, diversity and inclusivity in our science.

Details at: https://www.minersoc.org/hey-medal

And new this year….

Guppy Medal

The award aims to showcase the vital role of technicians in enabling and delivering high-quality research. Technicians and experimental officers form a key part of almost all research teams delivering a wide variety of technical and analytical expertise. This award focuses specifically on the contributions of technicians in the fields of Mineralogy and Earth Sciences, and aims to showcase the leading contributions of individuals and teams in the delivery of world class research and development.

In addition to individuals from universities and research institutes, this award is also open to technical teams, as work from technicians in labs is often collaborative. This would particularly benefit the collaborative team work at national facilities. Nominations are open for individuals in even years, e.g. 2026 and to teams in odd years, i.e. the following year, 2027.

The awards will be presented the following year and consist of a Certificate and a Plaque to be awarded at an appropriate scientific event of the Society.

Details at: https://www.minersoc.org/guppy-award

The deadline for receipt of nominations for all awards is 17^th April 2026. – Kevin Murphy (Executive Director, Mineralogical Society of the UK and Ireland)

VMSG Student Bursary reports

Sofia Della Sala (University of Oxford) writes…

I was able to attend VMSG 2026 at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton to present my current PhD work during the Marine Volcanism session. This was a great opportunity as my research does not usually fit into terrestrial volcanism themes. VMSG is such a friendly conference that it felt like the perfect place to present preliminary research and get some initial feelings on my interpretations. I received some great questions and was very pleased when people approached me after my talk during the breaks to ask questions or say I had done a good job. I was also very happy to present in VMSG’s first-ever marine volcanism session. I hope we span more disciplines like this in the future as it allowed for a really diverse and varied conference schedule.

Prior to the conference, I took part in the Marine Core workshop which focused on identifying and interpreting volcanic ash layers in marine sediment cores. This was a unique workshop and highlighted how much is still unknown within marine volcanology. We had the opportunity to see and examine cores from different depositional settings, which made for some great discussions. We also got to understand what an untapped resource marine cores can be, since they are available for anyone to request samples from and could lead to some great project ideas.

With that in mind, I was also able to use VMSG as a networking opportunity as I am approaching the final stage of my PhD and eager for insights into post-docs. I had some great discussions with people and even have maybe got an idea for a proposal!

I am so grateful to have been able to be supported to attend VMSG during my final year and see my work slot into this community of marine volcanism. The conference had a lot of PhD students attending, which was great during the ice-breaker and conference dinner, it made me hopeful that these peers of mine would hopefully one day become my colleagues and we would be able to do some great science together in the future.

Rahul Subbaraman (University of Manchester) writes…

From January 5 to 7, 2026, I attended the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (VMSG) annual meeting at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. Supported by a VMSG student bursary, this meeting provided a vital platform to present the ongoing novel aspects of my doctoral research. I presented a poster titled “Microstructural Record of Icelandic Crystal Mushes Preserved in Gabbroic Nodules” in the session on Magma Generation, Storage, and Transport. A core focus was the debut of MAPClean (Microstructurally Adaptive Pixel-level Cleaning), an open-source MATLAB toolkit I developed to automate the cleaning and segmentation of noisy EBSD datasets (available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18052287).

As I am currently in the final stages of my PhD, this meeting was an invaluable opportunity to “put my name out there” before submission. Beyond the technical sessions, the conference allowed me to connect with several potential collaborators and employers. These discussions regarding future research have been incredibly encouraging as I look toward my next steps after Manchester.

I also attended the “New Frontiers in the Petrological Toolbox” workshop led by Martin Mangler and Gregor Weber. The session offered excellent hands-on experience with machine-learning thermobarometers and a tour of the high-resolution geochemical mapping facilities at Southampton.

The meeting concluded on a high note as I was honoured to receive The Geoff Brown Prize for Best Student Poster. Having attended my first VMSG in London back in 2023, returning to win this award at my final student conference felt like a perfect full circle. I am sincerely grateful to VMSG for the financial support that allowed me to engage so fully with the UK community at this pivotal stage of my career.

VMSG Student Bursaries and Early Career VMSG Fieldwork Grant – deadline soon!

The closing date for the next round of Student Bursaries and the Early Career VMSG fieldwork Grant is 15 March 2026 so here is a gentle reminder to get your nominations and applications in!

Student Bursaries

We welcome applications that offer funding to postgraduate researchers of up to £750 to support activities that would otherwise not be possible. Remember, PhD students in their first year are now eligible to apply but you still must have presented at a VMSG conference prior to the application deadline.

Please see the bursaries website for further details and to apply.

Early Career VMSG fieldwork Grant

At the July 2025 meeting of the VMSG Committee it was agreed to expand the previously established Henry Emeleus fieldwork award. This award was established in 2018, and named after Henry Emeleus (1930–2017), the internationally renowned igneous petrologist and field geologist.

We will retain this fieldwork award, and make it available to any early career researcher (postgraduate student, postdoctoral researcher or non-permanent university lecturer) who is looking to undertake volcanic and magmatic fieldwork- with a single award of up to £750 available each calendar year. Where the proposed fieldwork focusses on the Paleogene North Atlantic Igneous Province, this will be deemed the Henry Emeleus fieldwork award.

Please see the grant website for further details and to apply.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about the bursaries, grant or application process. – Katy Chamberlain (Awards & Bursaries)

Future Women and Nonbinary Leaders in Geoscience Field camp

In January, PhD and MRes students from the VMSG community headed to Cornwall to participate in the Future Women and Nonbinary Leaders in Geoscience Field camp, funded by the Opening Up the Environment (OUTE) NERC grant. Led by Katy Chamberlain (University of Liverpool), this novel leadership course aimed at empowering early career women and nonbinary people in geosciences. The 7-day course focused on leadership, science communication and application to our subject areas during field sessions. We acquired leadership skills and connections that we are excited to share within the wider VMSG community.

Exploring geoethics at the Geevor Tin Mine Museum. From left: Lydia Hemmings, Chaithanya Bhagavathi Parambu, Becky Hirst, Emily Baker, Mia Holt, Alexandria Tanciongco, Leah Gingell, Rebecca Hughes, Bhargvi Sharan, Holly Raynor, Alma Chavez, Hannah Little, Kate Williams, Grace Nielson, Katy Chamberlain, Saneeya Qureshi and Frankie Butler.

Hands-on workshops included: leading and designing field trips, writing grant proposals, working in groups diverse in academic and life experience, managing our own growth and development alongside that of the team and science communication video production.

We would like to extend our thanks to Katy Chamberlain, Hannah Little, Saneeya Qureshi and Kate Williams for excellent organisation, for leading informative, engaging and enjoyable sessions, and for empowering us to foster our own supportive cohort of PGRs.

Insights from VMSG participants

‘I found the course helpful because it was effective and not just talk. We were provided with effective skills to implement in our everyday life and  impactful messages we could takeaway. We were presented with raw data about the number of women and enby in positions of power- this was truly staggering to hear. We had the chance to practice leadership in the exercises set each day in the field. Members of the cohort gained confidence over the 7 days on the field camp and more voices were being heard in group discussion, this was testament to the empowering nature of the course.’ – Frankie Butler (University of Cambridge)

‘This field camp gave me a safe space in which to explore my personal values and priorities, which will help shape how I choose to lead going forward. I came back to my university after the course feeling so much better prepared and able to tackle the challenges my PhD throws at me.’ – Bex Hughes (University of Manchester)

‘The experience for myself was invaluable. The week allowed me to network with like-minded individuals, establishing a community together and hopefully future collaborations. I now understand how to push myself out of my comfort zone, which I look forward to applying to further opportunities and my career.’ – Leah Gingell (University of Glasgow)

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the course and could see myself becoming more confident throughout the week. I loved how the course was set up to have classroom sessions learning the theory and then have the opportunity to go out into the field in beautiful Cornwall and put these skills into practice. It was such a welcoming and supportive space to learn and identify our strengths, weaknesses and worries when it comes to leadership. I feel that we have really been equipped with the necessary skills to all excel as leaders in the future. Every single person on the course was lovely and I’m excited to see everyone again soon!’ – Emily Baker (Cardiff University)

‘This was such an inspiring week spent with an amazing group of people. The environment was incredibly supportive and welcomed discussion surrounding the skills and qualities required for effective and informed leadership. This has given me the confidence to develop my own leadership practice, and I’m excited to see where this takes me in the future! – Mia Holt (University of Leeds)

Personal development diagram, comfort zone, growth zone, stress zone. Rudimentary design by Butler.

MPhil opportunity

Anna Theurel would like to share this MPhil opportunity at Durham University. Please contact Anna for more details: anna.theurel@durham.ac.uk

VMSG 2027

For those not in Southampton, we were excited to announce that the next VMSG will be held in Cambridge in early January. Keep your eyes open for more details later in the year.

Any more?

Do you have any job opportunities, PhD viva celebrations, or funding announcements that you would like to advertise? If so, please get in touch with David Neave.

Any other business?

Stay in touch!

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and other volcanologists around the world. There are several ways you can do this: through the VMSG PhD and ECR directory (here), the Arizona State University mailing list (here), and the VMSG mailing list (here).

No. 64: February 2025

“Happily
I climbed Mt. Fuji and
As my legs trembled
On its peak
Awoke“

– Shiki Masaoka

Editorial

Hello VMSG. In this edition we’ll hear a bit about what went on at  VMSG-MDSG 2025 in Dublin as well as details about recent recipients of VMSG awards and Student Presentation Prizes. we also have a reminder about the upcoming deadline for Student Bursaries as well as hearing about what some recent Bursary recipients have been up to. We also have some introductions from new VMSG Committee members and the usual roundup of upcoming conferences of interest. – David Neave (Newsletter Editor)

VMSG-MDSG 2025

In addition to showcasing the breadth of research within the VMSG community, the 2025 VMSG-MDSG joint annual meeting aimed to showcase the synergy between volcanology/igneous petrology and economic geology research, highlighting exciting opportunities for future collaboration. This was thought to be particularly timely, given an increasing policy interest in critical raw materials – many of which are associated with magmatic systems – and a general funding shift towards more applied science, both in the UK and Europe. To achieve this, the Local Organising Committee curated targeted “shared sessions” covering topics overlapping both special interest groups, invited Dr Kathryn Goodenough (BGS) to share her experience working at the interface of igneous petrology and mining geology, and organised a panel discussion on “effective academic-industry collaboration” with representation from both universities and major mining companies.

Alongside promoting cross-disciplinarity, the organising committee were also very keen to provide additional support for ECRs a dedicated ECR networking evening. The idea was for students and postdocs to meet one another and socialise, both within and between the VMSG and MDSG communities, while also having an opportunity to receive careers advice from a more senior colleagues working in a range of different sectors.

Feedback on the meeting has been very positive, with both VMSG and MDSG delegates (including industry representatives) saying that they really enjoyed the shared sessions. While some presentations were outside of their usual interest (i.e. a little more towards “VMSG” or “MDSG”), people seem to have genuinely enjoyed the exposure to a greater breadth of science and come out of the meeting with new research ideas. Feedback from ECRs, both at the ECR Forum and after the meeting was that the networking evening was fun and useful in terms of career advice; there is a strong consensus that VMSG should try to continue running similar events going forward.

Now that the dust has settled, the Local Organising Committee would like to just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made the conference a huge success: fieldtrip and workshop organisers, student helpers, session chairs, invited speakers and panellists and, of course, the conference sponsors without which we would not have been able to run such a successful event. We hope that all delegates enjoyed seeing Dublin and experiencing a bit of Irish culture, and we look forward to seeing you all back over this side of the water very soon.

Slán go fóill! – Mike Stock (TCD) on behalf of the Dublin LOC. On behalf of the VMSG community, the VMSG Committee would again like to thank the team in Dublin for a super conference!

VMSG Prizes

Every year VMSG confers awards on members across our community. You can find more about the awards here. This year we were thrilled to celebrate the following awardees in Dublin.

The VMSG Award: Mike Heap (University of Strasbourg)

The Zeiss Post-doctoral Keynote Award: Michal Camejo-Harry (University of Oxford; remote presentation)

Amongst stiff competition from lots of excellent contributions we were also pleased to make the following awards for student presentations:

The Geoff Brown Prize for Best Student Poster: Abigail Robinson (Birkbeck, University of London)

Honourable mentions: Jasmine Dibben (University of Exeter)

The Bob Hunter Prize for Best Student Oral Presentation: Lydia Whittaker (Trinity College Dublin)

Honourable mention: Katie Schofield (University of Durham)

Awards Season!

As far I know there are no Oscars or BAFTAS to celebrate (yet)! But its that time of year where we can nominate great colleagues for Awards. We are part of an international community so this need not be urging you to think of nominating someone from the UK. The newly revamped process for IAVCEI Awards can be found here [iavceivolcano.org] and do not forget about EGU and AGU too as well as MinSoc and GeolSoc Awards.

Get your thinking caps on too for this year’s round of VMSG Awards too – more about that soon! – Jenni Barclay (Chair)

VMSG Student Bursary reports

Abate Melaku (St. Andrews) writes…

I had the opportunity of attending the AGU 2024 conference, hosted in Washington DC from 8-13 December 2024. The conference provided me with my first valuable experience in presenting my PhD work and engaging with experts in the field of volcanism and magmatism at a major international conference.

As a presenter, I delivered a poster titled “Mantle plume linked to high volatile emissions in the Central Ethiopian Rift” which focused on the magnitude and origin of gas emissions from the Tulu Moye volcanic complex in Ethiopia. The presentation was well received and had the opportunity to engage in fruitful discussions with fellow researchers and the wider scientific community. I have got insightful comments and feedback on my work which helped me to incorporate additional perspectives. I also attended valuable sessions and panel discussions of the conference which gave me additional insights in my work.

Beyond the academic engagement, the conference provided me with vital networking opportunities and new collaborations for my future research. I have collaborated and become a member of the Ethiopian Geophysical Union International (ETGUI) and participated in the members’ annual meeting alongside the AGU conference. The knowledge and connections gained will contribute significantly to my future profession and research.

Overall, attending the AGU 2024 conference was an invaluable experience that significantly enhanced my presentation skills, expanded my professional network, and added additional input to my academic development. I am grateful for the financial support I have received from VMSG student bursary that facilitated my participation in this prestigious event.

Thank you for your support.

Jack Bronziet (Manchester) writes…

Sponsored by the VMSG Student travel bursary, I was able to attend the joint VMSG-MDSG conference hosted by Trinity College Dublin from 6^th-8^th January 2025. The collaborative nature of a joint conference provided a unique environment to bring together fields that typically have little communication, despite the importance of magmatic and volcanic controls on the formation of many ore systems. The joint talks were particularly good at showing how techniques typically used by igneous petrologists and geochemists can be particularly useful in better constraining the controls on magmatic ore systems.

Now in the second year of my PhD, I presented a poster titled ‘Magmatism and Mineralisation along the Great Glen Fault Northwest Highlands, Scotland’, in which I presented my progress so far in constraining emplacement conditions of mineralised appinite intrusions in the Grampian Terrain. Future work will entail probing geochemical and emplacement heterogeneities of similar intrusions in the barren Northern Highland terrain, compared to the prospective Grampian terrain. It was very useful to get insights and feedback on my project, particularly from people familiar with Scottish Caledonian igneous geology. I also found it useful speaking to industry representatives about apply geochemical fertility indicators typically used in porphyry copper districts to my project.

Perhaps the highlight of the conference to me was meeting lots of new people in a wonderful city. From the pre-conference field trip to Caledonian magmas, to all the evening socials, it was a pleasure connecting with a variety of different researchers, from volcanologists through to ore geologists. Everyone was very constructive, welcoming and willing to listen, qualities which are crucial for an interdisciplinary conference to succeed. This conference certainly succeeded.

This joint VMSG-MDSG conference provided an invaluable opportunity for me to not only catch up with other researchers again but also speak to many new researchers across a range of disciplines. Once again, I would like to thank VMSG’s generous sponsorship, enabling this to happen.

VMSG Student Bursaries – deadline soon!

The closing date for the next round of bursaries is 15 March 2025 so here is a gentle reminder to get your nominations and applications in!

We welcome applications for student bursaries, which offer funding to postgraduate researchers of up to £500 to support activities that would otherwise not be possible. Remember, PhD students in their first year are now eligible to apply but you still must have presented at a VMSG conference prior to the application deadline.

Please see the bursaries website for further details and to apply.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about the bursaries or the bursary process. – Katy Chamberlain (Awards & Bursaries)

New VMSG Committee members

We’re please to welcome three new members to the VMSG Committee this year.

Natasha Keely – Student rep

Tash is a PhD student at Keele University. Her research uses petrological and geochemical techniques to understand the transition after caldera-forming eruptions to renewed caldera cycles by characterising eruptive activity, eruption style, magma composition and magma storage conditions and processes.

Katy Chamberlain – Awards and Bursaries

Katy is a volcanologist at the University of Liverpool. Her research looks at integrating field- and mineral-scale observations of igneous processes to understand magmatic plumbing systems and volcanic timescales.

Mike Stock – Ordinary Member

Mike is an igneous petrologist at trinity College Dublin, whose research is focussed on using novel petrological/geochemical techniques to understand the architecture/dynamics of magma systems.

ECR Position on the VMSG Committee

We are looking for an ECR Rep to join the committee and to represent VMSG’s early-career research community. This is a 3-year term, and in the role you would participate in committee meetings and VMSG activities through the year, including at the annual winter meeting. If you’re interested in this position, please do get in touch with Seb Watt on s.watt@bham.ac.uk with any questions, and see further details about applying for the role on the VMSG email list. – Seb Watt (Secretary)

VMSG 2026

For those not in Dublin, we were excited to announce that the next VMSG will be held in Southampton in early January. Keep your eyes open for more details later in the year.

Upcoming conferences

EGU 2025, Vienna, 27 April–2 May 2025

IAVCEI 2025, Geneva, 29 June–4 July 2025, website

The International Symposium on Experimental Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry (EMPG), Orléans, 16 June–19 June 2025, website

Goldschmidt 2025, Prague, 6–11 July 2025, website

Any more?

Do you have any job opportunities, PhD viva celebrations, or funding announcements that you would like to advertise? If so, please get in touch with David Neave.

Any other business?

Stay in touch!

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and other volcanologists around the world. There are several ways you can do this: through the VMSG PhD and ECR directory (here), the Arizona State University mailing list (here), and the VMSG mailing list (here).

No. 62: September 2024

“If I was to establish a system, it would be, that Mountains are produced by Volcanoes, and not Volcanoes by Mountains.”

– Sir William Hamilton

Editorial

Hello VMSG. Welcome to the back-to-school newsletter! In this edition we’ll hear a bit more about VMSG-MDSG 2025, nominations for next year’s VMSG Awards, as well as VMSG Student Bursaries. We’ve also got some news about changes in the VMSG committee and some VMSG community successes to celebrate. The Journal of Applied Volcanology are also sharing some information about their aims and scope that will be of interest to many of you. As usual there’s a quick round up of upcoming conferences that are like to be of interest as well. – David Neave

VMSG-MDSG 2025

We hope you are all looking forward to VMSG-MDSG 2025 at Trinity College Dublin as much as we are.

The conference website has recently gone live, so keep an eye on vmsg-mdsg-2025.com for further developments.

Alongside the conference itself on 6–8 January 2025 key dates in the coming months include abstract submission and early bird registration from early September until 25 October 2024 and a final registration deadline of 1 December 2024.

As well as the conference itself, there will be an exciting programme of activities that will hopefully include:

• A fieldtrip to the Giants Causeway led by Mark Cooper – Chief Geologist of Northern Ireland (BGS) – confirmed (probably on Sunday 5 January 2025)
• A fieldtrip to the Avoca VMS deposit led by UCD/iCRAG – awaiting access approval (probably on Sunday 5 January 2025)
• Workshops on impact/public engagement, environmental sustainability and governance, isotope geochemistry, and thermobarometic modelling (probably on Thursday 9 January 2025)

When planning your trip, some extra things to keep in mind are:

• There will be an icebreaker on the evening of Sunday 5 January 2025.
• The conference dinner will take place in the Guinness Storehouse on the night of Tuesday 7 January 2025.
• The LOC have organised some reduced accommodation rates with local hotels and hostels.

There will be more news soon, so keep an eye on the VMSG mailing list and VMSG-MDSG 2025 website. – Dublin LOC

Student news

The VMSG student reps will be running an online welcome event for new starter PhDs/masters student/anyone new to the VMSG on Tuesday 15 October. Please make a not of this in your calendar and share it with any new starters joining in the new academic year. Exact timings (and a zoom link) will be shared via the VMSG mailing list closer to the time.

We’d also like to remind you that there are a range of resources for the VMSG student community on the website: vmsg.org.uk/community/students.. Please check here for information about grants, internships, bursaries and PhD opportunities. Please also let us know if you have any more information to add to this site. – Kerys Meredew and Rahul Subbaraman (Student Reps)

VMSG Awards and Bursaries – deadline soon!

The closing date for the next round of awards and bursaries is 15 September 2024 so here is a gentle reminder to get your nominations and applications in!

We welcome applications for student bursaries, which offer funding to postgraduate researchers of up to £500 to support activities that would otherwise not be possible. Remember, PhD students in their first year are now eligible to apply but you still must have presented at a VMSG conference prior to the application deadline.

Please see the bursaries website for further details and to apply.

We are also seeking nominations for our Willy Aspinall Prize, Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award and VMSG Award. Please consider nominating someone (or yourself for the Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award) who you feel has made a substantial impact in their area of research but also gone above and beyond to make a contribution to the research community. As a quick reminder, here’s a description of the scope of each of these awards:

• The VMSG Award recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to our current understanding of volcanic and magmatic processes, either through a series of impactful papers or more broadly through science communication, academic service and societal engagement.
• The Willy Aspinall Prize may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on applied volcanology or geoheritage published in English, who is within three years of their being awarded a PhD at a university in the UK and Ireland.
• The Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on a topic within the VMSG remit, who has also made an exceptional contribution to supporting individuals or the wider research community, or to broader society, commensurate with their career stage.

Recipients of all awards  will have the opportunity to present their research as a keynote talk at the VMSG-MDSG2025 conference in Dublin

Remember there have been a few changes to the process this year:

• Letters of support are no longer needed for any award, except for the VMSG Award; nominations are by application form only
• ‘Applications to the Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote can be by self-nomination or nomination by others. All other awards will remain as nomination by others only. Self-nominations will need to be written in the third person and it will remain anonymous whether an application is self-nominated or nominated by others at the assessment stage and in terms of the final winner.

Please see the awards website for further details on each award and how to nominate. We particularly encourage nominations from historically under-represented groups to all these awards. – Emma Nicholson (Awards & Bursaries) and VMSG Committee

VMSG Student Bursary Reports

Rosie Lewis (University of Leeds) writes…

Dr Evgenia Ilyinskaya and MVO intern Alex Gowan at Chances Steps, Montserrat, collecting a filter pack sample of the volcanic plume. Image credit: Rosie Lewis.

My PhD project aims to conduct the first comprehensive assessment of the concentrations and dispersion of volcanic air pollution (SO₂ and PM) on Montserrat, Eastern Caribbean. With support from several local stakeholders, including the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and the Disaster Management and Coordination Agency, I undertook my second field trip to Montserrat in May 2024, with the financial support of VMSG. This built upon the work I began in 2023, installing a network of low-cost and reference-grade air quality sensors across the island. This support helped me to achieve the following goals:

Installation of new sensors: I installed a new particulate sensor, which now provides real-time transmission of PM data from a previously tricky-to-access site. I also replaced several sensors that had withstood damage over the past year to ensure continued data collection.

Successful co-location experiments: I co-located lower-cost and reference-grade SO₂ gas and PM sensors in the downwind of the volcanic plume and ash mining sites to calibrate readings across a range of SO₂ and PM concentrations. This enables measurement of concentrations across the island, where reference-grade instrumentation cannot be installed.
Collection of Filter-Pack Samples: I collected multiple filter-pack samples for geochemical analysis to identify the sources of PM around the island.

Ongoing stakeholder engagement: I held an interactive workshop with local primary school children to educate them about air pollution and its impacts. I also hosted a stakeholder meeting to provide project updates to collaborators and key decision-makers.

Introduction to the Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Service (ABMS): During a stopover, I met with the Director of ABMS to discuss regional air quality modelling and monitoring, its strengths and limitations, and how data from the network on Montserrat is used by ABMS. These discussions also led to the installation of the first air quality sensor on Antigua.

In summary, this field campaign allowed me to significantly advance the progress of my project through data collection and quality assurance, while also creating opportunities for outreach and collaboration, maximising project impact. Thank you to VMSG for your support!

Congratulations!

Many congratulations to VMSG stalwarts Prof David Pyle (Oxford) and Dr Lara Mani (Cambridge) for their recent awards from the Geological Society of London (where they picked them up with lots of backup from across the community – David Neave (Newsletter Editor)

Image credit: Lara Mani

VMSG 60th Anniversary Seminar Series

Our series of seminars around the UK and Ireland has been continuing over recent months, with an excellent set of talks in Dublin, St. Andrews, Cambridge and Oxford. Many thanks to all of the organisers and speakers at these seminars. We are seeking through this series to showcase the breadth of research across our community – and we’d welcome everyone to attend these. To promote accessibility of the series, we are making the talks available online and as recordings wherever possible.  These will be hosted on the VMSG YouTube channel, with the first available recordings now available.

Keep your eyes open for news about further seminars arriving via the VMSG mailing list, with dates planned in Edinburgh, Birmingham and London into the autumn. – Seb Watt (Secretary) and VMSG Committee

VMSG Sponsorship and Partnerships

As we build up to the 2025 Dublin meeting, VMSG is seeking sponsorship and new partnerships to support our activities for the coming year. We can offer a range of opportunities to potential sponsors including support for student bursaries, sponsorship of VMSG Awards, sponsorship of VMSG conference or a stand at the VMSG conference. We are also particularly interested in developing new partnership with organisations that can offer training and workshops for our community of early career researchers. Sponsors would be recognised on our website and in our newsletters, at our annual conference, and in other ways depending on the nature of the support (e.g. named awards). – Lara Mani (Sponsorships and Partnerships) and VMSG Committee

News from the Journal of Applied Volcanology

Dear VMSG community,

We would like to make you aware of an exciting special collection currently receiving submissions in the Journal of Applied Volcanology until the end of 2024.

The special collection on ‘Community voices and volcanic risk reduction: co-production, participatory research, and community-led approaches to risk’ will highlight research and case studies that adopt participatory, community-led, or co-produced approaches to volcanic risk and resilience.

Our guest editors for this collection are:

• Dr Teresa Armijos Burneo, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Prof Jenni Barclay, University of Bristol, UK
• Prof Eliza Calder, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Dr Natalia Pardo Villaveces, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia

Image credit: Amelia Bain

The collection seeks to spotlight community participation initiatives in volcanic contexts, encouraging articles that cover various approaches and challenges. We welcome contributions from a broad range of stakeholders involved in understanding and managing volcanic risk, including scientists, indigenous researchers, practitioners, policymakers, emergency managers, and community leaders. We are also interested in exploring connections with the Sendai Framework and UN Sustainable development Goals, promoting inclusive and sustainable settlements and addressing global challenges.

The full description of the collection and link to submit an article can be found here.

About the Journal of Applied Volcanology:

The Journal of Applied Volcanology is a fully open-access international journal with a focus on applied research relating to volcanism, and particularly its societal impacts. The Journal was initiated by the IAVCEI Commission on Cities and Volcanoes.

Characterising volcanic impacts and associated risk relies not only on quantifying physical threat but also understanding social and physical vulnerability and resilience. The broad aim of volcanologists in this domain is to increase public resilience to volcanic risk via research that reduces both human fatalities and volcanic impacts on livelihoods, infrastructure, and the economy. The Journal of Applied Volcanology fills an important gap for scientists who want to publish research that addresses this aim and wish to reach a broad audience. It also aims to present research that is driven and led by practitioner and community needs and thus welcomes articles led by, or written in collaboration with, those managing volcanic risk.

Image credit: Eliza Calder

The Journal also has a unique Hazard Map article type, which you can read more about here.

The Journal has a number of waivers available for corresponding authors in difficult financial circumstances to reduce or waive the article processing charge (APC). These are available on discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a possible contribution and would like to discuss this. We have a number of these waivers available for the special collection on community voices. Many corresponding authors at academic institutions in the UK are also likely to have the APC covered under institutional read and publish agreements with Springer Nature. Thus we encourage you to check if your institution is included. Please also feel free to share this information with any colleagues who may benefit. – Emma Hudson-Doyle, Editor-in-Chief (e.e.hudson-doyle@massey.ac.nz) and Amelia Bain, Managing Editor (amelia.bain@ed.ac.uk)

VMSG2026, coming to a university near you?

It’s early days, but the VMSG Committee are looking ahead to 2026 and invite possible hosts to get in touch. If you’re keen to organise a meeting or would like some more information about what would be involved if you were to run one, please get in touch. Tamsin Mather (Chair) and Seb Watt (Secretary) are the best first points of call, but feel free to reach out to other committee members as well. – VMSG Committee

Upcoming conferences

AGU Fall Meeting 2024, Washington D.C., 9-13 December 2023, abstract submission deadline of 31 July 2024, website

VMSG-MDSG 2025 (with MDSG 2025), Dublin, 6–8 January 2025 website

EGU 2025, Vienna, 27 April–2 May 2025 , session proposal deadline of 9 September 2025 website

IAVCEI 2025, Geneva, 29 June–4 July 2025, abstract submission deadline of 20 December 2024 website

Goldschmidt 2025, Prague, 6–11 July 2025

Any more?

Do you have any job opportunities, PhD viva celebrations, or funding announcements that you would like to advertise? If so, please get in touch with David Neave (Newsletter Editor)

Any other business?

Stay in touch!

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and other volcanologists around the world. There are several ways you can do this: through the VMSG PhD and ECR directory (here), the Arizona State University mailing list (here), and the VMSG mailing list (here).

No. 61: June 2024

“Lo from our loitering ship
a new land at last to be seen;
Toothed rocks down the side of the firth
on the east guard a weary wide lea,
And black slope the hill-sides above,
striped adown with their desolate green…”

– William Morris, Iceland First Seen

Editorial

Hello VMSG. Welcome to the summer newsletter! In this edition we’ll hear a bit about the VMSG 60th Anniversary Seminar Series, nominations for next year’s VMSG Awards, as well as VMSG Student Bursaries. We’ve also got some news about changes in the VMSG committee and a VMSG community success to celebrate. As usual there’s a quick round up of upcoming conferences that are like to be of interest as well. – David Neave

VMSG Awards and Bursaries

The closing date for the next round of awards and bursaries will be 15 September 2024 so here is a gentle reminder!

We welcome applications for student bursaries, which offer funding to postgraduate researchers of up to £500 to support activities that would otherwise not be possible. Remember, PhD students in their first year are now eligible to apply but you still must have presented at a VMSG conference prior to the application deadline.

Please see the bursaries website for further details and to apply.

We are also seeking nominations for our Willy Aspinall Prize, Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award and VMSG Award. Please consider nominating someone who you feel has made a substantial impact in their area of research but also gone above and beyond to make a contribution to the research community. As a quick reminder, here’s a description of the scope of each of these awards:

• The VMSG Award recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to our current understanding of volcanic and magmatic processes, either through a series of impactful papers or more broadly through science communication, academic service and societal engagement.
• The Willy Aspinall Prize may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on applied volcanology or geoheritage published in English, who is within three years of their being awarded a PhD at a university in the UK and Ireland.
• The Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote Award may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on a topic within the VMSG remit, who has also made an exceptional contribution to supporting individuals or the wider research community, or to broader society, commensurate with their career stage. The Award winner will have the opportunity to present their research as a keynote talk at the 2025 VMSG conference in Dublin

Remember there have been a few changes to the process this year:

• Letters of support are no longer needed for any award, except for the VMSG Award; nominations are by application form only
• Applications to the Zeiss Postdoctoral Keynote can be by self-nomination or nomination by others. All other awards will remain as nomination by others only. Self-nominations will need to be written in the third person and it will remain anonymous whether an application is self-nominated or nominated by others.

Please see the awards website for further details on each award and how to nominate. We particularly encourage nominations from historically under-represented groups to all these awards. – Emma Nicholson and VMSG Committee

VMSG Committee Changes

Sami Mikhail will be standing down from his role as VMSG Treasurer this summer. On behalf of the committee and community as a whole, I’d like to thank Sami for all his work on balancing VMSG’s books, helping to steer VMSG through COVID and his diverse contributions to the wellbeing of the community as a whole (despite his recent admission in Bristol that he’s not really a volcanologist at all). – David Neave

James Hickey – Treasurer

Sami will shortly be handing over to James Hickey from the University of Exeter.

“It’s a pleasure to be re-joining the VMSG committee as Treasurer, and I look forward to playing a part in enabling and developing all the fantastic work and activities of the VMSG community. As I come on board I’d also like to say a massive thank you to Sami Mikhail for his excellent work over the past few years as Treasurer, and to also apologise for the number of times I’m likely to be nagging him over the next few months while I get to grips with the role!”

VMSG 60th Anniversary Seminar Series

Our series of seminars around the UK and Ireland has been continuing over recent months, with an excellent set of talks in Dublin, St. Andrews and Cambridge. Many thanks to all of the organisers and speakers at these seminars. We are seeking through this series to showcase the breadth of research across our community – and we’d welcome everyone to attend these. To promote accessibility of the series, we are making the talks available online and as recordings wherever possible.  These will be hosted on the VMSG YouTube channel, with the first available recordings now available.

Our next seminar is on Friday 14 June 2024 in Oxford, where Prof. Richard Robertson (University of the West Indies) will be speaking on ‘Risky Mountains in Paradise: Navigating the Volcanic Tapestry of Island Life’. The talk will be available online at a Zoom link shared via the VMSG email list.

We also have further seminars planned in Edinburgh and Birmingham, with more coming later in the year. Please do look out for further details via the VMSG email list. – Seb Watt and VMSG Committee

VMSG Sponsorship and Partnerships

As we build up to the 2025 Dublin meeting, VMSG is seeking sponsorship and new partnerships to support our activities for the coming year. We can offer a range of opportunities to potential sponsors including support for student bursaries, sponsorship of VMSG Awards, sponsorship of VMSG conference or a stand at the VMSG conference. We are also particularly interested in developing new partnership with organisations that can offer training and workshops for our community of early career researchers. Sponsors would be recognised on our website and in our newsletters, at our annual conference, and in other ways depending on the nature of the support (e.g. named awards).

If you are potentially interested in supporting VMSG then please get in touch with Lara Mani (VMSG Committee Member – Sponsorship and Partnerships). – VMSG Committee

VMSG Student Bursary Reports

The VMSG travel bursary facilitated lab work at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Milan completed in May 2024. The samples analysed as part of this PhD research are from the Kula Volcanic Province (KVP) in Western Türkiye, a monogenetic volcanic field experiencing three periods of Quaternary basaltic volcanism. The PhD aim is to identify the tectonic model through textural and geochemical analysis and determine the main compositional factors that have changed throughout the three stages of volcanic activity.

This work involved trace element analyses of the main mineral phases (clinopyroxene, amphibole, olivine, and plagioclase) performed using an Analyte excite 193 nm ArF excimer laser coupled with a Thermo Fisher Scientific iCAP-RQ mass spectrometer. The elements analysed included Li, Be, B, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, Ta, Pb, Th, and U.

The data from this access will be used to explore the elemental changes in individual crystals and to see how these mineral phases have changed throughout the eruptive history of the KVP. This approach is a great way to show variation in elements from the core to the rim of crystals which can be used to provide insights into magma mixing, magma mingling, crystal growth, and crystallisation pathway.

Overall, this work facilitated hands-on experience using LA-ICP-MS, with knowledge gained on the fundamental principles of this method, including the types of standards used to generate good analysis, how to acquire precise quantitative elemental analysis, and how to perform data reduction to choose the best interval for background and signal measurement. – Megs Watfa (Brunel University London)

In February 2024, I had the privilege of attending the 12th meeting of Cities on Volcanoes, COV12, in Antigua, Guatemala, thanks to the support of the VMSG student bursary. COV conferences serve as an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge across various disciplines of applied volcanology and promote collaboration among physical and social scientists, as well as with city officials.

As I am particularly interested in bridging the gap between physical volcanology and disaster risk reduction, this conference was a unique opportunity to share my research, particularly as I near the completion of my PhD. I presented two studies in poster format. The first focused on the role of gas in driving the dynamics and evolution of basaltic fissure eruptions, while the other introduced a new method for determining the scale in videos of volcanic eruptions using clast motion. These presentations, one in English and the other in Spanish, led to useful and motivating discussions with scientists from various parts of the world.

The conference comprised an incredible variety of presentations, including many subjects relevant to my own research focus such as advances in monitoring techniques, discussions on degassing dynamics and the architecture of volcanic plumbing systems. It also had a strong cultural component, with art exhibitions, film screenings, and concerts held across some of Antigua’s beautiful locations, which offered insights into the historical impact of other natural hazards such as earthquakes on the city.

Field trips to Pacaya and Fuego volcanoes educated us on the profound impact of volcanic hazards on nearby communities, such as the 2018 pyroclastic density currents from Fuego, which caused major destruction in the towns of San Miguel Los Lotes and El Rodeo. This tragedy underscores the need for improved hazard management, evacuation strategies, and communication with local communities, hence the relevance of this location for COV in facilitating dialogue between volcanologists, officials, and affected communities.

Volcanology as a discipline must take a multidisciplinary approach to improve eruption forecasting and mitigation efforts, and COV serves as an ideal platform to align research with the shared goal of mitigating volcanic risks and promoting community resilience. As an early career volcanologist, attending provided a myriad of opportunities to connect with other researchers and be exposed to the best of current research. I am very grateful to VMSG for providing travel support and look forward to participating in future COVs. – Ariane Loisel (Durham University)

VMSG Student Grants Directory

The Directory of Student Grants (some of which might also be relevant to non-students) has recently been updated. You can view it here. Please let Kerys Meredew know about any other opportunities we’ve missed, and we’ll get them added. – Kerys Meredew

VMSG2025 will be in Dublin!

The next VMSG Annual Meeting will be held on 6–8 January 2025 in Trinity College Dublin.

This will be a one-off joint meeting with the Mineral Deposits Studies Group (MDSG), with a combination of joint and parallel sessions.

The conference will include a series of workshops, fieldtrips and events looking at academic-industry collaboration, and attendees will have an opportunity to experience Irish culture from the historic city centre location!

Keep your eyes open for more news about this exciting meeting later in the year! – The Dublin LOC

Congratulations!

And finally, I’d like to extend our congratulations to the VMSG President, Prof. Tamsin Mather, on her election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Well done Tamsin! Richly deserved. – VMSG Committee

Upcoming conferences

1st International Conference of the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic & Igneous Plumbing Systems (VIPS), Liverpool, 18–20 June 2024, website

Goldschmidt 2024, Chicago, 18–23 August 2024, website

European Mineralogical Conference (EMC 2024), Dublin, 18–24 August 2024, abstract submission deadline of 22 March 2024, website

AGU Fall Meeting 2024, Washington D.C., 9-13 December 2023, abstract submission deadline of 31 July 2024, website

VMSG 2025 (with MDSG 2025), Dublin, 6–8 January 2025

EGU 2025, Vienna, 27 April–2 May 2025

IAVCEI 2025, Geneva, 29 June–4 July 2025, abstract submission deadline of 20 December 2024 (just missed session proposal deadline) website

Goldschmidt 2025, Prague, 6–11 July 2025

Any more?

Do you have any job opportunities, PhD viva celebrations, or funding announcements that you would like to advertise? If so, please get in touch with David Neave.

Any other business?

Stay in touch!

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and other volcanologists around the world. There are several ways you can do this: through the VMSG PhD and ECR directory (here), the Arizona State University mailing list (here), and the VMSG mailing list (here).