Juan C. Afonso

After graduating with a PhD in theoretical geophysics at Carleton University in late 2006, Juan C. Afonso  undertook  postdoctoral research at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (CSIC, Barcelona) on the development of new methods to study the thermal and compositional structures of the lithospheric/sublithospheric upper mantle. He subsequently joined Macquarie University in 2009 as part of the recruitment program CoRE (Concentration of Research Excellence). In 2022, he moved to the Netherlands to become a full-time staff in ITC, University of Twente. 

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His background is in theoretical and computational geophysics/geodynamics and his interests span many different geophysical, geochemical and geological methods and processes. His current research integrates different disciplines such as mineral physics, potential field modelling, thermodynamics, nonlinear inversion and physics of the mantle in general, to explore and improve our understanding of plate tectonics. In particular, he is interested in the development of new methodologies that will help us understand the structure and evolution of the lithosphere, the modelling of multiphase multicomponent reactive flow, the mechanical and chemical interactions between plates and the sublithospheric mantle, and their effects on small- and large-scale tectonic processes.

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He has published extensively in different fields of geosciences (e.g. geochemistry, geophysics, basin analysis, geodynamics, etc), computational engineering and material sciences, with a strong focus on multi-observable (joint) geophysical modelling and inversion for lithospheric structure and evolution. He was an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo and is currently a member of the editorial board of Geophysical Journal International, a Visiting Professor at the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at SUSTech University and an Honorary Professor at the Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Macquarie University.

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Dr Afonso's current research includes the development of methodologies (and associated computational tools) that formally combine geophysics, numerical modelling, petrology and geochemistry to obtain reliable and realistic models of the Earth's interior using satellite-derived and land-based data sets. For this (and related) work he has received the 2013 EGU Outstanding Young Scientist Award (Geodynamics Division), the 2017 Anton Hales Medal of the Australian Academy of Sciences and the 2019 IUGG Early Career Scientist Award, among others.

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Currently, Dr. Afonso is the leader and coordinator of the following large projects:

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- The EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network EarthSafe: Unveiling Earth's Critical Resources for Clean Energy and a Sustainable Future (https://earthsafe-dn.eu/)

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- The passive seismic experiment PatagoniARRAY (imaging and modelling the Patagonian lithosphere)

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- The NWO DeepNL Project INTEGRATION (Integrated subsurface modelling beneath Groningen and on-shore Netherlands from multi-data probabilistic inversions; link) 

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He also enjoys very much spending quality time with his family and playing drums whenever possible...