I am a geologist working in Earth and space research, living in glorious Queensland, Australia. Alongside my serious work, I like to dabble in flash fiction and picture book writing and illustrating.

I grew up in southwest London, England. My family holidays involved many British beach trips where my love of rocks and geology began. At the age of 16, thanks to ‘being good at maths’ and being too easily led by my careers adviser, I began a career in banking, which evolved into merchant banking, commodity markets and compliance. After about fifteen years in to that, I took my hobby and passion for rocks to a new level, enrolling in a part-time geology degree at Birkbeck. I completed it while I continued to work full time (seriously, folks – it’s doable and Birkbeck Makes It So!). After graduating (huzzah!) I moved to Queensland, Australia and continued on to complete a PhD at QUT, setting myself up for a second career, as a geologist and research scientist.

In spite of my other passion for writing poems and short stories, my publishing record has been overtaken by scientific publications. Through my work as a researcher, I was extraordinarily fortunate to be invited by Professor Frank D. Stacey to co-author an Earth science book: The Earth as a Cradle for Life that was published in 2013 by World Scientific Press. Cradle describes the physics of the environment and attempts to put in to context the Earth as it is today, based on how it has been and how it may become. Later, Frank and I also co-authored a second book, The Practical Handbook of Earth Science, that was published by CRC Press in 2017. Following the publication of a scientific journal paper that Frank and I submitted on thermodynamics, I was inspired to write a simplified introduction to the subject: Thermodynamics the Budgie, which I have dedicated to Frank who remains an inspiration in so many ways!

As a scientist, much of my work has concentrated on problems and opportunities presented to the mining industry by climate change, seeking value from discarded materials and resources on the Moon and Mars for extended space missions! As a writer, my aim is to also publish flash fiction and picture books for children and adults, mainly for a bit of fun, but if they can educate too, even better!