Rate My Professor Bethan Davies

Professor Bethan Davies is Professor of Glaciology in the Department of Geography at Newcastle University. She holds a BA (Hons) in Geography from Nottingham University (2001), an MSc in Quaternary Science from Royal Holloway, University of London (2004), and a PhD in Quaternary Geology from Durham University (2009). Her research focuses on the interaction between glaciers and climate over multiple timescales, with specialisation in ice-sheet and glacier reconstruction in temperate and high-latitude environments using field studies, chronostratigraphical methods such as cosmogenic nuclide dating, remotely sensed data, and numerical modelling. She has conducted extensive work on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Patagonian Ice Sheet, and the last British-Irish Ice Sheet, including analysis of glacial processes at the ice-bed interface through sedimentological studies.

Prior to joining Newcastle University in August 2022 as Senior Lecturer, she held positions including Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Quaternary Science at Royal Holloway, University of London (2014–2022), where she directed the MSc Quaternary Science programme, as well as postdoctoral roles at the University of Reading, Aberystwyth University, and the British Antarctic Survey, and a SCAR Fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington. She was promoted to Professor of Glaciology in August 2024 and served as Ida Pfeiffer Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna (2022–2023). Her contributions include selection as a Lead Author for the IPCC Assessment Report 7 (Working Group I, Chapter 2), the 2024 Richardson Medal from the International Glaciological Society for outstanding service to glaciology, the 2022 SCAR Medal for Antarctic Education and Communication, the 2021 Gordon Warwick Medal from the British Society for Geomorphology, and the 2014 Lewis Penny Medal from the Quaternary Research Association. She serves as Editor of Quaternary Science Reviews, Chair of the UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnership, Co-Chair of the Diversity in Polar Science Initiative, and on various NERC panels and other professional committees. She maintains the AntarcticGlaciers.org website for public science communication.