Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award aims to provide universities with additional support to enable them to attract science talent from overseas and retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

Professor Tim Minshull, a marine geophysicist who uses sound waves to study the structure of the Earth’s crust beneath the oceans, was awarded for his research into ‘The ocean-continent transition at magma-poor rifted margins’. His current main research focus is on the processes by which continents break apart.

Professor Minshull says: “I am delighted to receive this award and very much enjoy the stimulating research environment in Ocean and Earth Science Southampton that has made it possible.”

Working with an international team of collaborators, Professor Minshull is studying these processes using sound waves generated at the ocean surface that travel deep into the Earth beneath and then return to sensors placed on the ocean floor. His current research focuses on areas west of Spain and west of Ireland, where the crust has thinned so much that seawater has penetrated and reacted with the mantle beneath.

Professor Rachel Mills, the head of Ocean and Earth Science also commented “We are proud to see this recognition of Professor Minshull’s outstanding research contributions and achievements”.