Professor Iain Stewart is an award winning geologist and broadcaster.  He was the presenter of the BBC 2 series Journeys from the Centre of the Earth. 

In December 2022 the Royal Scottish Geographical Society presented Iain with the prestigious Scottish Geographical Medal for his ongoing work in his field.

Born in Scotland, Iain is a geologist and the current Chair of sustainability at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan where he currently resides.  He is a fellow of both the Geological Society of London and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is also the current President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Up until 2021 Iain was Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute  at the University of Plymouth. He was also a Senior Lecturer in Geodynamics, School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences in the Department of Geology and still works there.

University Days:

He graduated in 1986 with a degree in Geology & Geography from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and moved to the University of Bristol to carry out doctoral research on the geology of earthquakes in Greece and Turkey.  After finishing his PhD in 1990, Iain lectured in geology at Brunel University in west London, then left in 2002 to take up an Honorary Research Fellow post at Glasgow University while getting the Journeys… series off the ground.

His main research interests are in the broad area of Earth hazards and natural disasters, particularly in terms of identifying past major earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in the Mediterranean region. Iain’s geological research has featured in two BBC Horizon specials – The Search of Ancient Helike and Earthquake Storms – and he was the geology member of the science team in the BBC Two series Rough Science.

Iain regularly presents on the BBC.  His early work includes the 2004 6 part series, Journeys from the Centre of the Earth. In 2007 Iain was in a four part BBC 2 series Earth The Biography, which told the story of how the great geological forces of the air, sea, ice and volcanoes shaped our planet.

In 2010 Professor Iain Stewart was back on home turf, this time with, Making Scotland’s Landscape. Another BBC documentary where Iain looked at how Scotland has changed with centuries of human activity.  2013 saw Iain discuss how our continents were created with his BBC production Rise of the Continents.

Iain is a superb and captivating speaker on what made our planet. He talks about Geology, Sustainability, Volcanoes, Climate and our Environment.