Donald Bruce Dingwell

Born in 1958 in Canada, Don Dingwell received his BSc in geology and geophysics in 1980 from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and his PhD in geology at the University of Alberta in 1984. Following his graduate studies, he was a Carnegie Research Fellow at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington for two years, and worked at the University of Toronto for one year. In 1987, he was recruited to Germany as senior scientist and assistant to the director of a newly-founded research institute, the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry and Geophysics (Bayerisches Geoinstitut). There, he obtained his Venia Legendi in geochemistry in 1992. In 2000, he was called to the Chair in Mineralogy and Petrology at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich where he currently has a research professorship in experimental volcanology.

Dingwell’s principal research interest is the physico-chemical description of molten rocks and their impact on volcanic systems. His research work has been supported by grants from the European Research Council, the Carnegie Institution, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the German Research Society (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the European Commission, NATO, and several other research agencies as well as selected industries. The fruits of that research (about 300 articles and over 7000 citations) have been recognised by his receipt of scientific awards, prizes and fellowships of the German Mineralogical Society, DFG, the Mineralogical Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the Institute of Scientific Information (Highly Cited researcher). He was also awarded the EGU Robert Wilhelm Bunsen Medal in 2008. Members of his research group have been honoured with national and international awards. He is an elected member and Chair of the section of Earth and Cosmic Sciences of the Academia Europaea, Europe’s academy of science, arts and letters, as well as a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Dingwell has participated in teaching at all University levels, in five Universities, three countries and two languages. He has sponsored graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of a dozen different nationalities. Aside from his academic activities, Dingwell has been highly active in the proliferation and support of science and science awareness within and beyond national and international scientific societies. He also has considerable experience in dealing with the media on issues of science.

He has held office within several academic and professional societies, such as the Mineralogical Association of Canada, the Geochemical Society, and the American Geophysical Union. At the European Geosciences Union, he was the first president of the Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology division between 2002 and 2007, and currently serves as the Union’s President.

Throughout his career, Dingwell has been a strong advocate of interdisciplinarity, internationalisation, and mobility of young researchers.

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