David became Professor of Planetary Geosciences in November 2013, having been a Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences since 1994. Before that he was a Lecturer here. He is now in the Department of Physical Sciences, but until 2011 was in the former Department of Earth Sciences. During 1999-2004 he was Director of Teaching and Geosciences Programme Director. He has also been Leader of the IAVCEI Commission on Remote Sensing, and in 2005 he was appointed to the PPARC Solar System Advisory Panel and the BepiColombo Oversight Committee.
In May 2006 he was appointed UK Lead Scientist on MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer), which is the only UK Principal Investigator instrument on BepiColombo, the European Space Agency mission to Mercury to be launched in 2014. He chairs ESA's Mercury Surface and Composition Working Group. He was also a member of the Science Advisory Panel for C1XS , the X-ray spectrometer on Chandrayaan-1 (launched 22 Oct 2008).
In 2006-7 he served on the ESSC/ESF Ad Hoc Group on Definition of a science-driven European scenario for space exploration.
His research interests centre on the study of volcanic activity by means of remote sensing, and volcanology and geoscience in general on other planets.
More info: http://cepsar.open.ac.uk/pers/d.a.rothery/p2.shtml
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