Volcanoes, drones and a typical day as a scientist.
An interview with Dr James Hickey
I’ve just come out of a geography degree at University, so when I stumbled across the work of Dr James Hickey. He was definitely someone I wanted to interview and talk to about his work.
You can find him on Twitter here:@jameshickey77
He is a a geophysical volcanologist from the University of Exeter who currently resides on their Cornwall campus at the Camborne School of Mines. He explores the dynamics of both active and restless volcanoes and is a big advocate for fieldwork, boasting an extensive list of research locations from Japan to Colombia to Italy.
All photos taken by James and displayed on his fieldwork site, linked here.
We hope you enjoy hearing what he has to say.
What inspired you to get into volcanology originally, was it a love for science?
I always had a love for the outside and the natural world around me, as well as a fascination for things that explode or burn, so I guess you could say that was where my inspiration for volcanology might have come from. Though it wasn’t until I had travelled around New Zealand and seen some of the incredible volcanic sights the country has to offer that I really thought it was something I would settle on. Being interested (and relatively good) in science and maths at school also helped a fair bit.
When you’re not waiting for a volcano to do something exciting.
What does your typical day entail, do you model anything or are you messing with data back in a lab?
A typical day for me is fairly rare! I’m often trying to balance different things, so in one day I might go from teaching or planning teaching, to carrying out some original research or plotting my next field work trip. A lot of my research is based around computational modelling of volcanoes using high performance computers and 3D simulations, but I’m also about to start getting into some more laboratory based work to look at some volcanic rocks I collected from Japan.
Where do you see the most interesting advancements coming in the next few years of volcanology?
Drones, or UAV’s, are certainly going to offer some great advancements in the coming years as the technology is developing at a super fast rate and the costs are continually decreasing. They offer great advantages in the field as they remove the human danger aspect and allow measurements and data to be collected from locations previously considered too risky or inaccessible! Likewise, the increasing amounts and decreasing costs of high performance and super computers are also going to help advance the science of volcanology.
If you weren’t researching volcanos do you know if there’s an area of interest you would have pursued?
To be honest, if I hadn’t gone into volcanology or any other geoscience related subject, I think I might have liked to pursue exercise physiology and sports science. I like to keep fit and so delving into the science behind this is something that interests me.
Where’s the best place you’ve gone out and done fieldwork?
Sakurajima volcano in Japan is my favourite fieldwork location. It’s the first volcano I saw erupt, the area is beautiful, Japan is a great place to visit, and I met my wife there (not Japanese, but a German girl living in Canada at the time, just to add confusion)!
Below are two photos from James’ Japan fieldwork set:
This has been one of the most interesting interviews we’ve been able to partake in over at FIELDWORK. Coming from our background as geography students talking to James who is engaged in crucial volcanological research has been fascinating.
We’re keen to make it known that creative fields range from media industries, fashion and further afield to being creative in scientific areas as well.
We are excited to talk and answer comments in relation to James’ work.
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