Hello! I’m Frances and I’m a Swedish Research Council supported researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden and also a Research Associate at the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Rome, Italy. I’m originally from Ireland and obtained my Bachelor Degree in Geology at Trinity College in Dublin before moving to Sweden for my PhD.

My research interests are within the subjects of igneous and metamorphic petrology, geochemistry, and volcanology. If you head over to twitter, you will see that I love to share some of the beautiful volcanic rocks I’ve looked at under the microscope under the hashtag #thinsectionthursday (e.g. the image at the top of this page is a beautiful plagioclase in lava erupted by Agung volcano on Bali, Indonesia). I am fascinated by the geological stories that crystals can tell us about how and where they formed and the journeys they take from source to surface via volcanoes.

I was recently awarded a project grant from the Swedish Research Council to work on Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) such as the High Arctic, Franklin, and Siberian LIPs (commencing in 2019). I am especially interested in experimentally studying magma-sediment interaction and then performing novel micro-analysis of various isotope systems on both experimental products and natural rocks and minerals. My favourite analytical instrument is the Secondary Ionisation Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

My job gives me the opportunity to travel a LOT. I recently started publishing my photos from my travels to Flikr (have a look!)

Here is a fieldwork selfie from my trip to La Palma, Canary Islands in December 2018:

And here is a picture of me in fieldwork mode in the Canadian High Arctic in July 2015:

This image can also be found in an article about #atuallivingscientists from the Nordics by Science Nordic here.

I am using this website to archive my publications and CV as well as to blog a little about my research and where it takes me. Thanks for reading!