Dr Stephanie Flude

Geosciences Researcher turned Freelance Research and Training Consultant with >15 years of academic, laboratory, and fieldwork experience. My research has focused on a combination of understanding geological processes, and technique improvement, with emphasis on refined sample characterisation and use of multi-disciplinary techniques. 

I have specific expertise in:

• Responsible research and innovation

• Assessing legacy coal mining infrastructure for heat storage potential

• Molecular hydrogen in geological environments

• Carbon capture and geological storage (CCS)

• Noble gas geochemistry of subsurface fluids

• 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology

• Stable isotope geochemistry of carbon dioxide and methane.

• Benchtop micro-XRF

I am an adaptable researcher with wide research interests, keen to work across disciplines and continue to learn new knowledge and skills.

I have applied my work to a wide range of subjects, including:

• The energy transition and decarbonisation of energy systems

• Volcanic and magmatic evolution

• Archaeology

• Stratigraphy

• CCS risk and implementation 

• Formation and migration of geological fluids

Formal Education

PhD Thesis title "Rhyolite volcanism in Iceland: timing and timescales of eruption". School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (SEAES), Manchester University, UK. 2005

BSc Geology: 2:1 (upper second class honours). The University of Durham, UK. 2000

Research Experience

November 2022 - Present: PDRA at Strathclyde University, helping to ascertain the safety and feasibility of storing heat in abandoned coal mine shafts, as part of the STEaM Project.

May 2023-Sept 2024: PDRA at Aberdeen University,  looking at qualitative and semi-quantitative data collecting and reporting norms, and assessing whether they are fit for future ("big data") use. Using Breccias as a case study. 

September 2018 -June 2021: PDRA at The University of Oxford, investigating the origin, migration, and fate of native hydrogen produced in the Precambrian São Francisco Basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil. (Field-sampling of gas and water, noble gas geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry)

2014-2018: PDRA at The University of Edinburgh, working mostly on carbon capture and geological storage (CCS): tracing captured CO2, industry-wide risk assessment (results used by the IPCC), assessing CCS implementation rates, and confirming the presence of a mantle plume. (Field sampling of gases, noble gas geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, qualitative and quantitative data gathering and analysis, Monte Carlo modelling).

2011-2014: PDRA and lab manager at the Quaternary Dating Laboratory, Roskilde University. Research focussed on 40Ar/39Ar dating of young volcanic rocks. Laboratory manager for the micro-XRF facility and rock sample preparation labs (including radioactive samples). (Field sampling and mapping of volcanic rocks, mineral separation, 40Ar/39Ar dating, micro-XRF).

2008-2011: PDRA at the Open University, investigating how microtextures influence diffusion of Ar in alkali feldspars. (Field-sampling of igneous and metamorphic rocks, petrography, scanning electron microscopy, 40Ar/39Ar UV-laserprobe dating, FIB-TEM)

2001-2005: PhD at The University of Manchester: Rhyolite volcanism in Iceland - timing and timescales of eruption. (Field sampling of volcanic rocks, 40Ar/39Ar dating, XRF, geochemical modelling)

2000-2001: Volunteer at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, working on The Mauna Loa project (GIS map production, field mapping and sampling).

Other Work Experience

Nov 2024 - Present: Responsible Research and Innovation champion, Strathclyde University - auditing resources and practices, running focus groups, developing training resources.

October 2021 - Present: Freelance Research and Training consultant (S. Flude Consulting). Projects include writing grant proposals, literature compilations and data reviews.

March 2021 - Present: Trustee of the Scottish Geology Trust, with a strong focus on governance and strategic development review. Vice Chair since March 2022.

February 2021 - Present: RisingWISE Facilitator - helping to deliver Oxford and Cambridge Universities' flagship training network for entrepreneurial women.

2017 - Present: Jewellery designer and maker, and Transcultural Belly Dance Teacher.

2021 - 2023: Team member - The Mind Hears - a blog by and for deaf and hard of hearing academics. Blog contributor, social media, and strategic advice.

January 2022 - September 2022: Part time University Teaching Associate, The University of Edinburgh - helping  prepare supplementary lectures for, and deliver Masters level courses Energy Systems and Technologies, and Energy and Climate; supervising masters dissertation students in the Carbon Management, and Energy, Society, and Sustainability MSc programs.