Rate My Professor Ian Fitzsimons

Professor Ian Fitzsimons is Professor of Geology in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. He joined Curtin University in February 1998 as a lecturer and advanced to full professor. Prior to this, he served as Research Associate at Monash University School of Geosciences from June 1996 to February 1998 and at the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences from June 1995 to May 1996, following earlier research positions including at Royal Holloway University of London. His academic background includes a PhD in Geology from the University of Edinburgh (July 1988–August 1991), postgraduate studies in Geology at the University of Oxford (October 1987–July 1988), and a BA (Hons) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (October 1984–June 1987).

Fitzsimons served as Head of the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences from 2018, Acting Director of the Western Australian School of Mines, and Head of Applied Geology. His research focuses on metamorphic petrology, tectonics, Antarctica, Gondwana assembly, ultra-high temperature metamorphism, granulites, zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes, detrital zircon provenance, metamorphic P-T-t paths, and charnockites. He has produced 124 research items with 9,193 citations and 80,187 reads on ResearchGate. Highly cited publications include 'Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: a synthesis' (Precambrian Research, 2008), 'Proterozoic basement provinces of southern and southwestern Australia, and their correlation with Antarctica' (Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2003), 'Grenville-age basement provinces in East Antarctica: evidence for three separate collisional orogens' (Geology, 2000), 'A review of tectonic events in the East Antarctic Shield and their implications for Gondwana and earlier supercontinents' (Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2000), 'How does the continental crust get really hot?' (Elements, 2011), and 'The influence of retrograde cation exchange on granulite P–T estimates and a convergence technique for the recovery of peak metamorphic conditions' (Journal of Petrology, 1994). He received the 2014 Curtin Student Guild Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Excellence Award and the Max Hey Medal in 2000. Fitzsimons chairs the Heads of Geoscience Schools Forum and has delivered public lectures including the 6th Day Lecture in 2020.