Rate My Professor Lisa McNeill

Lisa McNeill is Professor of Tectonics in Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton, specializing in active tectonics. She earned a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (1989-1992) and a PhD in Structural Geology from Oregon State University (1993-1998). Her career began with Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowships at the University of Leeds (1999-2000) and the University of Southampton (2000-2002), followed by progression from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader at Southampton (2003-2014), culminating in her professorial appointment in 2014.

Professor McNeill's research centers on the active tectonics of subduction zones and continental rifts and their associated geological hazards, including earthquakes and tsunamis. She investigates interactions between tectonics, sedimentation, and the environment, as well as fault slip behavior and history, employing marine geophysics, sediment coring, scientific ocean drilling, geomorphology, and paleoseismology. Her studies span key subduction zones such as Sumatra (Indonesia), Hikurangi (New Zealand), Cascadia (USA-Canada), Nankai (Japan), and Makran (Pakistan-Iran), alongside active rifts including the Gulf of Corinth (Greece) and the East African Rift. She has co-led major International Ocean Discovery Program expeditions, notably Expedition 381 in the Corinth Rift. Among her honors is the Geological Society of London Coke Medal (2020). She served on the UKIODP Programme Advisory Group (2012-2023) and as Co-Chair of the IODP Science Evaluation Panel (2019-2022). Key publications include 'Increasing fault slip rates within the Corinth Rift, Greece: a rapidly localising active rift fault network' (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2024), 'Quantitative analysis of faulting in the Danakil Depression rift of Afar' (Tectonics, 2023), 'The effects of initial wedge taper on area-balancing restoration of a fold-thrust belt' (AAPG Bulletin, 2022), 'Structural variation along the Southern Hikurangi subduction zone, Aotearoa New Zealand' (Tectonics, 2024), and 'A high resolution record of early rift development and tectonic, sedimentary and environmental conditions in an active rift basin: IODP MSP drilling in the Corinth Rift, Greece (Expedition 381)' (Marine Geology, 2026).