Rate My Professor Sia Ghelichkhan

Dr. Sia Ghelichkhan serves as a Lecturer (Tenure-Track) at the Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences, having joined the faculty in December 2023 following a Research Fellowship position there from November 2019 to November 2023. He earned his PhD in Geophysics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in 2019, MSc in Geophysics from the University of Tehran in 2014, and BSc in Physics from the University of Tehran in 2011. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Ghelichkhan initiated his academic career in theoretical and mathematical physics before shifting to earth sciences, completing his doctoral work on mantle flow reconstruction using data assimilation methods at LMU Munich.

Ghelichkhan's research focuses on developing large-scale numerical models of Earth system processes, utilizing adjoint methods and finite-element techniques to investigate mantle convection, dynamic topography, deep mantle structures, groundwater dynamics, and glacial isostatic adjustment. He leads efforts in continental-scale groundwater modeling to improve predictive capabilities for sustainable water management and co-leads the Geoscientific Adjoint Optimisation Platform (G-ADOPT). As a Fellow of the Institute for Water Futures, he contributes to projects integrating remote sensing and land surface modeling. His grants include a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council for Mid-Pliocene sea-level modeling (2025), CoastRI GIA Modeling with AuScope, and Next Generation Sea-Level Modeling with Geoscience Australia. Key publications encompass 'Global distribution of sediment-hosted metals controlled by craton edge stability' (Nature Geoscience, 2020), 'Global mantle flow retrodictions for the early Cenozoic using an adjoint method' (Geophysical Journal International, 2021), 'Automatic adjoint-based inversion schemes for geodynamics' (Geoscientific Model Development, 2024), and 'Closing the budget of 20th century true polar wander' (Geophysical Journal International, 2025). With over 785 citations and an h-index of 14, his contributions advance geodynamic modeling and earth observation integration. Ghelichkhan supervises multiple PhD students and holds affiliations as an Affiliated Investigator with the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science.