“Science is an international social endeavour, where scientific and societal problems can often only be solved by courage, dedication and teamwork. My research interests cut across the fundamental and applied – indeed I am a believer that perceiving these as separate is often detrimental to progress. I am grateful for this opportunity to be associated with the AAPG Distinguished Lecture series and I greatly look forward to traveling and learning from those I meet, particularly students from diverse backgrounds.”
Rachel Wood is professor of Carbonate Geoscience at the University of Edinburgh. She is an authority on carbonate deposition, particularly the evolution of reef ecosystems and diagenesis. Rachel holds a bachelor’s in geology/zoology from the University of Bristol and a doctorate from the Open University.
After research fellowships at the University of Cambridge, Wood worked as a principal scientist at Schlumberger Cambridge Research. Since 2012 she has been co-director of the International Centre for Carbonate Reservoirs (ICCR) – an industry-sponsored consortium between the universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Oxford. ICCR tackles a range of fundamental and applied carbonate reservoir challenges including those from geophysics, geology, geoengineering and geochemistry.
Wood is particularly interested in the interface between disciplines, such as between sedimentology, geochemistry and modelling, where interesting and difficult problems require novel and multidisciplinary approaches.