Jonathan Redfern is Chair of Petroleum Geoscience at the University of Manchester, UK, with 30+ years industry and academic experience in Petroleum Geoscience. He has been instrumental in the development at the University of Manchester of one of the largest petroleum research / teaching centers in the UK, and as Head of the Basin Studies and Petroleum Geoscience Group. The group also developed and runs an undergraduate programme in Petroleum Engineering

His research profile is dominantly applied, funded mainly by the oil industry and focused on clastic sedimentology, regional sedimentary basin analysis, regional stratigraphy, basin modeling, reservoir characterization and modeling and petroleum system analysis. He has published 40+ papers in leading journals, and supervised 15 PhDs to successful conclusion. He established the North Africa Research Group in 2000, attracting sponsorship to-date of over £3.5 million, from a consortium of oil companies (Hess, Anadarko, Maersk, Wintershall, Repsol, BP, RWE, Woodside, Pluspetrol, ConocoPhillips, BP, Dana Petroleum, Cairn, Kosmos, Chevron). The next 3-year phase has 8 sponsors to-date and committed funding of £1.5 million, with a possible additional £500,000 from new entrants in negotiation now. Other research since 2005 (PhD funding and PostDoctoral Projects) extends from Canada to Australia, and has focused on Ancient glacial systems and fluvial sedimentology.

Prior to joining academia Prof Redfern worked for 12 years as an exploration geologist for international oil companies in the Europe, S.E Asia and North Africa. This provided him with valuable industry experience and a broad geological knowledge of international / regional exploration, new ventures, petroleum system / play fairway analysis, lead and prospect generation and resource /risk evaluation. His career started with Fina (9 years), 4 years in the UK North Sea, and subsequently working on overseas assignments, responsible for exploration and new venture appraisals in Vietnam and Malaysia, and later in Libya, North Africa and Italy. He undertook major regional basin evaluations, new ventures work/data room evaluations, and later in the cycle, exploration / drilling. He subsequently joined Amerada Hess International New Ventures, working as part of a small-integrated team tasked to develop their international portfolio. He was appointed Chief Geologist for Hess Indonesia in 1996, part of a small team that led the Hess entry to Indonesia, tasked to initiate acreage acquisition, exploration evaluations and well planning.

He is a member of the AAPG, PESGB and a Fellow of the Geological Society. He has been an Associate Editor of the AAPG Bulletin and the Journal of Petroleum Geology.