Say Hello to Iain Stewart

I guess that even as a university academic, I was a frustrated TV host. As a former child actor, I dodged the precarious glare of the footlights, turning instead to academia on the grounds that lecturing was just performing, but with a steady income.

The road to academia began in 1986 when I graduated with a degree in geology and geography from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Then I moved to the University of Bristol to start a Ph.D. on the geology of earthquakes in Greece and Turkey. After finishing my Ph.D. in 1990, I headed to London to start teaching geology and physical geography at a small college.

In 2002 I had a midlife crisis. Keen to pursue media interests, I left London and moved north to take up a post at Glasgow University. Much of my time at Glasgow was spent journeying south to London to sell the idea of a geology film series to anyone willing to listen.

Thankfully, someone at the BBC was willing to listen. In 2003 I was the first geologist (and Scot!) to be invited to join the science team of the popular BBC2 program, Rough Science. Around the same time, my own geological research had been featured in two BBC Horizon specials — Helike: The Real Atlantis and Earthquake Storms.

My research is focused on a broad area of Earth hazards and natural disasters, specifically identifying major earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions that have occurred in the recent past (the last 10,000 years). I do most of my fieldwork in the Mediterranean region, and many of my studies are linked with those being done in geography, archaeology and ancient history.

Out of this mishmash emerged the idea of a series based on the geology of the ancient Mediterranean world. It would be a combination of rough travel, rough history and rough rocks. For me, the key element was making it as lively and accessible as possible — a geology series for those who didn't know they liked geology!

Filming the series Hot Rocks for the Science Channel was a fantastic experience, but in telly (TV) world, you can't give up your day job. So I've moved again. I've headed south to warmer climes, taking up a post in the department of geology at the University of Plymouth. It's just a little closer to the Mediterranean.