Our People
Co-Directors
Dr. Paul Dirks is currently professor and Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, Australia, where he started in November 2009. Before that Paul was professor in the School of Geosciences, at the University of the Witwatersrand and served as Head of School of Geosciences between 2002 and 2009. In that capacity, Paul was closely involved with geophysics, and together with Andy Nyblade and Gerhard Graham he co-founded the AfricaArray Programme. Between 2004-2009 Paul has been closely involved in building the AfricaArray programme at Wits, and although his new position in Australia has taken him away a little from geophysics, Paul hopes to continue to interact with AfricaArray. By linking mantle structure to neotectonics of the African land surface, in 2008 Paul became involved with Lee Berger exploring for fossil-bearing caves in the Cradle of Humankind (CoH) world heritage site. This led to the discovered of fantastic fossils of a new species of hominids; an unexpected result of the AfricaArray programme. He can be reached at: paul.dirks@jcu.edu.au
Dr. Raymond Durrheim: Ray Durrheim holds the South African Research Chair in Exploration, Earthquake and Mining Seismology at the University of the Witwatersrand and is a Fellow in the Natural Resources and the Environment Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He has participated in many studies dealing with deep level mining and rockbursting. From 1998 to 2002 he was the manager of the DeepMine and FutureMine Collaborative Research Programmes. In 2005 he was commissioned by Chief Inspector of Mines to lead an investigation into the risks to miners, mines and the public associated with large seismic events in the gold mining districts. He is currently the leader of the research project entitled “Minimising the Rockburst Risk”, sponsored by the Mine Health & Safety Council. This project encompasses research on topics such as seismic source mechanisms, the dynamics of fault zones, rockburst damage mechanisms, and seismic hazard assessment methods. He can be reached at: Raymond.Durrheim@wits.ac.za
Dr. Gerhard Graham: Gerhard Graham is the Executive Manager-Scientific Services,
Council for Geoscience, headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. As the executive manager, Graham
has responsibility for the operation and management of the South African National Seismograph Network
and other commercial seismological networks. In addition, he serves as project leader for research
on and development of modern data acquisition and processing techniques in earthquake seismology
in South Africa. He also serves at the principle contact for South Africa under the Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty.Graham started with the council—formerly the Geological Survey of South Africa—in
1984. His past positions have included Head, Seismology Unit; Deputy Manager, Seismology Unit;
and Scientific Officer. He leads the participation of the Council for Geoscience in AfricaArray.
Graham can be reached at: gerhardg@geoscience.org.za
Dr. Andy Nyblade: Andy Nyblade, professor of geosciences at the Pennsylvania
State University, has served as co-Director of AfricaArray since its launch in 2004. Born and raised in Tanzania, he has been leading geophysical research in eastern and southern
Africa for more than 20 years. Prior to his involvement in AfricaArray, Dr. Nyblade conducted broadband
seismic projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Cameroon, and heat flow and gravity projects
in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya. Dr, Nyblade is a geophysicist who has worked globally on the structure and evolution of continental
lithosphere and its relation to mantle dynamics. In Africa, some of his most recent work has focused
on the origin of continental rifting, the causes of plateau uplift, and the nature of Precambrian
lower crust. Dr. Nyblade can be reached at: aan2@psu.edu