Iain Stewart

Iain Simpson Stewart (born 1964) is a Scottish geologist who is currently Jordan-UK El Hassan bin Talal Research Chair in Sustainability at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan.

He is a UNESCO Chair in Geoscience and Society and formerly a member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO's International Geoscience Programme.

Stewart was born in 1964 in East Kilbride, in Lanarkshire, to Sheena and Jack.

He has two younger brothers, Graeme and Frazer.

He attended Mount Cameron Primary and then Claremont High School from 1976 to 1982.

In an interview with the Glasgow Herald, Stewart revealed that he initially struggled with geology: "I was a middling student, never really at the top of the class, nor at the bottom. Which I think is good, in a way. When you're out there at the top, it can be quite isolating."

Stewart was a child actor and holder of an Equity card.

His first appearance on television came in 1978, in a BBC Scotland adaptation of John Buchan's 1922 novel Huntingtower.

Amongst his contemporaries at the East Kilbride Rep Theatre was the actor John Hannah.

Leaving acting behind, he studied geography and geology at Strathclyde University, graduating in 1986 with a first class honours Bachelor of Science degree.

He obtained his doctorate, entitled "The evolution of neotectonic normal fault scarps in the Aegean Region" in 1990 at the University of Bristol on research into earthquakes in Greece and Turkey.

In 1990 he began teaching geology at the West London Institute of Higher Education (WLIHE) in Osterley (occupying the Warden's flat with his wife for several years), and from 1995 at Brunel University due to its merger with WLIHE.

After 12 years in London he moved back to Scotland to develop a new career as a science broadcaster.

Nostalgic for Brunel, he said "And invariably, you move on to places that for all their benefits, seem surprisingly narrow, and more fallow, in comparison. In short, it was a remarkable place to be".

Stewart returned to television as an expert academic for Helike – The Real Atlantis, a 2002 BBC Horizon film about the destruction of the Greek city of Helike by earthquake and tsunami in 373 BCE, newly rediscovered in 2001.

This, he says, "gave me a hunger to get more geology on telly."

He featured in another Horizon film, on earthquakes, in April 2003, before appearing as a team member in the fourth series of Rough Science (shown January/February 2004), a series where a group of scientists is challenged to solve tasks using only the resources of the local surroundings and a small set of supplies.

He moved to the University of Plymouth in 2004, later becoming Professor of Geoscience Communication, a position he believed to be unique in the world.

He left to become Jordan-UK El Hassan bin Talal Research Chair in Sustainability in 2021 on a four year secondment to the Royal Scientific Society, based in Amman.

Described as geology's "rock star", Stewart is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC, notably the BAFTA nominated Earth: The Power of the Planet (2007).

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Until 2021 he was Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute at University of Plymouth and remains a of Professor of Geoscience Communication there, in addition to his role as co-Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability at Ashoka University.

He also worked on a project called Eden in 2011, where scientists wanted to recreate a project called The Bell Jar.

If you put a mouse in the jar, it would die quickly, but if you put a mouse in the jar with a plant, it would live longer.

In project Eden, Stewart was a mouse, and the bell jar was a box (8x2x2 meters) with plants such as banana trees.

When he went in, they lowered the oxygen levels from 20% to 12%.

The question was, could the plant produce enough to compensate for the lack of oxygen.

The result was that they can do it.

It means that the need for plants for living is high.

Stewart was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to geology and science communication.

He is a patron of the English Riviera Geopark, a member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO's International Geological Programme and chair of its 'Hazards' theme, a vice-president of The Geographical Association and its primary Geography 'Champion', a member of the Steering Committee of the IUGS-Commission on Geoscience for Environmental Management Working Group on 'Communicating Environmental Geoscience', a member of the UK National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement's Academic Action Research group, and a member of The Geological Society of London's external relations committee.

He is a member of the board of directors at the Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems, University of Durham.

Honorary Degrees

Awards

From there, built up a 15 year partnership with BBC Science presenting and hosting major Earth science documentaries and radio programmes until 2015, when Planet Oil aired on the BBC.

His main research interests are in the broad area of Earth hazards and natural disasters, particularly in terms of identifying past major earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in the Mediterranean region.

Stewart also specialises in geology's effect on culture and religion throughout the history of the world.

He appears in other roles, including as a scientific commentator.