Aerial view of a lava eruption on a black background.

The biggest bangs since the big one - Bill McGuire

Lecture Open to all Yorkshire and the North East

Volcanologist and natural hazards expert, Bill McGuire, takes us on a tour of major catastrophes in Earth's history.

Bill is a volcanologist by inclination and training. In 1996, he was a Senior Scientist at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and in 2010 a member of the Science Advisory Group in Emergencies (SAGE) addressing the Icelandic volcanic ash problem. He was a member of the UK Government Natural Hazard Working Group established in January 2005, in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, and a co-author of its report: The role of science in natural hazard assessment.

His later work has focused on climate change and its impacts, particularly upon the solid Earth, and he was a contributor to the 2012 IPCC SREX report on climate change and extreme events. Bill presented two BBC Radio 4 series, Disasters in waiting and Scientists under pressure, along with the End of the world reports on Channel 5 and Sky News.

He has also contributed to many other television and radio programmes and was consultant and main contributor for the lauded BBC Horizon films; Supervolcanoes and Megatsunami - wave of destruction, as well as for the BBC drama, Supervolcano.

About the speaker

Bill McGuire is an academic, activist, broadcaster, and best-selling popular science and speculative fiction writer. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, a co-director of the New Weather Institute, a patron of Scientists for Global Responsibility, a member of the scientific advisory board of Scientists Warning and Special Scientific Advisor to WordForest.org

Bill now works full-time as a writer and activist. He writes for many newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Times, The Observer, The Independent, The Scotsman, New Scientist, Science Focus, Prospect, the Big Issue and Wired. He is co-editor of the anthology, Knock three times: modern folk tales for a world in trouble, published in 2019. His latest short story, The wall, is published in Emerging Worlds magazine. He also writes the Cool Earth blog on Substack.