Trevor Allen

Earthquake Seismologist
Geoscience  Australia

Bachelor of Science (Honours)
PhD in geosciences

“I help run the Australian earthquake alert system and investigate how the intensity of ground shaking decays with distance from an earthquake’s epicentre.”

I guess I’ve always had a natural curiosity for the Earth and its dynamic processes, which is why I now consider myself to be extremely fortunate to be working in my dream job. My years at Monash provided me with the necessary skills and knowledge, to pursue this career path.

As an undergraduate student I majored in Geophysics and Materials Science and completed my Honours in Geophysics. I chose Geophysics because I enjoy the balance between field and office work that the Geosciences offer. For this project, I designed and coordinated a geophysical field survey to examine the possible existence of a diamond deposit in outback South Australia. My findings were extremely encouraging and my industry partners later drilled the target I selected. Unfortunately, no diamonds were found!

After I completed my Honours, I was offered a PhD in earthquake seismology. This was a very different field to my background in exploration geophysics and was certainly a steep learning curve. In simple terms, my PhD involved investigating earthquake hazard in Australia and assessing the implications for earthquake engineering. Throughout my candidature, I gained invaluable client interaction, management and team leadership skills while working casually as a geophysicist for a small geophysical consulting company that operates within the academic department. Various teaching roles were also very rewarding.

I now work in the Geohazards Division within Geoscience Australia, Canberra. Working in a multidisciplinary team of scientists, civil engineers, software engineers, GIS specialists and economists, we watch and assess earth-surface processes that pose a risk to Australia. We gather data and develop tools that governments and other authorities can use to make our communities as safe as possible from natural (e.g. earthquake, tsunami, landslide, flood, severe wind and bushfire) and human-induced hazards. More specifically I help run the Australian earthquake alert system and investigate how the intensity of ground shaking decays with distance from an earthquake’s epicentre. In the recent Asian tsunami crisis, Geoscience Australia played a major role in disseminating scientific information to government authorities and the media. It’s an interesting place to work and I have really enjoyed the time I’ve spent here so far.

Through my studies at Monash, I’ve been able to visit some amazing and remote parts of Australia and the world that I would not have otherwise experienced. Particular highlights include fieldwork in remote western Tasmania and a technical tour down one of the world’s deepest mines in central South Africa (a depth of 2.5 km!).

With the right direction and training, anything’s possible!