Profile
Murray Gray joined Queen Mary in 1972 having trained as a glacial geomorphologist at the University of Edinburgh and went on to publish extensively on the Quaternary geomorphology of western Scotland, north Wales and East Anglia. Later in his career he served as Head of the Department of Geography (1989-1992) and as Faculty Academic Dean (1998-2001).
In the 1990s, Murray became more interested in applied research and eventually moved into the fields of geodiversity, geoheritage and geoconservation, investigating topics such as landscape character assessment, authentic landform/landscape design, and land-use planning. Three years before retirement his in 2007, Murray published a book titled Geodiversity: Valuing and Conserving Abiotic Nature (John Wiley, 2004, 434pp.) and has since become the leading international expert on geodiversity (there have 1155 citations of the first edition according to Google Scholar and a second edition was published in 2013). Murray has given numerous invited presentations on the theme in Europe, South East Asia (Japan, China, Hong Kong), the Americas (US, Canada, Brazil) and South Africa all under the Queen Mary affiliation. This exceptional contribution has been influential in spurring other research and conservation policy development across the world. For example, he continues to contribute to the work of the Geoheritage Specialist Group of the World Commission on Protected Areas/International Union for the Conservation of Nature to promote the importance of abiotic nature in international environmental policy.
Murray had reached the position of Reader when he retired from Queen Mary in 2007. Conferment of a Professorial title in 2019 recognises Murray’s exceptional achievements over the last decade and the role he has played in sustaining the School and University’s high reputation across the world. It also provides an opportunity for us to continue to benefit from his expertise and friendship as he writes another book, gives conference presentations, and pursues other writing activities and policy engagement work.