
Professor Juliet Biggs
BA, MSci(Cantab.), PhD(Oxon.)
Expertise
Juliet uses satellite technology to study active tectonics, volcanism and anthropogenic deformation at new spatial and temporal scales, transforming our understanding of faults, volcanoes and ground stability.
Current positions
- Professor of Earth SciencesSchool of Earth Sciences
Contact
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Biography
Juliet received B.A. and M.Sci. degrees fromthe University of Cambridge, (2003), and a Ph.D.from the University of Oxford (2007). After a brief time in the US, she moved to the University of Bristol in 2010, becoming a full professor in 2019. Juliet has worked on earthquakes in all tectonic settings and all phases of the earthquake cycle. Through major multidisciplinary projects in the East African Rift, she has studied how dyke intrusions and faulting accommodate extension and the role of magma transport and storage, providing a scientific basic for new hazard assessments and building codes.  In volcanology, she has found that numerous volcanoes previously considered dormant are actually restless and estimated the intrusive and extrusive fluxes that contribute to edifice building and continental growth. Working with the Bristol Visual Information Laboratory, she has pioneered the application of deep learning algorithms, changing the ways in which volcanoes are monitored and deformation signals interpreted. Recent projects are adapting these methods to for the UK's Digital Environment, using machine learning and satellite data to monitor deformation at abandoned mines and railway embankments. 
She is currently co-Director of the BGS Centre for the Observation and Monitoring of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) and leads an ERC Consolidator Project MAST (2022-2027). She received the Bullerwell award of the British Geophysical Association in 2016, the Lloyds of London Science of Risk Prize in 2016 and the AGU John Wahr Early Career Award in 2017 and a Leverhulme Prize in 2018. 
Research interests
My research crosses the boundaries between volcanology, geophysics and tectonics. In the past decade, satellite technology has revolutionised our ability to measure Earth’s surface topography and deformation globally and with unprecedented resolution. My specialism is in using these tools to understand volcanoes, faults and ground stability and increasingly to influence hazard management. These advances have changed the ways in which volcanoes are monitored and deformation signals interpreted globally. My work in the East African Rift has increased awareness of volcanic and seismic hazards in the region.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
- Imaging Magmatic Architecture using Strain Tomography- Principal Investigator- Managing organisational unitSchool of Earth Sciences- Dates- 30/06/2022 to 30/06/2027 
- Forecasting volcanic activity using deep learning- Principal Investigator- Managing organisational unitSchool of Earth Sciences- Dates- 01/06/2020 to 31/01/2026 
- 8035 GCRF GLOBAL RESEARCH TRANSLATIONAL AWARDS EP/T015462/1 - SAFER PREPARED- Principal Investigator- Role- Co-Investigator - DescriptionSAFER PREPARED is a UKRI funded GCRF project 2020-2021 led at University of Bristol in partnership with colleagues in Malawi.
 It is part of a wider Programme on "Innovative data…- Managing organisational unit- Dates- 01/10/2019 to 31/03/2022 
- NERC Innovation Call- Principal Investigator- Managing organisational unitSchool of Earth Sciences- Dates- 01/03/2019 to 31/05/2021 
- Digital Environment: Dynamic Ground Motion Map of the UK- Principal Investigator- Managing organisational unitSchool of Earth Sciences- Dates- 04/02/2019 to 03/02/2020 
Thesis supervisions
- Tectonic, Volcanic and Geothermal Processes in a Continental Rift- Supervisors
- Volcanic deformation and degassing- Supervisors
- Examining the relationship between seismic swarms and ground deformation during volcanic unrest- Supervisors
- Characteristics of aseismic afterslip and its effects on aftershock sequences- Supervisors
- Volcano Monitoring with High-resolution satellite SAR- Supervisors
- InSAR Observations of Active Magmatic and Tectonic Processes in the East African Rift- Supervisors
- The effects of large tectonic earthquakes on transcrustal magmatic systems- Supervisors
- Insights into moisture-driven landslides using electrical and seismic methods- Supervisors
- Identifying active volcanic, tectonic, and geothermal deformation at the Northern Costa Rican Volcanic Arc using InSAR.- Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
09/01/2025Distinct patterns of volcano deformation for hot and cold magmatic systems
Nature Communications
Effect of Mainshock Selection, Earthquake Catalog and Definition on Foreshock Rate Estimates in Southern California
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Measuring topographic change after volcanic eruptions using multistatic SAR satellites
Remote Sensing of Environment
Real-time satellite monitoring of the 2024–2025 dyke intrusion sequence at Fentale-Dofen volcanoes, Ethiopia
Bulletin of Volcanology
Separating Magmatic and Hydrothermal Deformation Using InSAR Timeseries: Independent Component Analysis at Corbetti Caldera, Ethiopia
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth



