Dr Bill Murphy

Who am I ?

As far as my responsibilities at the University of Leeds are concerned, I am the course director of the M.Sc. Engineering Geology. My interests cover the fields of landslide geomorphology, earthquake geology and geohazard assessment. I also have experience of working on rock slope stability problems and the deterioration of stone buildings by weathering. This range of interests has led me to visit places as diverse as California and Hong Kong, Israel and Taiwan. I have worked on seismically-triggered landslides in New Zealand and on large mudslides in Dorset. I'll say one thing for Engineering Geology - it means you get around a bit !

On the professional front, I represent the interests of the Geological Society to the Society of Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) which is part of the Institution of Civil Engineers. I was on the Technical Affairs committee, and the conference organizing committee for the 12th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, which was held in the Barbican in September 2002. I am now on the editorial board of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology.

On a personal level, I still (occasionally) play rugby. I lived in Portsmouth for 8 years and played rugby with United Services RFC and IBM/Havant rugby club. I now play for anyone who needs a player, but mostly for Leodiensians RFC. For some horrible sin I committed in a previous life, I am also a Rugby Football Union referee attached to Yorkshire (Central) Referees Society. During the summer months I take up triathlon as my sport of preference as it involves two things I really enjoy - cycling and running. Sadly it also involves swimming and I am about as hydrodynamic as a balloon with all the natural buoyancy of a half-brick. I am a member of the British Triathlon Association, Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club and the Valley Striders Running Club.

Have a look at some of my links. The academic ones are the best of course! Do spare some time for a look at the Scottish Rugby Union web site - I would like to say that is so much better than the RFU site, but then I am biased!

Research Interests:

My main areas of research interest relate to factors influencing slope instability and failure specifically ground motions from strong earthquakes. You can split this into three broad areas:

Geotechnical earthquake engineering -especially the mechanics and initiation of landslides during earthquakes and how seismically-induced landslide hazards can be assessed. Currently, I am involved in looking at the role of topographic amplification on landslide initiation and how it can be assessed using Rock Mass Classification methods in common use in geotechnical practice. This work is being carried out with Sergio Sepulveda and David Petley of the Department of Geography, University of Durham.

Engineering Geomorphology - how geomorphology and terrain evaluation can be used to support the results of geotechnical investigations for landslide problems. In addition to the terrain evaluation issues how can new remote sensing technologies such as Interferometric SAR be used to monitor landslide movement. This area of research is in collaboration with Marko Bulmer, David Keefer and Randy Jibson of the United States Geological Survey, Franco Mantovani (University of Ferrara, Italy) and David Petley. This project has been funded by NASA, The Italian Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Support for these projects has also been awarded by NERC through the provision of flight time for the collection of high spatial and spectral resolution image data.

Uncertainty and Error - how uncertainty in natural geological and geophysical systems can be used / addressed in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. This area includes such problems as addressing extremely heterogeneous deposits such as pyroclastic deposits, specifically, the Tierra Blanca in El Salvador in collaboration with Julian Bommer at Imperial College London and Jo Mankelow of the British Geological Survey. Additional projects in this area are under development - so watch this space!

Links (academic):

• Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
• Seismological Society of America.
• The United States Geological Survey.
• The National Earthquake Information Service.
• The Royal Society.
• Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.
• Online Conversion Table.

Links (definitely not academic):

Rugby

• The Scottish Rugby Union.
• Leeds Tykes (and the Rhinos).
• The International Rugby Board.

Triathlon

• Half Ironman UK.
• Transitionsport.
• Triathlete Magazine.

Travel

• National Rail Network (including timetables).
• Online currency conversion.
• United Airlines.
• British Midland.
• British Airways.

Others

• The Royal Navy.
• Warner Village Cinemas.
• Leeds City Council.
• BBC News online.