David S. G. Thomas is a British scientist and geographer. He was born at his parents' home in River, near

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, UK, in October 1958. He is Professor of

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, the fifth person to hold the Statuary Chair, and a Professorial Fellow of

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

Career and research

His research deals with

desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...

, dryland

environments Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and other environmental phenomena. Recent research has focussed on desert geoarchaeology, dryland bioenergy and long-term environmental change in deserts. He received his D.Phil. from the

. Between 1984 and 2004 he taught and researched at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, where he rose from lecturer to senior lecturer then full professor by 1994, and was head of department. he has authored many scientific papers (over 200 by 2022) and 11 books including second and third editions. He has been vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society (twice) and president of the British Geomorphological Research Group (now British Society for Geomorphology. His research interests have seen significant activity in Africa, especially in the Kalahari and Namib Deserts and surrounding areas, and in Arabia and India.

Awards

In 2011 he received the Farouk El-Baz Award from the Geological Society of America for his contributions to desert science. He received the Royal Geographical Society's Victoria Medal in 2018 for his world-leading research in desert environments and desert societies.

Books

*Thomas, David S. G. ''Desertification: exploding the myth'' / David S. G. Thomas and Nicholas J. Middleton. Chichester; New York: Wiley, c1994. xii, 194 p.: ill., maps; 24 cm. *''Sustainable livelihoods in Kalahari environments: a contribution to global debates'' / edited by Deborah Sporton and David S.G. Thomas. Oxford; New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2002. xix, 231 p.: ill., maps; 24 cm. (alk. paper) *''Arid zone geomorphology'' / edited by David S.G. Thomas. London: Belhaven Press; New York: Halsted Press, 1989. vi, 372 p.: ill.; 26 cm. (Halsted Press. 2nd edition (published by John wiley and Sons 1998. 3rd edition as 'Arid Zone Geomorphology: process, Form and Change in Drylands 2011. *United Nations Environment Programme. ''World atlas of desertification'' / UNEP; co-ordinating editors, Nick Middleton and David Thomas. 2nd ed. London; New York: Arnold; New York: Copublished in the US, Central and South America by John Wiley, c1997. 1 atlas (x, 182 p.): ill. (some col.), maps (some col.); 37 cm. (UNEP), (Wiley) *''The Kalahari Environment'' David S.G. Thomas and Paul A. Shaw

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1991. xiii, 275 p.: ill., maps.

Other roles

Amongst his many professional roles, he chaired the Geography and Environmental Studies for the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 from 2017 to 2022.

External links

University of Oxford: Professor David S.G. Thomas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, David Living people 1958 births British geographers Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford Academics of the University of Sheffield People educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys People from Dover, Kent