Paul Dirks

Professor Paul Dirks obtained an MSc degree in structural geology from the Utrecht University (1987) and a PhD in structural-metamorphic geology from the University of Melbourne (1990). Paul is an honorary professor in Geology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa and a member of AusIMM.

Paul is a structural geologist with an interest in geodynamics and the tectonic history of cratonic terrains and adjacent mobile belts, investigating their tectonic evolution and associated mineralization patterns. His research is strongly field-based with a focus on detailed geological mapping. Paul has lived and worked across 5 continents, with results published in over 95 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, 130 conference papers and 65 professional reports.

Through the study of Neotectonics and landscape development in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, Paul was closely involved in the discovery of Australopithicus sediba; a new member to our ancestral family tree, which was announced to the world in 2010. He is particularly interested in how Africa’s dynamic landscape has shaped human evolution.

With a passion for capacity building in Africa, Paul is a founding director in the AfricaArray programme, which he helped establish in 2003 to reverse the geoscience brain-drain from that continent. AfricaArray links training to development of a multidisciplinary observational network across Sub-Sahara Africa aimed at enhancing knowledge of the tectonics and topography of the African Plate.

Paul has worked extensively as a professional consultant to the mining industry, and is a past director of SRK-Zimbabwe, past associate of SRK-South Africa, and has served as an expert member on range of mining projects. His consulting work has focused on structural geological mapping, geotechnical work for pit stability in open pits, and gold and base metal exploration, in part through the development of mineral databases.

Previous roles include Head of School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand; founding director of the Mineral Resources Centre, University of Zimbabwe, founding board member, Institute of Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, council member, Australia-New Zealand Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme Council, and peer review panel member overseeing the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis of Nuclear Power Plant sites in South Africa.