Heather Viles

{{short description|Professor of biogeomorphology and heritage conservation}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = | name = Heather Viles | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | citizenship = British | residence = | other_names = | occupation = Professor of biogeomorphology and heritage conservation | period = | known_for = | home_town = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = Founder's Medal (2020) | website = | education = | alma_mater = University of Oxford University of Cambridge | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Geography | sub_discipline = Geomorphology | workplaces = Oxford University | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}

'''Heather Viles''' is a professor of biogeomorphology and heritage conservation in the school of geography and the environment at Oxford University, senior research fellow at Worcester College,<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor Heather Viles MA, DPhil |url=https://www.worc.ox.ac.uk/about/fellows/heather-viles |website=Worscester College Fellows}}</ref> and honorary professor at the Institute of Sustainable Heritage, University College London. She is a Fellow of the British Society for Geomorphology.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fellows of the BSG |url=https://www.geomorphology.org.uk/list-bsg-fellows |website=British Society for Geomorphology}}</ref>

==Education==

Viles obtained her MA in geography from the University of Cambridge, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor Heather Viles |url=https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/hviles.html |website=School of Geography and the Environment}}</ref> Her DPhil research investigated the role of microorganisms in weathering limestone, based on fieldwork on Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles.

==Career and research==

Following her DPhil, she undertook post-doctoral research on the contribution of acid rain to the deterioration of English cathedrals. Her research has focused on geomorphology and heritage science. Her research is highly interdisciplinary and includes geomorphology with ecology, engineering geology, environmental chemistry, and materials conservation. Her research investigates biological contributions to geomorphology; processes of weathering, geomorphology and landscape evolution in extreme environments and processes of building stone decay and conservation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Heather Viles |url=https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/hviles.html |website=School of Geography and the Environment}}</ref>

She is currently the co-director of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage, and Archaeology. Since 2019 she has held the position of chair of the British Society for Geomorphology, having previously been chair from 2012 to 2014. Viles was director of Undergraduate Studies (2008–2011), director of research (2012–2015), and head of the School of Geography and the Environment (2015–2019) at Oxford University, and vice provost of Worcester College from 2012 to 2014. From 2008 to 2011, she was vice-president (Expeditions and Fieldwork) of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers. From 2008 to 2012 she was a member of the advisory panel of the joint Arts and Humanities Research Council/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Science and Heritage Programme, and member of the National Heritage Science Strategy steering group co-ordinated by English Heritage that developed a UK-wide Heritage Science Strategy to direct policy over the next 25 years. She is a member of the editorial board of Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Editorial Board |url=https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/14755661/homepage/editorialboard.html |website=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers}}</ref> She was a Member of the International Association of Geomorphologists Executive Committee 2013–2017,<ref>{{cite web |title=Heather Viles |url=http://www.geomorph.org/heather-viles/ |website=International Association of Geomorphologists}}</ref> and Associate Editor of the academic journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Currently she currently a Senior Editor of Earth Surface Dynamics journal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Editorial Board |url=https://www.earth-surface-dynamics.net/editorial_board.html |website=Earth Surface Dynamics}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==

Viles was awarded the 2015 Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal from the European Geosciences Union<ref>{{cite web |title=Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal 2015 |url=https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/ralph-alger-bagnold/2015/heather-viles/ |website=European Geosciences Union}}</ref> for her role in establishing the field of biogeomorphology. In 2019 she was awarded the Melvin G. Marcus distinguished career award of the Geomorphology Specialty Group, American Association of Geographers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Melvin G. Marcus distinguished career award |url=https://aag-gsg.org/awards/mel-marcus-distinguished-career-award/ |website=Geomorphology Specialty Group American Association of Geographers|date=7 January 2019 }}</ref> In 2020 she was recipient of the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for her excellence in establishing the field of biogeomorphology.<ref>{{cite web |title=2020 medal and award recipients announced |url=https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/2020-medal-and-award-recipients-announced/ |website=Royal Geographical Society}}</ref>

==Selected publications== * Heather Viles and Andrew Goudie. [https://www.wiley.com/en-as/The+Earth+Transformed%3A+An+Introduction+to+Human+Impacts+on+the+Environment-p-9781118697016 The Earth Transformed]. Blackwell * Alisdair Rogers and Heather Viles.2007.[https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+Student%27s+Companion+to+Geography%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9780631221333 Student's Companion to Geography (2nd edition)] Blackwell. * Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles. 2010. [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/landscapes-and-geomorphology-a-very-short-introduction-9780199565573?cc=gb&lang=en& Landscapes and Geomorphology: a Very Short Introduction.] Oxford University Press. * Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles. 2015. [https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/landscapes-and-landforms-of-namibia/4834550 Landscapes and landforms of Namibia] (World Geomorphological Landscapes). Springer. Heather Viles. 1988. Biogeomorphology.Wiley-Blackwell.

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viles, Heather}} Category:Living people Category:Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford Category:Academics of University College London Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Geomorphologists Category:Women geographers Category:Physical geographers Category:Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal