Dr Mike Cassidy MSc, PhD

photo of Dr Mike Cassidy

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 6167
Email
m.cassidy.1@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@mikevolc
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Mike is a volcanologist and petrologist, his research focuses on the physio-chemical controls of volcanic explosivity, how to improve eruptive style forecasting and how we can best understand and minimise the impacts from large magnitude explosive eruptions.

https://sites.google.com/site/drmikecassidyvolcanoscientist/home

Qualifications

  • 2012 – PhD, University of Southampton
  • 2008 – MSc Volcanology, University of Lancaster
  • 2006 – BSc Geology, University of Bristol

Biography

Mike is principally a volcanologist, but his research and teaching interests are cross-disciplinary. 

He is the programme lead for Global Environmental Change and Sustainability Degree.

He teaches on modules in the Geology degree programme as well as the Global Environmental Change and Sustainability programme. 

Teaching

LI: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology

Postgraduate supervision

Mike is interested in quantifying the impacts from large magnitude explosive eruptions, such as those on food, water and energy security.
He is also interested in questions relating to magma explosivity, magmatic volatiles and overpressure using a range of approaches such as machine learning, analytical petrology and petrological experiments in the apparatus built by Mike in Oxford.

Current students:
Kyra Cutler (Oxford)
Kerys Meredew (Birmingham)

Previously supervised PhD Students:
Annika Voight (Oxford)
Anna Brookfield (Oxford)
Amber Madden-Nadeau (Oxford)

Research

Mike is a volcanologist and petrologist, his research focuses on the understanding the controls of volcanic explosivity, linking petrology with volcano monitoring for eruption forecasting.

His research has taken him to volcanoes around the world including, Indonesia, Iceland, Chile, Mexico and the West Indies.

More recently, his research uses cross-disciplinary approach to understand and minimise the impacts from large magnitude explosive eruptions and other global catastrophic risks.

He is a strong advocate for increased efforts to monitor, prepare and mitigate the impacts from globally catastrophic eruptions. 

Other activities

  • 2021 – present: Editorial board for Scientists for Labour Lobbying for key scientific issues to the Labour Lords and MPs
  • 2020- present: NERC Peer review college member
  • 2018- 2020: Editorial Review Board Member for Frontiers in Earth Science (Petrology section)
  • 2021- present: Editorial board of Geology journal for ITB Bandung, Indonesia.
  • 2018 – 2020: Co-led the successful campaign for Oxford University to abolish their graduate application fee, removing a financial barrier to >35,000 applicants each year
  • 2018 – present: Set up MOU with ITB Bandung University for long term collaboration with Indonesian scientists
  • 2018 – 2021: Volcanic Magmatic Studies Group (VMSG) Elected Committee Member, Social media and ECR representative, founded the VMSG postdoctoral keynote award, and helped organise virtual VMSG conference 2021.
  • 2018 – 2020: Research staff representative at Earth Sciences Department Oxford

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Stoepke, F, Ikari, MJ, Hampel, A, Meredew, K, Watt, S, Cassidy, M & Urlaub, M 2025, 'Deformation and Gravitational Instability at Anak Krakatau (Sunda Strait, Indonesia): Insights From Direct Shear Experiments and Finite-Element Models', Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, vol. 130, no. 5, e2024JB030544. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JB030544

Cutler, KS, Cassidy, M & Blundy, JD 2024, 'Plagioclase‐Saturated Melt Hygrothermobarometry and Plagioclase‐Melt Equilibria Using Machine Learning', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol. 25, no. 4, e2023GC011357. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gc011357

Wilson, N, Valler, V, Cassidy, M, Boyd, MJ, Mani, L & Brönnimann, S 2023, 'Impact of the Tambora volcanic eruption of 1815 on islands and relevance to future sunlight-blocking catastrophes', Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, 3649. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30729-2

Brookfield, A, Cassidy, M, Weber, G, Popa, R-G, Bachmann, O & Stock, MJ 2023, 'Magmatic volatile content and the overpressure ‘sweet spot’: Implications for volcanic eruption triggering and style', Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 444, 107916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2023.107916

Satow, C, Watt, S, Cassidy, M, Pyle, D & Deng, YN 2023, 'The Contributions of Marine Sediment Cores to Volcanic Hazard Assessments: Present Examples and Future Perspectives', Geosciences, vol. 13, no. 4, 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13040124

Cassidy, M, Sandberg, A & Mani, L 2023, 'The Ethics of Volcano Geoengineering', Earth's Future, vol. 11, no. 10, e2023EF003714. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023ef003714

Watt, S, Cassidy, M, Cutler, K, Madden-nadeau, A, Engwell, SL, Abdurrachman, M, Nurshal, MEM, Tappin, DR, Carey, S, Novellino, A, Hayer, C, Hunt, JE, Day, S, Grilli, ST, Kurniawan, IA & Kartadinata, N 2022, 'Downward-propagating eruption following vent unloading implies no direct magmatic trigger for the 2018 lateral collapse of Anak Krakatau', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 578, 117332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117332

Voigt, A, Cassidy, M, Castro, JM, Pyle, DM, Mather, TA, Helo, C, Abdurrachman, M & Kurniawan, IA 2022, 'Experimental investigation of trachydacite magma storage prior to the 1257 eruption of Mt Samalas', Journal of Petrology, vol. 63, no. 8, egac066. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egac066

Cassidy, M, Iveson, AA, Humphreys, MCS, Mather, TA, Helo, C, Castro, JM, Ruprecht, P, Pyle, DM & Eimf 2022, 'Experimentally derived F, Cl, and Br fluid/melt partitioning of intermediate to silicic melts in shallow magmatic systems', American Mineralogist, vol. 107, no. 10, pp. 1825-1839. https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-8109

Priyanto, WS, Hunt, JE, Hanif, M, Tappin, DR, Permana, H, Susilohadi, , Cassidy, M & Yulianto, E 2021, 'Bathymetry and shallow seismic imaging of the 2018 flank collapse of Anak Krakatau', Frontiers in Earth Science, vol. 8, 577448. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.577448

Grilli, ST, Zhang, C, Kirby, JT, Grilli, AR, Tappin, DR, Watt, SFL, Hunt, JE, Novellino, A, Engwell, S, Nurshal, MEM, Abdurrachman, M, Cassidy, M, Madden-nadeau, AL & Day, S 2021, 'Modeling of the Dec. 22nd 2018 Anak Krakatau volcano lateral collapse and tsunami based on recent field surveys: Comparison with observed tsunami impact', Marine Geology, vol. 440, 106566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2021.106566

Hunt, JE, Tappin, DR, Watt, SFL, Susilohadi, S, Novellino, A, Ebmeier, SK, Cassidy, M, Engwell, SL, Grilli, ST, Hanif, M, Priyanto, WS, Clare, MA, Abdurrachman, M & Udrekh, U 2021, 'Submarine landslide megablocks show half of Anak Krakatau island failed on December 22nd, 2018', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 2827. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22610-5

Comment/debate

Cassidy, M & Mani, L 2022, 'Huge volcanic eruptions: time to prepare', Nature, vol. 608, no. 7923, pp. 469-471. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02177-x

Review article

Clare, MA, Yeo, IA, Nash, J, Hunt, JE, Panuve, S, Wilkie, A, Williams, R, Dowey, N, Rowley, P, Barclay, J, Phillips, J, Scarlett, J, Engwell, S, Henstock, TJ, Seabrook, S, Watson, S, Wysoczanski, R, Ribo, M, Cronin, S, Talling, PJ, Cassidy, M, Watt, S & Robertson, R 2025, 'Volcanic eruptions and the global subsea telecommunications network', Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 87, no. 6, 51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-025-01832-1

Short survey

Wescombe, NJ, Martínez, JG, Jehn, FU, Wunderling, N, Tzachor, A, Sandström, V, Cassidy, M, Ainsworth, R & Denkenberger, D 2025, 'It's time to consider global catastrophic food failures', Global Food Security, vol. 46, 100880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100880

View all publications in research portal