Roger Searle is Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at Durham University. He has spent forty years studying mid-ocean ridges, and was a pioneer in the use of side-scan sonar to study their geodynamic, tectonic and volcanic processes. In his research he also uses topographic analysis and gravity and magnetic modelling to understand ridge structures. He was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Price Medal in 2011 and elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2012. Searle has worked in many of the world's major oceanographic institutions, participated in thirty-seven research cruises and led eighteen. He was first full chairman of the international research organisation InterRidge, and has served on national and international committees including chairing the International Ocean Drilling Program's Site Survey Panel.