Dr Brian Burnham

Biography

I received a Bachelors degree in Geosciences and Arts & Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) where I was working on research projects with both geologists and digital artists to develop methods to analyse and visualise photorealistic models of outcrop data. This led to a Masters degree at UTD where I specialised in research that focused on developing techniques to acquire, integrate and visualise large and high resolution geospatial data derived from satellite, lidar and photogrammetry data. These data were used to construct and visualise photorealistic digital outcrop models and virtual environments. I then travelled across the pond to obtain a PhD at the University of Manchester where I specialised in quantitative analysis and reservoir characterisation of geometry and architecture in siliciclastic fluvial depositional systems from 3D Digital Outcrop Models.  Ultimately my 14 years of experience in digital outcrop data collection and quantitative analytical skills of these data led me to my current position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Sand Injection Research Group at the University of Aberdeen.

Furthermore, the collaborations with artists and scientists that I’ve been involved with were scientifically interesting, artistically innovating and wholly fulfilling. It is my belief that adequate and effective dissemination of scientific information is fundamentally linked with artistic expression of interpretation and representation of facts and new discoveries. Because of this I will continue to pursue these ventures and welcome any projects that come along.

External Memberships

British Sedimentological Research Group

Geological Society of America

International Association of Sedimentologists

Software Underground

Research Overview

3D geologic modelling, lidar – terrestrial & airborne laser scanning, photogrammetry, sedimentology, geomorphology, sequence stratigraphy, 3D sedimentary basin analysis, computational sedimentology and reservoir modelling and characterisation.

Current Research

My postdoc and research fellowship position, within the Sand Injection Research Group at the University of Aberdeen, focuses on analysing 3D digital outcrop models from lidar and photogrammetry to extract geostatistical information sandstone sandstone intrusions within a large sand injection complex. These data are used for production and analysis of 3D forward seismic models and subsequent analysis to quantify uncertainty related with interpretation analysis of subseismic-scale sandstone intrusion features.

Collaborations

University of Manchester

University of Liverpool

Keele University

The University of Texas at Dallas

The University of Texas at Austin - Bureau of Economic Geology

Funding and Grants

PI on research grant from the Oil and Gas Innovation Centre and 5 Energy industry sponsors: £280,000

Teaching Responsibilities

Introduction to stratigraphic principles

Reservoir modelling

Geology for petroleum engineers