Ian has extensive research governance and executive university leadership in Australia, New Zealand, and UK having been a Board Member of more than eight research entities, across geospatial, energy, aerospace, medical technologies and materials science research sectors, including two New Zealand Centres of Research Excellence. He is currently a Board Member of FrontierSI – a social enterprise geospatial and emerging space company working across Australia and NZ.  

Ian's personal marine geological research advances fundamental knowledge of important earth system processes, but also underpins maritime national interest and end-user impacts for tsunami hazard, climate change mitigation, and new offshore industry monitoring practice. His research aims to understand the drivers, process, and impact of active seafloor fluid emission systems (over persistent chronic and short-lived catastrophic time-scales) that is characterised by extensive international collaboration and significant research leadership. He has published in leading journals including Nature Geoscience, Nature Climate Change, Marine Geology, Earth Planet Science Letters, G3, J. Geophysical Research, Bull. Volcanology, Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta, and Intl. J. Greenhouse Gas Control.