Professor Mike Searle awarded EGU Arthur Holmes medal
Professor Searle on a yak, crossing the North Braldu river in the Karakoram
The Department of Earth Sciences is delighted to announce that Professor Mike Searle has been awarded the Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Geosciences Union for 2026, in recognition of his fundamental contributions to Himalayan tectonics.
The Arthur Holmes Medal is one of the three equally ranked most prestigious awards made annually by the European Geosciences Union. The award is made to scientists who have “achieved exceptional international standing in solid Earth geosciences, defined in their widest senses, for their merit and their scientific achievements”. The award is named after British geologist Arthur Holmes, who is known for his work on radiometric dating and mantle convection.
"I am extremely honoured and flattered to receive the Arthur Holmes medal from the EGU. Holmes’ book "Principles of Physical Geology" was the first book I bought as an A-level student at Plymouth Tech many years ago, and it inspired me and set me on a course that took me to some incredible places with wonderful geology, most notably the Himalaya, Karakoram, Tibet and the Oman mountains."
- Professor Mike Searle
Mike has worked on central Asian mountain belts for over 45 years and is celebrated as a pioneer of tectonic research. The focus of his scientific work is the structural, metamorphic, magmatic and geomorphological evolution of the continental crust in active mountain belts, and throughout his career he has examined the high Himalaya, mineralisation in Myanmar, ophiolite obduction in Oman, and Caledonian tectonics. Along with two other books, he published “Colliding Continents: a geological exploration of the Himalaya, Karakoram and Tibet” in 2013.
“We are delighted to see that Mike Searle’s decades of research in the Himalaya are being recognised with the highest award the European Geosciences Union can bestow: the Arthur Holmes medal. Mike’s work has culminated in his recent compilation of a new “Geological map of the Greater Himalayan Ranges” which will be published next year. Arthur Holmes was an early champion of continental drift, so it is fitting that Mike’s painstaking mapping and reconstruction of the greatest continental collision on the present-day Earth is being rewarded in this way and is a recognition that geological fieldwork is as relevant today as it ever was.”
- Professor Conall Mac Niocaill, Head of Department
He joins previous recipients from Oxford Earth Sciences, including John Dewey, Keith O'Nions, Bernie Wood, and Tony Watts, in receiving the Arthur Holmes Medal. A full list of 2026 EGU award and medal winners can be found on the EGU website.
Congratulations to Mike on this well-deserved honour, which recognises a lifetime of research in solid Earth geosciences.
