Stuart Clark

Professor Stuart Clark is a distinguished academic at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), currently serving as Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department within the Faculty of Engineering. He was appointed Director of Governance for the Faculty of Engineering in 2024 and promoted to Professor in 2025. Previously, he was an Associate Professor (2021-2025) and Senior Lecturer (2017-2021) in the Minerals and Energy Resources School at UNSW.

His educational background includes a PhD in Geophysics from the University of Sydney (2007), Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne (2004), and BSc.(Hons)/B. Arts from the University of Sydney (2002). He also earned a Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching from UNSW in 2022.

Professor Clark's research focuses on understanding the influence of deep Earth processes on sedimentary basin development and applying machine learning to geological modeling. His work spans quantitative sedimentary basin dynamics, numerical simulations of Earth processes like subduction and sediment transport, and innovative applications at the intersection of geology and machine learning. His research has significant implications for sustainable resource use and exploration.

His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on basin analysis, particularly in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, with applications spanning petroleum geology, resource distribution, and geological modeling using advanced statistical methods like Bayesian inference. His work increasingly bridges traditional geology with computational approaches, including machine learning applications for fracture detection, fault identification, and image analysis of geological structures.

• Arc Postgraduate Council's Supervisor Award (2021)
• UNSW Vice Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award - Rising Star (2019)
• UNSW Engineering Hero Award (2020)

Professor Clark has successfully secured multiple significant research grants, including the Geodynamical Assessments of Subsidence in the North West Shelf in Australia (2024-2025), the ARC Industry Transformation Research Hub for Resilient and Intelligent Infrastructure Systems (2021-2027), and several Australian Research Council Linkage projects. He currently supervises numerous PhD and research master's students working on diverse projects related to basin evolution, dynamic topography, fracture mechanics, and resource exploration. His teaching portfolio includes undergraduate and postgraduate courses in geology, sedimentary and energy resources, and seismic imaging.