Staff - Sand Geophysics

SAND Geophysics

Fully trained & experienced personnel

Meet the team behind SAND Geophysics. Our team studied a variety of Earth Science and Engineering related degrees, with each member able to offer a unique set of skills and experiences to complement one another.

Ben Owen

Studied Geophysics at the University of Southampton, before joining SAND in July 2017. Ben has gained experience in both nearshore mobilisation and field operations as well as onshore data processing with a variety of datasets including side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiler and multi-channel seismic reflection. In the office, Ben takes a lead role in geophysical interpretation, producing both final deliverables and reports for the end client.

Bedanta Goswami

Studied Physics at the University of Delhi, India before moving to the University of Southampton, UK, where he completed MSc in Oceanography in 2006. He obtained a PhD in marine Geophysics from the University of Southampton in 2016, where he integrated marine electromagnetic (CSEM) and high-resolution seismic data for gas hydrate quantification within shallow marine Arctic sediments. Prior to his PhD, he gained a wide range of experience in acquisition, processing, managing & supporting seismic exploration projects in production and R&D roles at Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS). He worked in projects in the North Sea, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico for various oil and gas clients including Total, Exxon, BP and Shell. Prior to joining SAND in May 2020, he worked as a Data Scientist and Catastrophe Risk Modeler in the financial industry, where he developed and applied models using machine learning and traditional methods for commercial insight and risk management.

David Holland

Since studying at Newcastle University , Dave has had a long career in the Hydrographic, Geophysical and Oceanographic survey industry. Starting work with EGS in UK in 1987, he soon moved to the Hong Kong office and worked on inshore survey around South East Asia and equipment development. Key projects included pre-commencement survey works on Macau & Hong Kong Airport and prominent civil engineering projects across Asia.

He has considerable experience with marine sonar systems and developed new survey equipment including oceanographic and sonar systems notably high-resolution low voltage boomer and hydrophone seismic exploration systems.

Working more recently with Emu Ltd and Fugro, Dave developed UXO Clearance systems for the renewables sector based on magnetometer and ROTV ScanFish technology.

Francois Blin

Studied Geology at the University of Southampton (2017) and subsequently completed an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience at Imperial College London (2018). Francois later joined the SAND Geophysics team in April 2019 as a Geophysicist. Much of his experience to date has been in the understanding of geological process and the interpretation of seismic data. His passion for the outdoors has drawn him into a career where both geology and marine surveying are intertwined.

Michael Dougal

After completing a BSc. (Hons) in Environmental Science, Mick went on to complete a MSc. in Hydrography at the University of Plymouth. After spending 10 years in the industry in a variety of survey roles, including: UXO, cable lay, dredging and inspection, he joined SAND as a full-time member in January of 2020.

Penda Sisopha

Studied geology and applied geophysics at the University of Melbourne, Australia where she studied the application of land-based geophysical survey for energy resources exploration and deep-crustal modelling. Before joining SAND in 2019, Penda worked on environmental remediation projects, where she specialised in processing time-domain electromagnetic for land-based UXO survey. At SAND, Penda has gained experience in both field operations and data processing for marine UXO survey’s.

Sebastian Rosales

After studying Geophysical Engineering at Simón Bolívar University, Venezuela. Sebastian worked on high-resolution marine geophysical surveys and geophysics applied to geotechnical engineering for five years. During this time, he gained experience in different stages of geophysical projects tendering and planning, mobilisation, data acquisition, processing, interpretation and reporting. Sebastian moved to Southampton University where he completed an MSc in Oceanography in 2018. After graduating, he worked in several projects for the renewables sector in the North Sea mainly focusing on SBP and ultra-high-resolution seismic data. Sebastian joined Sand in October 2020.

Thomas Chamberlain

Studied Geophysics at the University of Southampton (2011). His career has seen him work in terrestrial geophysics at RSK, specialist UXO survey and processing with BACTEC (Safelane Global) and in a wide range of marine environments with Fugro GBML. In addition to his more general geophysical experience, Thomas’ specialist knowledge in UXO survey and processing has seen him working and training others throughout the UK and Europe, as well as in the USA and Asia. In his role as Processing Manager, Thomas is responsible for data processing, interpretation and reporting, liaising with clients to provide solutions that best fit their needs.

Thomas Darnell

Thomas joined SAND in 2018, after studying MSCi Geophysics at the University of Southampton. Thomas specialises in computational methods within geophysics, working on research & development projects using Python programming for in-house software and machine learning applications. He has field experience in Geophysical marine UXO survey and processing, shallow water multi-channel seismic reflection and 3D Chirp survey operations. In addition to nearshore surveying, Thomas is involved in a wide range of office-based geophysical data processing and interpretation.