Dr Andy Tomkins
"For a scientist, the location of the Australian Synchrotron sets us apart from every other university in Australia."
What is your role here at Monash Uni?
I started off as a Monash Fellow about five years ago and I have recently changed over to an ongoing lecturing position. I teach Economic Geology at a third year level and a few other third year subjects as well.
What did you do before coming to Monash Uni?
I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary in Canada just on the east side of the Rockies. I was there for about two and a half years and that was my first position since finishing my PhD.
Why did you come to Monash to work?
The Monash Fellowship. It’s a pretty lucrative fellowship. It’s a five year position with plenty of research funding, so it was definitely a good opportunity.
How did you get into your field of expertise?
When I was a kid, my Dad used to take me out prospecting for gold and gems. I liked being out in the bush and then I developed my own interest in geology. When it came time to go to university that was the obvious thing to do because it was something I was interested in and already knew a fair bit about. Economic Geology is a subject that they use in the minerals industry. It’s what you use to explore for gold deposits and other metal deposits, so it seemed like the obvious choice to specialise in that.
After I did my undergraduate degree, I went and worked in the industry for three years and then I came back to do my PhD.
Where did you study for your degree/PhD?
I did my PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra.
How has Monash supported your teaching / research work?
Research initially was the Monash Fellowship which ran over five years with $50,000 research funding per year. That was a pretty good position to have.
The most recent one is the Monash Research Accelerator program. I don’t have that yet. It’s probational and I still have to write my final application, but I’m hoping that it will support my research for the next couple of years. Monash has been really helpful that way.
Teaching support has come through the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. I have been doing that this year as well. The support is in teaching me how to teach.
Are there any facilities / resources you think having access to sets Monash Uni apart from other employers?
For a scientist, the location of the Australian Synchrotron sets us apart from every other university in Australia. For geosciences we also have the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy and we have linkages with CSIRO here that has some of the world’s leading electron microscope facilities. We have a good analytical set up at Monash that gives us a good grounding relative to other universities.
Are there any benefits you think Monash offers that sets us apart from other employers?
The Monash Research Accelerator program. I told several other people at a research conference about that in the geosciences field and they said, “Why haven’t we got something like that at our university?”
I think it’s definitively something that only Monash has in Australia at the moment in terms of supporting its staff for research. I think that’s definitely a big plus.
Tell us one thing that people wouldn't normally know about you.
I do a fair bit of cave diving, skiing and rock climbing and outdoor sports.