Prof. Emeritus Janet Hergt

Biography

Prof. Emeritus Hergt holds a PhD in geochemistry from the ANU and began her career at the University of Melbourne in 1994 as an Australian Research Council QEII Fellow. Before her retirement in 2021, Prof. Hergt held several roles at the University of Melbourne including Head of the School of Earth Sciences from 2005 to 2013, two terms as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Science and a seven-month term as Dean in 2013-2014. She was an Academic Board Officer from 2017-2021 and became a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in 2019. Janet has served on the Editorial Boards of several international peer-reviewed journals and has been a member of Australia’s National Committee for Earth Sciences. Her research is focused on the chemical analysis of rocks and minerals to explore the record of Earth processes preserved within them. Prof Hergt’s work has more recently been employed in interdisciplinary projects including areas of archaeological and biological science. These include the ambitious project to date the Aboriginal rock art of the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the famous volcanic ash deposits surrounding Lake Turkana in Kenya, hosting some of the world’s most important hominin fossils.