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NERC research fellow wins silver in Beijing

Dr Joshua West, a NERC-funded postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford, is one of the team that won the Olympic silver medal for Britain in the men's-eight rowing final in Beijing last night (17 August 2008).

The gold medal was won by Canada and the USA picked up the bronze.

Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Josh first started to row while at Yale University, where he studied Geology. He furthered his studies at Cambridge and became part of the varsity side winning in 1999 and 2001.

Dr Josh West and his Olympic medal, pictured with staff at the RCUK office in Beijing.

Twice a World Championship silver medallist, a World Championship bronze medallist and four times Cambridge Blue, Josh represented Great Britain in the men's-eight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He raced in the eight in the 2007 World Cup series winning a bronze medal in Amsterdam. Josh won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in the eight. He raced in the eight in the 2008 World Cup series finishing 2nd, 3rd and 1st.

At 6' 9" (207cm) Josh is reported to be the tallest British athlete competing in the 2008 games, and the tallest recorded oarsman to participate in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

Josh's research work, in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford, broadly concerns understanding what controls the rate and character of chemical weathering, which is responsible for taking the solid Earth and generating the "Critical Zone" that sustains the biosphere. He is specifically interested in the impact of tectonics on weathering processes, by forcing physical erosion and exposing fresh rock material for reaction at the Earth's surface.

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Briefing note: 11/08