Find David Flannery on
Doctor of Philosophy in Geology (University of New South Wales)
David joined the School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences at QUT in 2019 to develop capabilities in the fields of deep-time geology and astrobiology.
David graduated from Macquarie University in 2009 with a major in paleobiology, before attending Peking University’s College of Urban and Environmental Science and MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences as a Visiting Research Scholar. He received a PhD from the University of New South Wales in 2014 for research into evidence for life and early terrestrial environments preserved in Archean (4-2.5 billion-year-old) rocks in Western Australia.
In 2014-2015, while a Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he studied molecular evidence for ancient microbial metabolisms preserved in Earth’s oldest known fossils, and worked on the development of lithochemistry instruments that were later selected to fly on NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Mission.
He then joined NASA as a full time research scientist based in the Planetary Science Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has designed and fielded numerous platforms for geological investigations in extreme environments, including multi-million-dollar projects funded by NASA.
David has broad interests in the fields of astrobiology, geology and sustainable development, and welcomes collaborations in these areas.
Projects (Chief investigator)
- Data Analysis and Operations Software for the Perseverance Rover Mission
- Searching for Life in Earth's Early Geological Record
Additional information
David has successfully proposed and worked on a number of instrument development programs funded by NASA. Several of these technologies have applications in the mining sector. Some have flown on spacecraft.
He is a Long Term Planner for NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Mission, and a Co-Investigator of the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, which was selected to fly on the same mission.
- Flannery D, Allwood A, Hodyss R, Summons R, Tuite M, Walter M, Williford K, (2019) Microbially influenced formation of Neoarchean ooids, Geobiology p151-160
- Allwood A, Rosing M, Flannery D, Hurowitz J, Heirwegh C, (2018) Reassessing evidence of life in 3,700-million-year-old rocks of Greenland, Nature p241-244
- Flannery D, Summons R, Walter M, (2018) Archean lakes as analogues for habitable Martian paleoenvironments, From habitability to life on Mars p127-152
- Flannery D, Allwood A, Summons R, Williford K, Abbey W, Matys E, Ferralis N, (2018) Spatially-resolved isotopic study of carbon trapped in ~3.43 Ga Strelley Pool Formation stromatolites, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta p21-35
- Tobin T, Flannery D, Sousa F, (2018) Stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology of Upper Cretaceous deposits of Day Nunatak, Snow Hill Island, Antarctica, Cretaceous Research p407-419
- Flannery D, Allwood A, Van Kranendonk M, (2016) Lacustrine facies dependence of highly 13C-depleted organic matter during the global age of methanotrophy, Precambrian Research p216-241
- Thompson D, Flannery D, Lanka R, Allwood A, Bue B, Clark B, Elam T, Estlin T, Hodyss R, Hurowitz J, Liu Y, Wade L, (2015) Automating x-ray fluorescence analysis for rapid astrobiology surveys, Astrobiology p961-976
- Martindale R, Strauss J, Sperling E, Johnson J, Van Kranendonk M, Flannery D, French K, Lepot K, Mazumder R, Rice M, Schrag D, Summons R, Walter M, Abelson J, Knoll A, (2015) Sedimentology, chemostratigraphy, and stromatolites of lower Paleoproterozoic carbonates, Turee Creek Group, Western Australia, Precambrian Research p194-211
- Schopf J, Kudryavtsev A, Walter M, Van Kranendonk M, Williford K, Kozdon R, Valley J, Gallardo V, Espinoza C, Flannery D, (2015) Sulfur-cycling fossil bacteria from the 1.8-Ga Duck Creek Formation provide promising evidence of evolution's null hypothesis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America p2087-2092
- Allwood A, Clark B, Flannery D, Hurowitz J, Wade L, Elam T, Foote M, Knowles E, (2015) Texture-specific elemental analysis of rocks and soils with PIXL: The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry on Mars 2020, Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference p2111-2123
- A Probability Based Framework for Planetary Exploration and Biosignature Detection using UAVs
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Felipe Gonzalez, Dr Fernando Vanegas Alvarez - Investigating the Origin of Organic Matter in Archean Chert
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Balz Kamber