Degrees
1st class Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Feb 1970 – Dec1973
Doctor of Philosophy, Dept. Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, Oct 1974 – May 1978
Graduate Diploma in Economics (Hons), Australian National University, part-time, Feb 1981 – Jun 1982
Prizes, Awards, Honours, Fellowships
Alfred Wegener Medal, 2025, awarded by the European Geosciences Union "for outstanding contributions to ocean science that have fundamentally changed how we understand the ocean and its role in shaping the Earth's climate"
2023 NSW Scientist of the Year, awarded by the Premier of New South Wales, Australia
Appointed a Fellow of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, 2023
Prime Minister's Prize for Science, 2022, "For his discovery of four new ocean mixing processes and his work to define the thermodynamic properties of seawater"
Elected President of IAPSO, the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans, 2019-2023, then Past President 2023-2027
Prize of Excellence, Werner Petersen Foundation, Germany, 2018
Elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2018, "For the discovery of new ocean mixing processes and pioneering new thermodynamic variables and concepts that have become standard tools in oceanography"
Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), January 2018, "For eminent service to science, and to education, particularly in the area of ocean thermodynamics, as an academic, and researcher, to furthering the understanding of climate science, and as a mentor of young scientists"
NSW Premier's Prize for Excellence in Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Chemistry and Physics, 2017
Awarded a Laureate Professorial Fellowship by the Australian Research Council, funding 5 years of research with 4 postdoctoral fellows, 2016 – 2021
Henry Houghton chair for visiting senior earth scientists, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sep-Dec 2015
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 2015.
Jaeger Medal 2015, awarded by the Australian Academy of Science "for outstanding investigations into the solid earth or its oceans"
Royal Society of Tasmania Medal 2013, awarded by the Royal Society of Tasmania "for substantial original research in the natural sciences"
Elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK), 2012
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 2012
Prince Albert I Medal, July 2011, awarded every second year by the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) "for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the physical and/or chemical sciences of the ocean"
Anton Bruun Medal, awarded by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Paris, Jun 2009
Appointed a CSIRO Fellow, 2007
A. G. Huntsman Award "for Excellence in Marine Science", presented by the Royal Society of Canada, 2005
Elected a Fellow of AMOS, the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 2004
Centenary Medal from the federal government of Australia, for “Service to Australian Society and Science in Marine Science”, 2001
M. R. Banks Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of Tasmania "to honour outstanding academic achievement by a mid-career scientist", 1998
Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 1997
Humboldt Prize, given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for fully-funded sabbatical visits by senior academics; taken up at the University of Kiel, May – Nov 1997
David Rivett Medal, awarded every 4 years for “Outstanding Research in the Physical Sciences by a CSIRO Scientist who is less than 40 years old”, awarded 1992
Frederick White Prize, awarded by the Australian Academy of Science for “Research Excellence in the Natural Sciences”, 1988
Queen's Fellowship in Marine Science, held at the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, 1978-1980
J. T. Knight Prize, 1976, awarded by the University of Cambridge for research completed in the first year of a Ph.D. student's candidature
South Australian Engineering Design Award, 1975; awarded to Garry L. Brown and Trevor J. McDougall by the Australian Institution of Engineers, for a high-speed data acquisition system using TTL logic.
George Murray Travel Scholarship, 1974 - 1978, awarded by the University of Adelaide for postgraduate study in the UK
Email address
Trevor.McDougall@unsw.edu.au
Editorial positions
- Associate Editor of the Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2018 – present
- Executive Editor, Ocean Science, published by the European Geosciences Union, 2019 – 2022
- Associate Editor of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2013 – 2014
- Advisory Board member, Ocean Science, published by the European Geosciences Union, 2009 – 2019
- Associate Editor, Ocean Science, published by the European Geosciences Union, 2004 – 2009
- Associate Editor, Deep-Sea Research, responsible for papers on theoretical oceanography and oceanic modelling; 1988 – 1993
TEOS-10 website for seawater papers and computer software
Trevor McDougall and Paul Barker created and maintain the www.TEOS-10.org web site which describes the thermodynamic properties of seawater, ice and humid air. This web site has had ~83,000 unique visits and ~16,500 unique downloads of the TEOS-10 computer software between October 2010 and February 2024. Recent additions to the TEOS-10 computer software can be found here.
Professional Experience
- Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, 2019 – 2026
- Excellence visiting professorship of the Werner Petersen Foundation, Germany, Sep 2018
- Henry Houghton chair for visiting senior earth scientists, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sep-Dec 2015
- Lecturer, summer school on Dynamics and Thermodynamics of the Southern Ocean, Bornö, Sweden, Jul 2017
- Adjunct Professor, University of Tasmania, from 2014
- ARC Laureate Professorial Fellow, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, May 2016 – May 2021
- Scientia Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Jan 2013 – Apr 2023, then Emeritus Scientia Professor
- Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, May 2012 – Dec 2012
- Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, 2012 – 2019
- Visiting Rossby Fellow, University of Stockholm, for a week per year, eight times beginning in 2008
- CSIRO Fellow, Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, from Jan 2007
- Research Group Leader, Ocean Observation and Assessment, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, Hobart. Dec 2007 – Jun 2009
- Chief Research Scientist level 2 (CRS2), Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Hobart. Jul 2005 – Dec 2006
- Research Group Leader, Climate Research Group, Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Hobart. Jul 2004 – Jun 2005
- Honorary Fellow, Cooperative Research Centre in Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems, June 2003 – 2019
- Humboldt Research Award, awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for sabbatical visits to Germany by senior academics, taken up at the Institüt für Meereskunde, University of Kiel. May – Nov 1997
- Chief Research Scientist level 1, Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Hobart. Jul 1996 – Jun 2005
- Sabbatical visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with financial assistance from WHOI and the US Office of Naval Research. Jun 1994 – Dec 1994
- Senior Principal Research Scientist - Division of Oceanography, CSIRO, Hobart. Jul 1991 – Jun 1996
- Technology Program Manager, Division of Oceanography, CSIRO. Jul 1990 – Mar 1993
- CSIRO Overseas Research Fellowship held at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, with financial assistance from the US Office of Naval Research. Apr 1989 – Oct 1989
- Principal Research Scientist in the Division of Oceanography, CSIRO. Jul 1987 – Jun 1991
- CSIRO Overseas Research Fellowship held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with financial assistance from WHOI. Jun 1985 – Nov 1985
- Senior Research Scientist in the Division of Oceanography, CSIRO. Jun 1983 – Jun 1987
- Research Fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU. Jun 1980 – Jun 1983
- Queen's Fellow in Marine Science at the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University. Jun 1978 – Jun 1980
- Graduate Student at St John’s College and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, (including three months as a Summer Fellow in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1976). Oct 1974 – May 1978
- Design Engineer, Public Buildings Department, South Australian Government. Mar 1974 – Sep 1974
- Research Officer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide. Dec 1973 – Feb 1974
Students Supervised
· John R. Taylor, PhD student at the Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU; Ph.D. awarded 1986
· Yuzhu You, M.Sc. student supervised in Hobart for an M.Sc. at UNSW; M.Sc. awarded 1989
· Anthony Barr, Vacation Scholar, Dec 1987 - Feb 1988
· Jan D. Zika, Vacation Scholar, Dec 2004 - Feb 2005
· Andreas Klocker, Ph D student, Oct 2005 – Jun 2009; PhD awarded 2010
· Jan D. Zika, Ph D student, Mar 2006 – Sept 2009; PhD awarded 2010. Jan was awarded three prizes for his PhD research; the 2009 Southern Cross Young Tasmanian of the year (Environment section), the 2012 Doctoral Award of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and the 2012 Uwe Radok Award of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, and the 2018 EGU Outstanding Early Career Award.
· Felicity S. Graham, Honours student, Jan – Nov 2010, 1st class honours and University Medal, Dec 2010
· Claire Roberts-Thomson, vacation student from Harvard University, USA, June – Aug 2010
· Guillaume Serazin, Master’s student, University of Lyon, France, Apr - Sep 2011. Master’s awarded Oct 2011
· Sjoerd Groeskamp, PhD student, Jun 2011 – Dec 2014
· Yuehua Li, Masters student, Jan 2013 – Jun 2013
· Kwok-Aun Tan, Master’s student, Jan 2013 – June 2015
· Stefan Riha, PhD student, Jan 2013 – Jan 2018
· Yuehua Li, PhD student, March 2014 – Sep 2017
· David Woolsey, Honours student, Feb - Jul 2014
· Oliver Krzysik and Himmat Panag, vacation research students, Dec 2014 - Jan 2015
· Antony Patterson Honours student, Feb – Nov 2016
· Yandong Lang, PhD student, Mar 2019 - Sep 2022
· Christopher Bladwell, PhD student, Mar 2020 - Feb 2024
· Josef Bisits, PhD student, Mar 2022 - present
PhD student administration
· CSIRO representative on the University of Tasmania – CSIRO Joint Program in Quantitative Marine Science, awarding top-up scholarships, and ensuring academic rigour in PhD project proposals, 2007-2011.
Postdoctoral Scholars Supervised
· Dr M. Geoff Stanley, Jul 2018 - Sep 2022
· Dr Yuehua Li, Nov 2017 – Dec 2021
· Dr Paul M. Barker, May 2010 – Jun 2023
· Dr Ryan Holmes, May 2016 – Oct 2021
· Dr Casimir de Lavergne, Oct 2016 – Oct 2018
· Dr Sjoerd Groeskamp, Mar 2017 – Oct 2019
· Dr Andrew J. S. Meijers, May 2010 – Jan 2012, CSIRO OCE Postdoctoral Fellow
· Dr Jaclyn N. Brown, Mar 2008 - Oct 2009, CSIRO OCE Postdoctoral Fellow
· Dr Peter C. McIntosh, Feb 1994 – Feb 1997, Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
Scientific Committees
- Member, selection committee for the 2026 Alfred Wegener Medal of the European Geosciences Union
- Member, Sectional Committee 5 (Earth and Environmental Sciences) of the Royal Society of London, 2023-2026.
- Member, selection committee for the Jaeger Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, 2018-2023, chair 2020-2023.
- Chair of the selection committee for the 2019 Prince Albert I Medal of IAPSO (International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans).
- Member, selection committee for the 2019 Gold Medal of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
- Chair, Steering Committee to undertake the “Australian Climate Science Capability Review”, Australian Academy of Science, May-November 2016. Published as ISBN 978 0 85847 500 7 and available at www.science.org.au/climate-science-capability-review-2017
- Australian National Correspondent, IAPSO, the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans, 2016 - present.
- Vice-President, IAPSO, the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans, 2015-2019
- Member, Sectional Committee 5 (Earth and Environmental Sciences) of the Royal Society of London, 2013-2016
- Membership of the Oversight Committee which prepared an update to the Academy of Science document “The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers”, August 2013 – February 2015. This publication is available at www.science.org.au/climatechange. The original 2010 version (McDougall was also a member of the team that wrote the 2010 booklet) was distributed as > 200,000 hard copies and has had ~1,000,000 views on the Academy web site.
- Member, Sectional Committee 4 (Earth and Planetary Sciences) of the Australian Academy of Science, 2013-15
- Vice-chairman, Joint SCOR/IAPSO/IAPWS Committee on the properties of seawater. Jan 2012- Jul 2019
- Chair, standing committee for the Elizabeth and Frederick White Conferences, Australian Academy of Science, member 2005 - 2010, chair 2008 – 2012.
- Member, selection committee for the 2013, 2017 and 2020 Prince Albert I Medals of IAPSO (International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans).
- Chair, Tasmanian regional group of the Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science, 2007 - 2012.
- Principal Australian representative of SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research), 2004 - 2021
- Co-convenor, Science in the Shine Dome, 4thMay 2012, “Antarctic Science: from Mawson’s expedition to today”, Annual science symposium, Australian Academy of Science.
- Chair, SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) and IAPSO (International Association of the Physical Sciences of the Ocean) Working Group 127 on “Thermodynamics and Equation of State of Seawater”, Jul 2005 – Dec 2011
- Vice-chair, IAPWS (International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam) Subcommittee on Seawater, Jul 2010 – Sep 2011
- Chair, Awards Committee of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1999 - 2006
- Advisory Committee member, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, 2005-08.
- Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science, 2004 – 2007
- Member, National Committee for Earth System Science, 2003 – 2008
- Member, SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) Working Group 121 on “Ocean Mixing”, 2002 – 2008
- Member, Sectional Committee 4 (Solid and Fluid Earth and Planetary Sciences) of the Australian Academy of Science, 1999-2003; chair 2001 – 2003
- Chair, National Committee for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences of the Australian Academy of Science; member 1999 - 2003; chair 2000 – 2003
- Member, scientific organising committee of the WOCE International Conference, Halifax, 25-29 May 1998
- Chair of R. V. FranklinUser Sub-committee, 1996-1998
- Member, SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) Working Group 108 on “Double Diffusion”, 1996 – 2003
- Member representing Australia, Intergovernmental WOCE Panel, 1990 – 1998.
- Chair of the Australian Scientific Steering Committee for the World Ocean Circulation Experiment; member 1987 – 2002; chair from 1993 to 2002
- Member, Scientific Planning Group of Core Project 3 (The Gyre Dynamics Experiment) of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE); 1986 – 1989
- Member, Scientific Steering Group (SSG) of the international World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), a part of the World Climate Research Program; 1986 – 1992
- Member, Tasmanian Inventions Advisory Panel for the Assistance to Inventors Scheme, 1984 –1985
- Member, SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) Working Group 69 on 'Small-Scale Turbulence and Mixing in the Ocean', 1984 – 1988
Fellowships
- Fellow of Royal Society of London, 2012
- Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 1997
- Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2018
- Fellow of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, 2023
- Fellow of the Institute of Physics, UK, 2012
- Fellow of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 2004
- Fellow of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation (CSIRO), 2007
- Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 2015
- Laureate Fellow - Australian Research Council (ARC), 2016-2021
- Honorary Life Membership of the European Geosciences Union, 2025
Other memberships
- Member of (i) American Meteorological Society, (ii) Royal Society of Tasmania.
- A contributor to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
- Listed in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, since 1994
- Listed in Who’s Who in the World, since 1997
- Listed in Who’s Who, since 2012
- Listed in Who’s Who in Australia, since 2014
Video Interviews
Conducted video interviews of the following three Australian scientists for the Australian Academy of Science,
McDougall, T.J., Interview with Dr Shirley W Jeffrey AM FAA NAS, Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 2000,
https://web.archive.org/web/20150406043635/http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/scientists/interviews/j/sj.html
McDougall, T.J., Interview with Professor Stewart J Turner FAA FInstP FRS, Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 2004, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-stewart-turner
McDougall, T.J., Interview with Dr Angus D McEwan FAA FTSE, Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 2011. https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/dr-angus-mcewan-oceanographer . See also the two memoirs of Dr Angus D McEwan FAA FTSE,
https://www.amos.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BAMOS_2018-Supplement_Obituary.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1071/HR24005
A recorded interview to the American Geophysical Union, with the main theme being how to be original in your scientific research.
https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/giving-your-attention-to-something-different-an-interview-with-trevor-mcdougall/
"What's the Ocean got to do with Climate Change?", a Public Lecture on 29th June 2023 at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
"What the Ocean tells us about Climate Change", a Public Lecture on 6th March 2024 at Parliament House, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Publications summary
Trevor McDougall has published 167 peer-reviewed papers, with a citation count of ~16,500 (Google Scholar, March 2025, including the citations to the TEOS-10 Manual), accumulating at ~1,100 cites per year, with a Hirsch index of 58. Thirty-seven of these publications have received more than 100 citations, while sixteen have been cited more than 200 times, and four have been cited more that 1,000 times.
