Heather Viles is a professor of biogeomorphology and heritage conservation in the school of geography and the environment at Oxford University, senior research fellow at Worcester College,[1] and honorary professor at the Institute of Sustainable Heritage, University College London.
[3] Her DPhil research investigated the role of microorganisms in weathering limestone, based on fieldwork on Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles.
Following her DPhil, she undertook post-doctoral research on the contribution of acid rain to the deterioration of English cathedrals.
Her research is highly interdisciplinary and includes geomorphology with ecology, engineering geology, environmental chemistry, and materials conservation.
[7] Viles was awarded the 2015 Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal from the European Geosciences Union[8] for her role in establishing the field of biogeomorphology.