Sir Robert Stephen John Sparks, CBE, FRS (born 15 May 1949) is Chaning Wills Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.
Sparks has held a number of distinguished visiting positions at other universities, including a period as Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar at California Institute of Technology in 1987, and as an Edward Bass Scholar[3] at Yale University (2006–2007).
Sparks has been hugely influential in the fields of both volcanology and igneous petrology.
Sparks was chair of the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise Panel for Earth Sciences.
Sparks was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to Environmental Sciences and a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to Volcanology and Geology.