Ryan M. Strickland, PhD

Research Fellow in Glaciology at the University of St Andrews

Research Listen to Ways of ice

About Me

I am a glaciologist and geoscientist investigating feedbacks between glaciation, climate, and landscape evolution. My research combines modelling, remote sensing, and fieldwork to help build a process-based understanding of Earth's ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

My research currently targets West Antarctica and contributes to two UK NERC-funded projects: the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) TIME Project and the Impact of Deep Subglacial Groundwater on Ice Stream Flow in West Antarctica. I completed a PhD in Geoscience in 2024, specializing in modeling the surface evolution of debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia. Before entering academia, I taught mathematics and physics for six years at an international school in California.

I am also the writer, host, and producer of the Ways of Ice podcast. Through narrative storytelling and conceptual models, the series explores glaciers as dynamic systems that shape landscapes, climate, and human understanding across deep time.

I am committed to open science and education, ensuring that all publications, modeling code, and datasets are public open-access to support transparency, reproducible science, and broad access to education.

Kuskulana Glacier camp, Alaska
Sunset on the debris-covered Kuskulana Glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska in August 2021. CC-BY Ryan M. Strickland

Current Research

Glacier and Ice Stream Bifurcation

Branching angles in Antarctica and Greenland Learn more →

Ice Flow Over High-Relief Bed Topography

Thwaites Glacier flow over high-relief bed topography. Learn more →

Antarctic Subglacial Groundwater

Models of groundwater flow beneath ice sheets. Learn more →

Science Communication

🎙️ Ways of Ice Podcast

Ways of Ice explores glaciers as dynamic systems that shape landscapes, climate, and human understanding across deep time.

Written, produced, and hosted by Ryan M. Strickland. The series bridges technical glaciology and public-facing science through narrative storytelling, scientific modelling, and the history of ideas.

Episodes explore Antarctic ice dynamics, mountain glaciers, erosion, geometry, climate feedbacks, and the evolving ways humans have understood ice and planetary change.

Explore Episodes & Resources →