Desmond Darby

Desmond Joseph Darby (born 1948) B.Sc(Hons) (Auck), Ph.D at (State University of New York at Stony Brook), is a New Zealand scientist who specialised in plate tectonics and is now a senior science manager.

Early life
Darby spent his childhood in Auckland and attended St Peter's College, Grafton of which he was dux in 1966 and from which he won a National scholarship. He studied at the University of Auckland, gaining a B.Sc (Hons) (Auckland). He obtained a Ph.D at State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Career
Darby returned to New Zealand in the late 1970s and joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and on that department being abolished in 1992, he became an employee of one of its successors, New Zealand Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Ltd), his research area being the modelling of sources of active crustal deformation associated with earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunami. He managed the GNS Science crustal dynamics team, and led the major research programme on The Effects of Plate Tectonics on New Zealand. Darby is now the General Manager Strategy in GNS Science and leads strategy formation across the government and the private sectors, and advises the Chief Executive of GNS Science in these areas. He also manages the public relations and outreach staff. He is a Director of New Zealand Synchrotron Group Ltd. Darby has chaired Foundation for Research, Science and Technology's Postdoctoral Fellowship Advisory Committee.