Dr. Yousef Zoleikhaei

Research Fellow, University of Adelaide

My Path in Research

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences at the University of Adelaide. My research focuses on geochronology, petrology, and provenance analysis, with the aim of understanding the evolution of continental crust and the Earth system as a whole. 

I was born in 1989 in Ahmadabad, a small village in northwestern Iran near the city of Boukan. After completing my early education locally, I began undergraduate studies in Geology at Kharazmi University in Tehran in 2007. The subjects I studied during the four-year program sparked a lasting interest in geology and the dynamics of the Earth system. In 2011, I started a master’s degree in Geology-Sedimentology and Sedimentary Petrology at the University of Tehran—a combined coursework and research program that gave me hands-on experience in Earth science research.

Following graduation, I worked as a researcher in petroleum exploration in Iran until the end of 2018.  In 2019, I moved to Australia to begin a PhD at Monash University under the supervision of Prof. Peter Cawood and Dr. Jacob Mulder. I completed my PhD in 2023 and continued at Monash as a postdoctoral researcher until 2025. 

My Research Interests:

Geochronology

Tectonics

Continental Crust

Sedmientary Systems

Earth Surface Processes

Petrology