British Geological Survey HRA Gus Gunn to be awarded MBE
Andrew Gordon Gunn – known to all as Gus – has been awarded an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
14/10/2020 By BGS Press
Andrew Gordon Gunn – known to all as Gus – has been awarded an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
The list recognises the outstanding achievements of people from many disciplines across the UK. Mr Gunn has been bestowed this prestigious award for services to Environmental Research.
Formerly BGS’ Principal Economic Geologist, Mr Gunn became an Honorary Research Fellow earlier this year.
Much of Mr Gunn’s UK work was carried out as part of the now legendary BGS Mineral Reconnaissance Programme where he worked on a wide variety projects from Shetland to Devon via the Dalradian of north-west Great Britain.
Mr Gunn’s breadth of international work for BGS is long and impressive, including major mapping and mineral exploration programmes in Bolivia and Ecuador. Mr Gunn spent many weeks in the field in wild and remote Andean terranes. He was also a major contributor to the BGS programme in Africa over the years, from Mauritania to Ethiopia, Botswana to Liberia
Between 2007 and 2012 Mr Gunn was head of the BGS Metallic Minerals team, leading the radical shift from researching ‘traditional’ base and precious metal deposits (such as copper and gold) into the much less well known area of critical metal deposits. This move put BGS at the forefront of research on this topic in the UK and Europe, as well as securing Mr Gunn’s place as the leading UK expert on criticality assessment and metal supply security. Mr Gunn has provided advice on critical metals and security of supply to the UK Government and Parliament, the EU, NATO, the International Energy Agency and industry, Latterly advising colleagues at the Faraday Challenge and Innovate UK on how to meet the raw material challenges associated with the development of UK manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles.
I am delighted, highly honoured and pleasantly surprised to receive this award. I would like to thank all the people I have worked with over many years, both inside and outside BGS, and especially those who recommended me for this honour.
With rapidly growing demand from new and green technologies there is major concern about the so-called critical metals essential for low carbon technologies, such as clean energy and transport. I have been part of the BGS team working in this field since 2008 and we are now a key global player. I am sure this will continue in the future.
Gus Gunn
I’m thrilled at Gus being awarded an MBE. He is universally admired and respected in the field of minerals and there is a no more deserving person to receive this honour.
Karen Hanghoj, BGS Director
Relative topics
Related news

Extended seabed geology map of the Bristol Channel published
07/10/2025
BGS has released significantly extended high-resolution maps that will support offshore green-energy initiatives in the area.

Dr Angela Lamb appointed as honorary professor by the University of Nottingham
02/10/2025
Dr Lamb will take up the position of honorary professor of environmental geochemistry, with a focus on collaborative research.

New report sets pathway to reduce the impacts of geohazards in one of the world’s most hazard-prone nations
30/09/2025
A new White Paper, co-developed by Indonesian and UK hazard experts, presents a strategic roadmap to significantly reduce the impacts of geological hazards in Indonesia.

Artificial intelligence helps scientists identify 3000 moving slopes potentially at risk of landslide
25/09/2025
A new approach that combines AI and satellite data has been used by scientists to detect actively moving landslides at a national scale.

New BGS GeoIndex viewer released for user testing
24/09/2025
The premium map-viewing application has been given a major upgrade and made available as a beta release.

UK scientists in awe-rora as national coverage of magnetic field complete for the first time
23/09/2025
New sensors being installed across the UK are helping us understand the effects that extreme magnetic storms have on technology and national infrastructure.

Funding awarded for study on hydrogen storage potential in North Yorkshire
22/09/2025
A new study has been awarded funding to explore the potential for underground hydrogen storage near the Knapton power plant.

BGS-led paper scoops prestigious award
16/09/2025
New research providing earlier warnings of landslides has been awarded the British Geotechnical Association medal.

Why do we store geological core?
11/09/2025
With space at a premium and the advance of new digitisation techniques, why does retaining over 600 km of physical specimens remain of national importance?

New seabed sediment maps reveal what lies beneath the waves
03/09/2025
Marine ecosystem science and offshore infrastructure will be boosted by a new dataset showing sediment composition across the UK continental shelf.

New geological ‘pathways’ discovered beneath Welsh capital
02/09/2025
Scientists have discovered cavities in the clay underneath Cardiff, which will influence the siting of future geothermal developments.

BGS artificial ground data: what do you need from a geological survey?
28/08/2025
BGS is seeking user feedback on artificial ground data: how you use it, what information you consider, and what we can do to improve our offering.