Dr Tony Hall

Dr Tony Hall
 Position Specialist Snr Technical Officer
 Org Unit Technical Operations
 Email tony.hall@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 8 8313 5326
 Location Floor/Room 1 ,  Mawson ,   North Terrace
  • Biography/ Background

    Current role within the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology encompasses the management and operation of research and service analytical facility; Mawson Analytical Spectrometry Services (MASS). Responsible for a suite of mass spectrometry and associated analytical equipment, which services a broad range of cutting edge, interdisciplinary research, including geosciences, biology, chemical engineering, agriculture, food and wine, veterinary and medical sciences. In the past 7 years, access to the MASS facility has generated >$40M in research grants for UoA staff, >120 publications, has seen >60 honours and >70 HDR student completions. MASS facilities provide an important stimulus for novel, interdisciplinary research available internally and externally.

    Have worked at UoA since completing a PhD in 2012, initially as a post-doctoral fellow and subsequently as part of the Research and Technical Services team in the School of Physical Sciences, then Faculty of Sciences.

    Have an active research profile with >35 journal articles, numerous conference abstracts and posters.

    Previous Position; Technical Director of Hall Analytical Laboratories Ltd, a mass spectrometry facility operating to both GLP and UKAS (ISO17025) accreditation standards. Responsible for the gas chromatography section of the business and the associated preparation laboratory including supervision and training of the laboratory manager, analysts and technicians. 

    Trained study director for GLP regulatory studies, the preparation of associated study plans and for the development, validation and implementation of standard operating procedures. 

    Undertook the additional role of Managing Director for the business whilst recruiting the subsequent MD. 

    Highly experienced GC-MS analyst on low resolution instrumentation with extensive experience of high resolution GC-MS, GC-MS-MS, LC-MS & IRMS techniques. 

    Specialist role involved rapid method development in the environmental, pharmaceutical, industrial and chemical processing fields as well as conducting geochemical and archeological research.

    Experienced training instructor for short courses based upon theoretical and practical chromatography, instrument maintenance and troubleshooting.

    As an analyst, laboratory manager and director for LC2 and Hall Analytical was responsible for the sample preparation, analysis, interpretation of data and preparation of analytical reports at the rate of over 5 studies per week for over fifteen years.

    Additional responsibilities included the routine maintenance of the low resolution GC-MS & GC-FID equipment and company IT (1994 – 2009) including assembly of PCs from components, fault diagnosis at the hardware level, installation & evaluation of software and implementation of basic networking protocols.

    Additional chromatography skills include the manufacture of fused silica capillary columns and specialized injector systems for use with GC systems.

  • Qualifications

    2012, PhD, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide - Elemental, isotopic and molecular signatures of early Cambrian marine sediments and a phantom petroleum system in South Australia.

    2003, MPhil, Environmental & Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University – Speciation of organic components of airbourne particulates using MSSV-GC-MS 

    1994, BSc Hons, Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen

  • Awards & Achievements

    2012, Awarded a Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.

  • Research Interests

    Research interests includes organic geochemical and mineralogical investigation of fine grained sediments, primarily shales, focused on petroleum geology; source rock characterisation; source rock potential estimation; source - oil correlation; pertroleum system identifcation; coastal bitumen stranding assessment. Other interests include isotopic investigations of carbonate facies for palaeoclimatological and chemostratigraphic assessment; palaeoenvironmental investigation of Cambrian marine systems & Lagerstätte; recent palaeoclimatology; soil carbon sequestration; biofuel development & charaterisation.

  • Research Funding

    NERC: MC04/18: ‘Adsorption of organic compounds on volcanic ash – a pilot study’. 1 April 2004.  Funding for airborne organic compounds over Mediterranean volcanoes. Gize, A.P., Hall, P.A., Hall, K. and Seward, T.M.

  • Publications

    Hall, P.A., McKirdy, D.M., Grice, K., Edwards, D.S. Australasian asphaltite strandings: their origin reviewed in light of the effects of weathering and biodegradation on their biomarker and isotopic profiles. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2014, 57 pp 572-593

    Farrell, M., Kuhn, T.K., Macdonald, L.M., Maddern, T.M., Murphy, D.V., Hall, P.A., Singh, B.P., Baumann, K., Krull, E.S., Baldock, J.A. Microbial utilisation of biochar-derived carbon. Science of the Total Environment, 2013, 465, pp 288–297

    Garciano, L.O., Tran, N.H., Kannangara, G.S.K., Milev, A.S., Wilson, M.A., McKirdy, D.M., Hall, P.A., Pyrolysis of a Naturally Dried Botryococcus braunii Residue, Energy & Fuels, 2012, 26 (6), pp 3874–3881.

    Hall, P.A., McKirdy, D.M., Halverson, G.P., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G., Biomarker and isotopic signatures of an early Cambrian Lagerstätte in the Stansbury Basin, South Australia. Organic Geochemistry, 2011, 42, 1324-1330.

    McKirdy, D.M., Hall, P.A., Nedin, C., Halverson, G.P., Michaelsen, B.H., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G., Jenkins, R.J.F., Paleoredox status and thermal alteration of the lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2011, 58, pp. 311–324.

    Schwandner F.M., Seward T.M, Gize A.P., Hall P.A. and Dietrich V.J Diffuse emissions of organic race Gases from the Flanks and Crater of a Quiescent Active Volcano (Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy), Journal of Geophysical Research, 2004, Vol 109, pp.1-20.

    Hall P.A., Watson A.F.R., Garner G.V., Hall K., Smith S., Waterman.D, and Horfield B. An Investigation of Micro-scaled Sealed Vessel Thermal Extraction-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (MSSV-GC-MS) and Micro-scaled Sealed Vessel Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Applied to a Standard Reference Material of an Urban Dust/Organics, Science of the Total Environment, 1999, pp.269-276.

    Hall K., Garner G.V., Woodward P. and Hall P.A. A Study Of Pyrolysis Of Organic Polymer On Particulate (Popp) To Determine Organic Loading And Assess Local Source Effects. Proceedings of the Conference on Emissions Monitoring, CEM 98, 1998, pp.136-144.

    Garner G.V., Hall P.A. and Hall K., Application of Micro-Scale Vessel Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (MSSV-GC-MS), Chromatography and Analysis, 1997, July/August, pp.9-11.

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Entry last updated: Friday, 18 Aug 2023

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