Mather studies volcanic behaviour working to understand volcanoes as natural hazards, planetary scale processes and natural resources. Mather is a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and a fellow of University College, Oxford. She is part of the Centre for the Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics project, which is a “collaborative centre for understanding tectonic and volcanic processes and hazards though the integrated application of Earth Observation data, ground-based measurements, and geophysical models”. Other current projects include: the Natural Environment Research Council funded RiftVolc project, researching past and current volcanism and volcanic hazards in the main Ethiopian rift, the Natural Environment Research Council funded Volatiles, Geodynamics & Solid Earth Controls on the Habitable Planet programme researching deep Earth influences in the long-term evolution of the Earth and the European Research Council funded project Revealing hidden volcanic triggers for global environmental change events in Earth’s geological past using mercury. Past projects include: the Natural Environment Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council Strengthening Resilience in Volcanic Areas collaboration, which looked to establish a risk assessment framework for volcanoes. She is interested in the role of volcanism in planetary scale processes. Her research has identified that volcanic vents perform nitrogen fixation and make it available to plants. Mather's research investigates volcanic plumes, the effects of volcanic emissions and aerosols on the environment, and the structure and stability of volcanoes. She has also studied the emissions from Buncefield fire at the Buncefield oil depot in 2005 and is interested in the mercury cycle, as well as other biogeochemical cycles. Mather has led or collaborated on work studying volcanoes around the world, both in situ and using remote sensing data from ground or satellite based platforms. Volcanoes Mather has studied include Bárðarbunga, Hekla, and Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, the Santorini caldera in Greece, the Villarica, Lascar, Chaitén and Calbuco volcanoes in Chile, Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, Mount Etna in Italy, Galeras in Colombia, the Santiaguito lava dome complex in Guatemala, and the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Mather's research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the European Research Council and the Royal Society. In 2005 she served as a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Fellow producing a POSTnote note on Carbon capture and storage, she was a co-editor-in-chief of Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014-2019, served on the board of directors of the Geochemical Society 2017-2019, on the Natural Environment Research Council Science Board/Committee 2017-2021 and on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program Science Advisory Group 2019-2022.
