CSEG Symposium

The 2026 CSEG Symposium Committee is pleased to honor Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Downton at this year’s event. Jon has been a prominent figure in both the Canadian and international geophysics community for decades. His career has been dedicated to advancing the inference of rock and fluid properties from seismic amplitudes through the development and application of innovative technologies.

To recognize his significant contributions to the field, the Symposium will feature a series of technical presentations and case studies. These will highlight the impact of advanced seismic reservoir characterization on geophysics, while also offering perspectives on future directions, including the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning with geophysical methods.

After earning his Ph.D., Jon joined CGG, where he managed a research group and led the development of azimuthal AVO inversion techniques and Fourier coefficient methods for fracture reservoir characterization.  He also led the development and application of controlled amplitude data conditioning including the use of 5D interpolation to improve AVO and AVAz estimates. In 2011, he joined Hampson-Russell, where he played a key role in developing the ProAZ software. Since 2017, Jon’s work has focused on machine learning applications in geophysics, including integrating deep neural networks into Emerge and contributing to the development of the GeoAI product suite.

He has authored and presented numerous papers at SEG, EAGE, and CSEG conferences. Jon Downton has received “Best Paper” awards at CSEG conferences, recognizing his contributions to applied geophysics. He has also served as a keynote speaker at SEG, CSEG, and EAGE conventions and is a past President of the CSEG.

Please join us in congratulating Jon Downton as the 2026 CSEG Symposium Honoree.