Curriculum Vitae Michael Carpenter is Professor of Mineralogy and Mineral Physics in the Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge. His early work was on the thermodynamics, mechanisms and kinetics of phase transitions in silicate minerals. From this emerged a theme of the importance of strain coupling and elastic relaxations. In the last 8 years, his focus has been on strain relaxation behaviour of ferroic and multiferroic materials with phase transitions driven by structural, magnetic, dielectric and electronic instabilities. The influence of strain coupling with the driving order parameter is seen in large variations of elastic constants measured as a function of temperature or magnetic field, while anelastic losses provide evidence for the dynamics of transformation microsctures such as ferroelastic twin walls. The primary experimental tool used in these investigations is Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy.