Hrvoje Tkalčić studied physics and geophysics at the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Science), from which he gained a Diploma of Engineering in Physics degree (speciality in Geophysics with meteorology) in 1996. He continued his postgraduate study at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, and defended a PhD thesis entitled "Study of deep Earth structure using seismic body waves" in 2001.[2]
He was employed as a research assistant at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (1997-2001), as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of California San Diego (2002-2003), and as a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California (2003-2006). In 2006, he began a continuing position as Scientist in the Seismology group at Multimax, Inc., in Emeryville, California. From 01/2007 until 04/2013, he was a Fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) of the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. From 04/13 until 12/18, he was a Senior Fellow and associate professor in Seismology and Mathematical Geophysics at RSES, ANU. He was Head of Seismology and Mathematical Geophysics from 01/17 to 04/21 and Professor E1 from 01/19 to 06/23. He has been Head of the Geophysics Area since 04/21 and Professor E2 since 06/23.[3]
He has published 120 papers in peer-review journals in the field of seismology and mathematical geophysics[4] and an academic book on the Earth's inner core.[5] His primary research interests involve studying Earth's structure and dynamics using state-of-the-art seismological techniques, with the main focus on the Earth's core and the lowermost mantle, and developing new techniques for imaging Earth's interior, including both seismic and correlation wavefield. Other interests include studying the physics of tectonic and volcanic earthquakes by means of waveform modelling and improving volumetric raypath coverage of the Earth's interior through the installation of seismic instruments in remote parts of the planet, including on the ocean bottom.[6][7]