European Geosciences Union
Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment
President: Sonja Martens (ere@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Christopher Juhlin
(christopher.juhlin@geo.uu.se)
Officer "Above ground":
Viktor Bruckman (viktor.bruckman@oeaw.ac.at)
Officer "Economics & Integration":
Kristen Mitchell (drkristenmitchell@gmail.com)
Officer "Outreach & Education":
Maria Ask (maria.ask@ltu.se)
Officer "Publications":
Michael Kühn (mkuehn@gfz-potsdam.de)
Officer "Subsurface":
Suzanne Hangx (s.j.t.hangx@uu.nl)
ECS Representative:
Natalie Christine Nakaten (ecs-ere@egu.eu)
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together geoscientists from all over Europe and the rest of the world, covering all disciplines of the earth, planetary and space sciences. This geoscientific interdisciplinarity is needed to tackle the challenges of the future. A major challenge for humankind is to provide adequate and reliable supplies of affordable energy and other resources. These should be obtained in environmentally sustainable ways, which is essential for economic prosperity, environmental quality and political stability around the world. One goal of the division Energy, Resources & the Environment (ERE) is to be a leading discussion forum for these issues. The core of the division consists of experts in various fields that will help meet the mutually coupled challenges of Energy, Resources and the Environment.
Sonja is a civil and environmental engineer by training with a background in both academia and industry. Her research focuses on hydrogeology , numerical flow and transport simulations and the sustainable use of georesources and the subsurface, for example investigating CO2 storage in geological media.
Chris has a background in geology and geophysics and has been involved in both academic and industry projects, both in the natural resource and energy sectors. Current research interests include crustal geophysics, high resolution seismics, seismic modelling, mining geophysics, geological storage of CO2, and scientific drilling.
Viktor’s research interests include renewable energy from biomass, with a focus on forests. He is also involved in biochar research and the investigation of carbon and nutrient cycles which includes soil processes and climate change. His interdisciplinary and holistic approaches are directed towards a sustainable and eco-friendly utilization of biomass as a source for energy and industrial raw materials.
Kristen has an academic background in isotope biogeochemistry. As a post-doc Kristen investigated marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean and the Great Lakes. While an AAAS Congressional fellow she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives on energy and environment policy. Kristen currently works on both scientific and policy projects ranging from global change science to ocean policy.
Maria’s research interests are focused on rock mechanics of sediments and rocks and the state of in-situ stress. She is involved in various projects, for example investigating the stress state for storage of CO2 and petroleum prospecting, as well as rock mechanical properties of reservoir and cap rock in CO2 storage.
Michael is a geochemist and hydrogeologist by training with a research focus on the numerical simulation of hydrogeothermal systems in the subsurface. This includes quantification of interactions between deep and shallow groundwater systems, geochemical water-rock-interactions, coupled numerical simulation (hydraulical, thermal, mechanical, chemical), formation of ore deposits, CO2 storage in geologic formations and hydrogeothermal energy provision.
Suzanne is an experimental rock mechanist by background. She has always been curious about the physical and chemical processes that control rock material behaviour in the subsurface, along with the direct relevance of this field to socially relevant issues, such as geological storage of CO2 and geo-energy production. Her background in both academia and industry puts her in a perfect position to combine the best of both worlds, translating and linking purely scientific research to the needs of industry and society, and a sustainable future.
Natalie is a postdoctoral researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Section Fluid Systems Modelling) in Potsdam, Germany. She is an economic geographer by background and focused on techno-economic process modelling. Her research interests are mainly related to the topics Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) as well as gas and energy storage.
As ERE-ECS representative, Natalie aims to motivate ECSs to take part in ERE division activities and hereby strengthen the interchange of scientific knowledge and experiences.
The 2018 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award is awarded to Victor Vilarrasa for significant contributions to the understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical processes inducing seismicity in geo-energy-related operations.
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Sarah Clancy The optimal lateral length and well pad size for maximising recoverable reserves of shale gas in northern England
The meeting programme for the EGU General Assembly 2019 (7–12 April, Vienna) was published this month. With more than 1000 scientific sessions, debates, short courses and side events, and close to 17,000 abstracts, it promises to be a varied and exciting meeting. If you have not yet registered, please do so by the end of today to get reduced registration rates.
This month the EGU has also issued a response to potential changes to the European Research Council, one of the world’s leading and most respected funders of frontier research, designed and governed by scientists. "Without this close relationship with the research community, the ERC’s ability to support the very best frontier science will be compromised," the statement reads.
The EGU has also announced a new award for Earth, planetary and space science journalism this month. The Angela Croome Award is the newest edition to the EGU awards and medals portfolio, joining the newly renamed Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal, the recently launched Katia and Maurice Krafft Award for geoscience outreach and engagement, and many other prestigious honours.
Last but not the least, we are sad to report that Lily Pereg, Deputy President and Programme Group Chair of the EGU Soil System Sciences (SSS) Division and Executive Editor of the SOIL journal, passed away in January. Read the obituary on the EGU website.