European Geosciences Union
Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment
President: Viktor Bruckman
(ere@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Sonja Martens
(martens@gfz-potsdam.de)
ECS Representative:
Giorgia Stasi (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.
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.
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.
Dr Neha Mehta is a Research Fellow in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interests lie in environmental sustainability, circular economy, and climate change. She has worked on interdisciplinary approaches and projects including life cycle assessment of conversion of agri-food wastes to biofuels; stakeholder attitudes towards bio-based plastics; material flow analysis of plastics; and human health risks due to contaminants. She is passionate about inclusivity in Science and Academia and is an active member of PDC Representatives’ Network QUB, The Inclusion Group for Equity in Research in STEMM (TIGERinSTEMM) and Early Career Researcher Network of European Geosciences Union.
Ana T. Lima is a senior researcher at the Technical University of Denmark. Her work fringes on the natural and built environments, using (bio)geochemical, engineering, and modeling tools to understand contaminants in this continuum, create solutions, and translate them into policy. For the last 15+ years, she has worked on several continents and has had the opportunity to work with world-renowned leaders in two distinct fields: electrokinetics and (bio)geochemistry. Her most recent interests stem from the need to improve construction materials sustainability and quantify circular economy practices in alleviating GHG emissions and resource use.
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.
I am a geologist working since 2017 at the Geological Survey of Belgium (RBINS) with a focus on critical raw materials and technology development. I am currently enrolled in a PhD program in Applied Geophysics at the University of Liège (Belgium), with a research focusing on the development of geophysical techniques for deep mining and robotic autonomous exploration. As the new ERE ECS representative I would like to increase the opportunity of networking and connection, creating an active ECS community within the ERE division. I strongly believe in collaboration and in the importance in supporting young scientists in their career. If you’re interested in getting involved, do not hesitate to get in touch!
The 2021 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Giorgia Dalla Santa for her outstanding research on shallow geothermal systems for building conditioning.
The 2021 Virtual Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (vOSPP) Award is awarded to Weilin Huang Implementation of mycorrhizal mechanisms in a soil carbon model improves predictions of long-term plant litter decomposition processes
The August issue of The Loupe explores how existing energy resources inform climate change mitigation. Scientists from the Environmental Defense Fund find that while hydrogen is certainly part of the solution to get to net zero, this fuel of the future may not be as clean as we think. Researcher in energy transition under climate change Jarmo Kikstra discusses the delicate intersections between social and natural sciences, and on World Biofuels Day we look at commercially available biofuels around the world and some new ones under development.
Also in this issue: the EGU Biodiversity Task Force’s seven recommendations to the EU Nature Restoration Law which will now be amended and either passed or rejected by the European Parliament and The Council of the European Union. Finally, apply by 12 September to the EGU Policy Pairing scheme to spend a week in Brussels with a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).