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 "Publications":
Michael Kühn (mkuehn@gfz-potsdam.de)
Officer "Subsurface":
Maria Ask (maria.ask@ltu.se)
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.
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.
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.
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
This month the EGU President Alberto Montanari wrote an open letter to funding agencies with information on the assessment of presentations given at EGU scientific meetings. The letter emphasises that there is no distinction regarding the standing, quality or prestige of oral, poster, or PICO presentations at the EGU General Assembly and recommends that funding agencies do not use presentation type as a criterion for assessing the scientific value of contributions.
In other important news this month, the EGU has launched Weather and Climate Dynamics, a new open-access, two-stage journal with open review dedicated to the publication and public discussion of high-quality research on dynamical processes in the atmosphere. The journal is now open for submissions.
Next month brings two important EGU deadlines. The call for candidates for EGU Union President, General Secretary and Division Presidents is open until 15 September: we encourage EGU members to nominate themselves or propose a candidate. Before that, 5 September is the deadline to submit session proposals and short course ideas to the EGU General Assembly 2020. Contribute to the conference programme by submitting your proposals.