23 January 2020
The Student Chapter at the National University of Ireland led the organization
of the iGEO2020 Early Career Symposium, which took place at the NUI, Galway, Ireland.
iGEO2020 started on the 9th of January 2020 with an opening ceremony
delivered by
university President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh and Former Minister of State of natural resources
Seán Canney.
Over 80 registered delegates including speakers and workshop leaders were in attendance.
This was followed by the first set of workshops that ran side by side. Rather than focussing
on science only, the student chapter decided to follow a multi-disciplinary approach.
The first set of workshops focused on interview skills related to industry and public
sector roles, diversity and bias in the workplace and a technical workshop on spatial analysis
processing. After lunch keynote speakers Prof. Murray Hitzman, Lucy Cotton and
Dr. Jared Peters gave their talks followed by a discussion about the future of geoscience for
a sustainable society.
Poster sessions and 3-minute lightning talks had 30 early-career attendees showcased
their current work. This was followed by the conference dinner and social.
On the second day of the symposium, the second set of workshops focuses on linking science
and policy, identifying stress trigger and mindfulness, is consultancy a career for you
and a technical workshop focusing on Geostatistics coding in R.
An industry exhibition was held where Dalradian Gold, New Boliden, University College
Cork and iCRAG had stands and allowing delegates to speak directly with representatives.
RealSIM also attended the showcase with a 3D virtual reality experience of Galway Bay through time.
After this, we had the prize giving for runner up and best poster and lightning talks
followed by the closing ceremony.
The students from the university were able to exchange information between
delegates industry and academia and the career development of ECGs.
The Student Chapter at the National University of Ireland ultimate goal of iGEO2020 is to foster
scientific debate & discussion surrounding the key issues affecting the future of Irish
geoscience as well as promote a) the exchange of information between ECG’s, industry
and academia and b) the career development of ECGs.
The Student Chapter at the National University of Ireland wishes to thank the EAGE Student
Fund for providing financial support to this activity.
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