PESGB GEOLiteracy Tour, 8-15 April 2017: ‘Why Dinosaurs Matter’​ With Professor Ken Lacovara

The PESGB are delighted to announce that Professor Ken Lacovara will be headlining The PESGB GEOLiteracy Tour 2017.

He has unearthed some of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk our planet, including the super-massive Dreadnoughtus, which at 65 tons weighs more than seven T. rex! A popular public speaker, Lacovara enjoys sharing the wonders of science and discovery with audiences around the world. He has appeared in numerous television documentaries on American TV networks, as well as on the BBC, and was voted as one of the best TED speakers in 2016.

Why study the ancient past? Because it gives us perspective and humility. It’s the past that gives our world context. And it’s the past that gives us foresight. Dinosaurs were tiny, and huge. They were skittish and ferocious. Fast and slow. Runners, walkers, climbers, flyers, and sometimes swimmers. They were solitary and gregarious. Nocturnal and diurnal. Meat-eaters and plant-eaters. Hunters, scavengers, grazers, and browsers. They were drab, colourful, scaled and feathered. But, most of all, they were astoundingly adaptable. Dinosaurs dominated every continent and were thriving the day before their demise. Snuffed out by an asteroid, along with 75% of species on the planet, their sudden extinction emphasizes the contingent nature of Earth history. Over geological time, improbable, nearly impossible events do occur. By studying the ancient past, we begin to see ourselves as part of nature, connected across deep time to all other living things. After 165 million years, the dinosaurs died in the world’s fifth mass extinction, wiped out in a cosmic accident, through no fault of our own. They didn’t see it coming and they didn’t have a choice. We, on the other hand, do have a choice and the nature of the fossil record tells us that our place in this world is both precarious and potentially fleeting. Right now, our species is propagating an environmental disaster of geological proportions that is so broad and so severe, that it can rightly be called the sixth extinction. But, unlike the dinosaurs, we can see it coming. And, unlike the dinosaurs, we can do something about it. That choice is ours.

Join Ken on Tour…

TOUR DATES

SATURDAY 8 APRIL
Kimmeridge Bay & Lulworth Cove Family Field Trip
FREE but registration required

The Etches Collection Museum
Talk & Reception
FREE but registration required

SUNDAY 9 APRIL
Lecture
Lyme Regis Baptist Church
FREE but registration required

MONDAY 10 APRIL
Lecture
Natural History Museum, London
FREE but registration required

TUESDAY 11 APRIL
Stoneley Lecture & Reception
Cavendish Centre, London
£15, includes drinks reception

WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL
Keith Palmer Lecture & Reception
University of Birmingham School
FREE but registration required

FRIDAY 14 APRIL
Fun family activities throughout the day
TED talk screenings & Q&A
Aberdeen Science Centre, Aberdeen
Registration not required, venue entry fees apply

Stoneley Lecture & Reception
Aberdeen Science Centre, Aberdeen
£10, includes drinks reception

SATURDAY 15 APRIL
Lecture (Part of the Edinburgh Science Festival)
National Museum of Scotland
Registration coming soon

Secondary Pupils Embark On Energy Industry Challenge

Youngsters to work with mentors on STEM in the Pipeline

Secondary school pupils throughout Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire are to delve into the world of oil and gas as they embark on a project which will see them use their skills in physics, maths, chemistry and geology to solve an industry challenge.

TechFest’s STEM In The Pipeline will be launched at the University of Aberdeen today with an introductory day for the pupils and energy industry professionals, who will act as mentors.

Sponsored by BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, and supported by the University of Aberdeen, the Energy Institute, The Oil and Gas Authority and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, the programme will see 15 teams of senior pupils being set an oil field challenge to work on over the next few months, culminating in a final event in December.

They will work with their mentors and gain a valuable insight into careers in engineering and the oil and gas industry as well as undergoing significant development in their interpersonal and team skills.

Wednesday’s introduction will see the pupils attending five hands-on workshops in geology, drilling and reservoir, finance, processing and project management and start working together in their newly formed teams.

TechFest is a charity which aims to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities to young people and the wider community.

Molly Imrie, TechFest’s Education Manager, said: “The STEM in the Pipeline project is a great way for secondary school pupils to put all of their knowledge and skills into practice to solve a problem which is relevant to the oil and gas industry…Along with the support of mentors and academics, the students will come together in small teams and each spend more than 40 extracurricular hours working on their project, which they will then present to the judges in December…Year on year the students excel in this project and always demonstrate very high levels of passion, intelligence and ingenuity.”

Teams will be expected to work together and take part in a challenging series of tasks to produce a Field Development Plan for the fictional STEM oil field.

The tasks cover subsurface work, production profiling, separator design, safety and the calculation of CO2 emissions.

After submitting a report to TechFest, each team will give a presentation to a panel of assessors. They will then be awarded prizes and given certificates.

Pupils who take part in STEM in the Pipeline will also be eligible for the Silver CREST Award, Britain’s national award scheme for work in the STEM subjects.

The schools taking part this year are Banchory Academy, Portlethen Academy, St Margaret’s School for Girls, Robert Gordon’s College, Meldrum Academy, Northfield Academy, Kemnay Academy, Westhill Academy, Banff Academy, Aboyne Academy, Fraserburgh Academy, Harlaw Academy, Aberdeen Grammar School, Inverurie Academy and Oldmachar Academy.

Each year, TechFest runs Aberdeen and North-east Scotland’s annual festival of STEM which attracts tens of thousands of children and adults to a series of presentations, workshops and events in and around Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire

This year the festival is set to run from Friday, August 26, until September 18.
For more information, please visit http://www.techfest.org.uk

 

A Visit to the Lapworth Museum of Geology

Article by Maria Iredale

The Lapworth Museum of Geology kindly invited me to their opening event on the 10^th June.  The Museum contains the largest and finest geological collection in the West Midlands region and dates back to 1880 and the foundation of Mason College, the forerunner of the University of Birmingham.

As I had visited the museum when it was still in development, I was very excited to see it completed. The £2.7m redevelopment project retains the museum’s original features and display cases, as well as its Edwardian interior. This is juxtaposed with a state-of-the-art museum experience that is interactive and tactile, with modern technology guaranteeing a more rewarding visit.

Visitors can now explore life over the past 3.5 billion years. The Museum showcases exceptional objects from one of the UK’s most outstanding geological collections, and it’s all completely free of charge. From rocks and fossils to volcanoes, earthquakes, and even dinosaurs, the Museum captures the imagination of all ages. The new displays are based around four key themes:

• Evolution of Life
• Active Earth
• Mineral Wealth
• Learning and Discovery

The collection of over 250,000 objects includes significant material from many influential geologists, scientists and collectors of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including:

• Geological pioneer Charles Lapworth’s collection
• Fred Shotton’s top secret work for the D-Day landings
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery’s geology collection, which includes Matthew Boulton’s mineral collection

Moreover, the Museum houses some of the finest fossils of the region, recording intervals when Central England was submerged beneath warm tropical seas or covered in coal forests followed by arid desert conditions, whilst the remains of woolly mammoths provide a glimpse of life during the Ice Age.

The mineral and gem collections, some of which date back to the 18th century, contain over 15,000 specimens from all over the world with rare, colourful and exquisite crystal forms. This is a collection of national importance.

Learning resources, including a new dedicated education room, enable schools and visiting groups to discover and learn more about a wide and diverse range of topical geological and environmental issues.

As a non geologist working in an industry filled with these ‘pesky individuals’ I am often struggling to keep up with the terminology and the story of ‘deep time’ as it’s a big and exciting topic. This museum strikes just the right balance between authentic and academic, enough to engage the geologists while remaining accessible to those of any knowledge level, a difficult balance to strike. I left excited about geology with both new knowledge and a better understanding of how the ‘story’ fits together.

I would like to return to the museum both as a private citizen with my children but also as part of a PESGB field trip to be able to view the museum with a group who can add more to my experience by their knowledge of the exhibits.  The floor to ceiling rock wall was my favourite exhibit and I look forward to going back, hiding the index, and testing you ‘pesky’ geologists on which rock is which.

Geocaching Galore

Have you ever dragged your family or friends to that amazing fossil exhibition or geological field trip only to be met with yawns, excuses to leave early or general dissatisfaction? Whatever people’s age or their level of expertise, geology should be fun- and it is! In order to encourage more people to explore the field of geology, PESGB is looking to expand its membership offer by organising and laying a series of educational geology-themed geocaches as an engaging and eclectic introduction to the field.

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the so-called geocache (container) hidden at that location. The cache can be a single container that needs to be found or a trail with several stations along the way, usually guided by clues or tasks.  By having to answer questions and exploring the outdoors, geocaching offers a great way to explore geological gems in a fun and engaging way, be it for geology enthusiasts, as an enjoyable and educational family day trip or as a school excursion. Furthermore, as a subgroup of geocaching, the Geological Society of America has created so-called Earth Caches, purely educational geological geocaches. These need to be passed by a board of geologists to assess educational value and significance. Due to their educational content and affiliation to the Geological Society, these Earth Caches are an especially interesting format for PESGB.

As a Society which is primarily a networking society with the aim of fostering education and enthusiasm in the field of geology, PESGB would like to establish an interest group to organise and set up some geocaches and Earth Caches in several important geological locations. As permanent geological tours, geocaches would be a great addition to PESGB’s membership offer, whilst also raising awareness for the society to the general public. They will furthermore be promoted as part of a geocaching week during the GEOLiteracy month in the coming year and will form part of PESGB’s repertoire of fieldtrips.

If you would be interested in getting involved by organising a geocache, assisting in creating a cache, or if you have any other comments and ideas, please get in touch at events@pesgb.org.uk to discuss formats, locations and geocaching guidelines.

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

PETEX is in the (Delegate) Bag…

Article by Lily Parsey

An Initiative of the Charles Kendall Group in Association with the PESGB

If you attended the PETEX 2014 conference, you may have caught a glimpse of our bright red PETEX delegate bags. While they are a valued fashion accessory in fashion circles across the globe, there were a number of bags that didn’t find a new owner at the conference. With a view of not wasting the hundreds of left over bags, the Charles Kendall Group and PESGB donated laptop bags and rucksacks to people who might be more in need of the bags than the overly well-equipped attendees of our conferences. As such, almost 400 bags found new homes with proud new owners in a range of different schools across Romania. An additional 300 PETEX bags were donated to orphanages across the UK, ensuring the bags went to good use.

The PESGB is very grateful for the Charles Kendall Group’s valuable initiative providing important material to underprivileged children in both Romania and the UK. As such, we were able to disburse the unused PETEX bags in excess for a charitable purpose. Indeed, we are glad the bags have found a purpose and value beyond the conference itself. This is an effort we will wish to pursue in upcoming conferences. Moreover, the PESGB is looking to expand its outreach of educational material to people of all ages, levels of expertise, educational and financial backgrounds through its Outreach Strategy. This includes formats such as the upcoming GEOLiteracy Month, new and more accessible field trip formats, as well as educational opportunities for young people to provide access to the sector to a wider audience.

If you want to get involved in PESGB’s Outreach Strategy by leading an outreach field trip or city walking tour, creating a special interest group in your area, workshops or other outreach formats (we are very open to new ideas!), please get in touch at events@pesgb.org.uk

Also, just a gentle reminder that registration for this year’s PETEX conference is now open- so don’t miss out on securing your spot!

Get involved with the ‘Oil Exploration Game’

Article by Marc Bond, Oil Exploration Game Designer

The initiative to use the Oil Exploration Game as a vehicle to teach students about geology and exploration in the oil & gas industry is progressing quite well.  Initially conceived to train non-technical staff within the oil & gas industry about exploration, the games scope has expanded into both the university and secondary schools educational arena.  For several years it has been used in the classroom in A-Level secondary schools studying geology or geography courses.  The game has also expanded into the university settings, most recently at Kingston and Manchester Universities.

This success is requiring us to recruit experienced professionals within the oil & gas industry to become facilitators and expand the reach of the game.  Time and again, interested parties have said that this is a great opportunity for them to “give back to the community”!  With PESGB’s support, the next training workshop is scheduled on 16 June, to provide a forum to expose and train facilitators.  We are looking for people to join us for the workshop.

To increase the exposure of the game to the secondary schools, we will be attending the Earth Science Teachers Association conference in September, which should be a great opportunity to meet with educators and promote the capability of the game to enhance students’ educational training in a dynamic and exciting environment.

PESGB and I look forward to a great turnout at the training workshop on 16 June.

Click here to register your place

The PESGB visits Birmingham’s Lapworth Museum

Article by Maria Iredale, PESGB Executive Director

On the 20^th April I followed up on an invitation to visit the Lapworth Museum which forms part of the Birmingham University Campus.  Firstly for those who don’t know the Birmingham Campus, it is gorgeous and well worth a visit.  It’s a historic campus full of auspicious buildings and learned people and on a beautiful spring day it was a real tonic for the soul.

The Lapworth Museum has housed the Lapworth geology collection for many years and has transformed into a public-facing museum based on an academic collection.

Originally the collection was purely educational but when the museum reopens in early June there will be something to see for both the most ardent geologist and their school-age children. There are education rooms as well as an enormous archive for academic research, a truly beautiful collection. There will be a double height rock wall, an illuminated mineral collection, an area devoted to the tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes as well as a large dinosaur fossil due to dangle from the ceiling.

The thing I found most inspiring about the museum and the project to redesign and relaunch it, was the passion with which it had been designed.  Often with these projects the design is handed over to design agency and the design is done based on a learning objective or similar.  This museum has been designed with the geologists involved all the way through and has been informed by a public consultation which explored how and why the public went to the museum.  The museum will showcase an incredible collection, seek to inspire new geologists and teach something new to those who have already discovered the wonderful world of rocks!

See more at http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/lapworth-museum/museum-redevelopment/index.aspx

It is all due to open to the public for the first time since its refurbishment on the 10^th June and we will have a feature on it in the magazine for you. Watch this space.

If you live within travelling distance of the museum and would like us to hold an evening event there with a private tour and networking please let us know and we would be thrilled to arrange an opportunity for you to see this fabulous resource yourselves.

PESGB & the Aberdeen Cyrenians

PESGB are delighted to announce their partnership with the Aberdeen Cyrenians in 2016. The Cyrenians are a charity based in Aberdeen and are working to support all sections of the community, including many who have been devastated by the downturn in the oil industry. Watch this space for news on upcoming collaboration.

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Get involved with the Aberdeen Cyrenians…

Sunday 15 May 2016 – Baker Hughes 10K
Each year the Aberdeen Cyrenians take part in the Baker Hughes 10K, the biggest running event in Aberdeen. They encourage their many supporters to get involved as participants or stewards to help raise funds for the organisation or to help ensure the event goes ahead with the right support.

For further information please contact Nicky.macbeath@aberdeen-cyrenians.org or on 01224 625732

PESGB Pet Rock Parade

PESGB Pet Rock Competition!

This bank holiday weekend, make a pet rock with your child (child not essential) and send us a before and after picture!

Some inspiration from the office below…

Welcome to the PESGB Blog…

The PESGB Blog has been designed to complement the PESGB website, and bridge the gap between the PESGB Magazine and social media, whilst providing a forum for discussion for the PESGB community.

Post your comments, or contact blog@pesgb.org.uk to write a feature, share your anecdotes, pearls of wisdom or musings on the industry. This blog is for the members, shaped by the members. If there is anything you would like to see here, please get in touch.

Get involved, we would love to hear from you!

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