Durham University Department of Earth Sciences Alumni

A Week Journeying Across the West Greenland Volcanic Margin (scroll down for English version) https://geoforskning.no/nyheter/grunnforskning/2148-studerer-atlanterhavets-fodsel

Here's an article by our very own postgraduate student Sarah Clancy and co-author Professor Fred Worrall about how "only a quarter of the shale gas contained in one of the UK’s largest reserves might be recoverable because of limited space to develop the wells needed to extract it, according to new research."

https://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=31000

UK shale gas extraction could be reduced by limited space to develop wells - Durham University Only a quarter of the shale gas contained in one of the UK’s largest reserves might be recoverable because of limited space to develop the wells needed to extract it, according to new research.

Photo competition time for current students!

Memories of Durham is a publication that the Careers Centre produces each year for Congregation - a collection of photographs taken by our students, showcasing their Memory of Durham.

Would you like the opportunity for a photo you have taken to be in a special souvenir yearbook which will be given to all finalists at congregation summer 2017/ winter 2018? The Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre photo competition for all students (undergraduates and postgraduates).

Further details can be found at https://www.dur.ac.uk/careers/students/comps/memories/

Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre : Memories of Durham Competition - Durham University Would you like the opportunity for a photo you have taken to be in a special souvenir yearbook which will be given to all finalists at congregation summer 2017/ winter 2018?

Some excellent news to start off your days! From Prof. Colin Macpherson, our head of department!

"I am delighted to report that the Department has maintained its position in the 2017 QS World Rankings for Earth and Marine Sciences.

We are one of only 7 Departments across Durham University to be in the top-50 for their subject and the only Faculty of Science department to achieve this. I’d like to thank and congratulate everyone for the quality of their work and the contribution that this has made to our remaining in the world-top 25.

For the full Earth & Marine Science Rankings, please see:

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2017/earth-marine-sciences

Once again, congratulations and thanks to all members of the Department."

Earth & Marine Sciences By creating an account with QS you agree to our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. You will also be signing up for our newsletter, which you can opt out of at any time.

Hey everyone!

Congratulations are in order for the following members of the department:

Richard Walters who has been awarded the William Smith Fund.
Sasha Warren who has been awarded a Brooke Owen Fellowship.
Two NERC Advanced Short Course Training Awards have been given to a course created by Dr. Jeroen van Hunen, Dr. Simon Mathias, Dr. Stefan Nielsen, and Prof. Jim McElwaine. Another course awarded was created by Dr. Ed Llewellin, Prof. Pete Talling, Prof. Jim McElwaine.
Finally, Prof. Jon Gluyas has won funding, from a bid in association with Newcastle University, from the Science Innovation Audit - Offshore Energy Consortium!

Congratulations everyone!

Just a wee reminder about celebrate science!

Celebrate Science - Durham University Come along to the 'Celebrate Science' Marquee on Palace Green, the heart of Durham's World Heritage Site where a wide range of free science themed activities will be taking place, including shining light on lung disease, tours of the night sky and optical illusions. Children will be invited to to ca...

It is with great sadness that we report that Prof. Jon Davidson passed away, peacefully, at home in the early hours of 26th September 2016. Jon had been battling leukaemia for over 8 years during which time he showed tremendous courage and dignity, and continued to do everything he could to try to make this a better University for everyone.
From 2002 to 2005 Jon was the Head of Department who led reforms that transformed the Department, the benefits of which can be seen in the health and vigour of geoscience research and teaching at Durham today. Jon will be greatly missed by everyone in the Department and we would like to express our deepest sympathy to Jon’s wife Donna and children, Max and Daisy.

An obituary can be found at https://www.dur.ac.uk/earth.sciences/obituary/
where you can also leave your own thoughts about and tributes to Jon.

Department of Earth Sciences : Prof. Jon Davidson - Durham University It is with great sadness that we report the death of Professor Jon Davidson on Monday 26th September 2016, after a long battle with leukaemia.

This is a cool graphic that shows just how much of the worlds oceans are unexplored!

xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/1040/large/

Attention all fossil lovers out there! Palaeocast is currently in the running for the best educational podcast! If you have a spare minute please vote for them at the link below :)

Voting is now underway for the Annual Podcast Awards!

www.podcastawards.com

You've already nominated us as one of the top-ten finalists in the education category and now voting has started in order to determine the winner.

This voting period lasts for 15 days during which time you can vote EVERY DAY. So let's all make this part of our daily routines and we'll make this our year!

Palaeocast Team

University league tables 2017 Guardian University Guide 2017: Find a course at a UK university with our complete university league tables

Happy everyone! Great wee video here from the National Museum of Scotland and the BGS! https://www.facebook.com/BritishGeologicalSurvey/posts/10156926828950118

Fossil Hunters: Investigating the ancient environment Our exhibition, Fossil Hunters: Unearthing the Mystery of Life on Land, explores how ground-breaking discoveries made in Scotland have helped scientists unde...

Post Doc positions available!

vacancies April, 2016 Department of Earth Sciences, Duraham University Post-doctoral Research Associate in modelling of mantle dynamics and volatile circulation

Durham University’s Department of Earth Sciences has gained an Athena SWAN Bronze Award from the Equality Challenge Unit. The Athena SWAN Charter (http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan/) recognises work undertaken to address gender equality as well as actions to remove barriers to progression that affect women who are academic, research, professional or support staff, and students in Higher Education. The Department’s application was compiled by a Self Assessment Team, led by Dr. Jonny Imber, and will remain valid until April 2019 when it can be renewed or superseded by a higher level award from the Athena SWAN scheme.

Head of Department Professor Colin Macpherson said, “We are delighted to receive this award as recognition of the Department’s commitment to gender equality. The application was the product of conversations engaging staff and students across the Department and I would like to thank everyone who contributed. But we are under no illusions about how much hard work remains to implement all aspects of our equality action plan. We look forward to continuing engagement with all staff and students as we work to make Earth Sciences an environment where everyone can feel valued and can achieve their full potential.”

Some of our second year undergraduates have been modelling extensional tectionics and made a nice little asymmetric rifted basin. Very cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTU2nvGnFj0

extensional sandbox experiment The first attempt by our 2015/16 second year Durham University structural geology students at modelling a rifted basin using an extensional sandbox. all sand...

Happy international women in STEM day everyone! Who's your female science inspiration? https://theconversation.com/an-international-day-to-encourage-more-women-and-girls-in-science-54532

An international day to encourage more women and girls in science The push to bridge the gender gap and encourage more women and girls into a career in science gets the backing of the United Nations special day.

Some more research from Durham Earth Sciences! :) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35406301

Fracking fears raised by methane gas study - BBC News Research on the amount of gas leaked from onshore oil and gas wells raises "serious questions" over the development of fracking in the UK, Greenpeace has said.

Field trip fun :)

Durham Earth Science on Twitter “Our 3rd year students up at the crack of dawn and looking at turbidites in Cyprus”

May be of interest to some of you!

http://ctmicrobiol.net/2016/01/14/soapbox-science-comes-to-edinburgh/

Soapbox Science comes to Edinburgh! It is with geat excitement that I see the call for this year's Soapbox Science speakers has now gone out! I'm excited because the event is coming to Edinburgh, and I am excited because I am co-ord...

We have some exciting new projects which have been added to our NERC IAPETUS DTP list!

Earth Sciences Archives - IAPETUS All studentship projects for 2016 will be uploaded to this page in due course. It is expected that projects will be added at intervals between late October and the beginning of January.

Hey everyone! Do we have any inspiring science educators among us? :) The link below is to the ‘My Earth science educator story’ project and has been instigated to encourage experienced Earth science educators to write up their stories specifically to inform and inspire the next generation.

My Earth science educator story | International Geoscience Education Organisation My Earth science educator story Many Earth science educators are doing excellent and sometimes truly amazing jobs across the world, but not only is this not generally known, but eventually all this good work, wisdom and enthusiasm will be lost, if we can’t find a way of passing these on to the next…

Article about Durham research on volcanoes and climate!

Very large volcanic eruptions could lead to ice sheet instability Massive volcanic eruptions could cause localised warming that might destabilise some of the world's biggest ice sheets, according to new research from Durham University.

PhD student Jing presenting his results at AGU15!

Katy Chamberlain on Twitter “Jing presenting his exciting results at ”

Merry Christmas! :)

It's officially Christmas in the Earth Sciences reception office!

We now have NERC studentships being advertised, take a look at the link below :)

Department of Earth Sciences : Suggested MPhil and PhD Projects - Durham University Potential PhD projects are organized by funding body, with a link to a .pdf containing more information on the scope of the project and further reading. If you are interested in one of the projects currently on offer, you could contact the first named supervisor for informal inquiries and further in…

https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/europe/pg-skeletons/

Durham collegues at the Hancock museum today! Free events for all the family!

Some of these are really cool :) http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2015/08/26/physics-videos-every-student-should-watch/

Four Physics Videos Everyone Should Watch I really love the fact that physicists are sharing physics so widely online. There are some fabulous videos that will blow your mind, and teachers, you really consider spending some time in class w...