A two-day conference on the Geoscience Sector took place in November 2010, providing an in-depth overview of how the sector is flourishing even in these recessionary times.  Greatly welcomed by all those individuals and organisations that provided much important input into a process of evaluation of the sector that has been undertaken during the last two years. Each presentation may be downloaded through the links below.


Geoscience 2010 Conference 3rd and 4th November, 2010
Dublin Castle, Ireland

Day 1: 3rd November 2010
Theme: INFOMAR & Marine Research

08.00 - 09.00  Registration

09.00 - 09.10  Welcoming Address, Dr. Peadar McArdle, Director GSI

09.10 - 09.20   Official Opening, Mr. Conor Lenihan, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Session 1 - INFOMAR 2010 - Chair: Tommy Furey, MI

09.20 - 09.40 Setting the Scene, Marine/Geoscience/INFOMAR. K. Verbruggen, GSI

09.40 - 10.20 RV Keary, first full year. S. Cullen, GSI

10.20 - 10.40 Lidar through the ash cloud. A. Waddington, Pelydryn Ltd 

10.40 - 11.00 Coffee Break & Posters

11.00 - 11.30 Keynote Speaker: Discovering Earth's Hidden Frontiers through Scientific Ocean Drilling, Gilbert Camoin, Senior Researcher at CNRS, France, ex- Chair Science Support and Advisory Committee of European Consortium on Ocean Research Drilling)

Session 2 - SEABED MAPPING - Chair: Peter Heffernan, MI

11.30 - 11.50 Ireland’s Deepwater Atlas. Andy Wheeler, UCC

11.50 - 12.10 Geogenic Reefs & candidate SACs. J. Guinan

12.10 - 12.30 Improving seabed mapping from marine acoustic data. U. Demsar, NUIM

12.30 - 12.50 New seabed geological map of the Porcupine Bank & seabed mapping update. X. Monteys, INFOMAR

12.50 - 13.10 The importance of the permanent thermocline to the Cold water Coral mound distribution in NE Atlantic. M. White, NUIG & B. Dorschel, UCC

13.10 - 14.00 Buffet Lunch & Posters

Session 3 - RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS (15 min updates) - Chair: Fergal McGrath, MI

14.00 - 14.15 Investigating the provenance of ice-rafted debris on the Irish Atlantic Margin using the Pb isotopic composition of detrital K-feldspar. S.Tyrell, UCD

14.15 - 14.30 Towards a new virtual core lab (UCD/TCD/ NUIM) S. McCarron

14.45 - 15.00 EO & Submarine Groundwater Discharge. J Wilson, TCD

15.00 - 15.15 A Flexible Seabed Survey Platform, ROV Latis. D. Toal et al, UL

15.15 - 15.30 Geomorphology of the Irish Rockall Trough mapped from INSS improved multibeam bathymetric and backscatter dataset. F. Sacchetti, UU Coleraine

15.30 - 15.45 GLAMARous RIDGES: glaciation of the Celtic Sea. D. Praeg, OGS, Italy

15.45 - 16.00 Simulating Marine Environments – Virtual Galway Bay (RealSIM/NUIG) Gavin Duffy, NUIG

16.00 - 16.30 Coffee Break & Posters

Session 4 - ADDING VALUE - Chair: Koen Verbruggen, GSI

16.30 - 16.50 INFOMAR, EU Projects & Added Value. T. Furey, INFOMAR

16.50 - 17.10 Ocean Energy - Building Blocks & Barriers. H. Applebee, Tonn Energy

17.10 - 17.30 MI Fisheries Research & INFOMAR. Colm Lordan, MI

17.30 - 17.50 Irish Marine research in the Bigger Picture. Y. Shields, MI

18.30 Sponsored Reception & Posters

Day 2: 4th November 2010
Theme: Geoscience Research and Development

09.00 - 09.05 Opening Address: Dr. Pat O’Connor, Assistant Director GSI

09.00 - 09.30 Keynote Talk: The National Centre for Geocomputation (NCG) & the Strategic Research Cluster in Advanced Geotechnologies (StratAG): Role Models for GeoScience Research? Prof. Stewart Fotheringham, NUI Maynooth

Session 1 - Groundwater Protection - Chair: Ms. Monica Lee, GSI

09.30 - 09.50 Ireland’s National Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping Programme. Ms.Orla Murphy, Tobin Consulting Engineers

09.50 - 10.10 A Multidisciplinary Approach to Characterising Irish Poorly Productive Aquifers. Dr. Rachel Cassidy, QUB

10.10 - 10.30 Griffith Geoscience Coastal Aquifer Project – overview of progress to date. Dr. Liam Morrison NUI Galway

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee Break & Posters

Session 2 - Basin Studies - Chair: Mr. Koen Verbruggen, GSI

11.00 - 11.05 Marine Processes and Basin Development: overview of research programme. Prof. Pat Shannon, UCD

11.05 - 11.25 Clare drilling and Training initiative. Prof. Pat Shannon, UCD

11.25 - 11.45 Deep-water Sedimentary Processes and Deposits. Dr. Aggie Georgiopoulou, UCD

11.45 - 12.05 Tracking Sediment from Source to Sink: ongoing research at the UCD Sand Provenance Centre. Dr. Shane Tyrrell, UCD

Session 3 - Carbon Capture & Storage - Chair: Dr.Brian McConnell, GSI

12.05 - 12.25 CCS Initiatives at GSI. Dr. John Morris, GSI

12.25 - 12.45 Dynamic and Static Response to CO₂ Injection into Synthetic Reservoirs. Dr. Garth O’Brien UCD

12.45 - 13.05 Scenarios for Seismicity induced by the Geological Sequestration of CO₂. Mr. Shane Murphy et al., University of Ulster

13.05 - 14.00 LUNCH & Posters 

Session 4 - Geohazards - Chair: Dr. Ronnie Creighton, GSI

14.00 - 14.20 GSI Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Project. Robert Bone , Mouchel Ltd

14.20 - 14.40 Urban Geochemistry of Dublin (the Surge Project): Soil Quality and Public Health. Dr. Pat O’Connor, GSI

14.40 - 15.10 Coffee Break & Posters

Session 5 - Resources, Infrastructure & Planning - Chair: Mr. Gerry Stanley, GSI 

15.10 - 15.30 Dublin GeoUrban Project. Mr. Ray Scanlon, GSI

15.30 - 15.50 Ireland’s Aggregate Potential – an interim status report. Mr. Phelim Lally, Consultant

15.50 - 16.10 Tellus in the North of Ireland – recent advances and new opportunities. Mr. Mike Young, GSNI

Session 6 - GeoEducation & Communication - Chair: Dr. Sarah Gatley, GSI

16.10 - 16.30 Griffith Geomatics for Geosciences: The benefits of good data management practices. Mr. Declan Dunne, Coastal Marine Research Centre, UCC

16.30 - 16.50 The Geoschol Initiative: Fostering Awareness of Ireland’s Geological History in Schools. Dr. Patrick Wyse Jackson, TCD

16.50 - 17.1 0 The Irish Geoscience Graduate Programme: progress and obstacles. Prof. Ben Kennedy

17.10 - 17.30 Conclusions - Way forward. Dr. Pat O’Connor, GSI


The conference agenda is available here for download


You might also wish to check out the many developments that have been recently occurring in the Gescience Sector.  Please use the navigation bar on the left here to visit some of the pages that provide details.  In particular, you might be interested in the most recent development - the publication in January 2010 of a report that explores how the geoscience sector is contributing to a smarter economy.  Please click here for more details.

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