Memorandum 141
Submission from Professor Ian Main and
Dr Gary Couples Director and Co-director, Edinburgh Collaborative
of Subsurface Science and Engineering (ECOSSE)
TODAY
1.1 Many of the greatest challenges facing
society today will require innovative solutions at the interface
between the GeoSciences and Engineering. Examples include the
response to Climate Change (including underground carbon storage,
and dealing with rising sea levels) efficient exploitation/management
of Earth resources (minerals, oil and gas, groundwater); Energy
(oil & gas, underground storage of nuclear waste); and Natural
Hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, storms and storm surges). Some
apply directly to the UK, and some to countries where the UK has
significant business/cultural exchange interests.
1.2 To respond to the challenges, some universities
have set up mechanisms to co-operate across the GeoSciences and
Engineering, including ECOSSE, a four-way partnership between
scientists and engineers at the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt
University, the British Geological Survey and the Scottish Universities
Environmental Research Centre, part of the wider Edinburgh Research
Partnership in Engineering and Mathematics (ERP), funded as a
research pooling initiative by the Scottish Funding Council. This
summary is based on the practical experience of formally setting
up this partnership.
1.3 Such partnerships have operated effectively
as an incubator of large, new, globally-competitive initiatives,
including the Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage Consortium (SCCS:
www.geos.ed.ac.uk/sccs)
and Edinburgh Seismic Research (ESR: www.geos.ed.ac.uk/seismic/).
SCCS is based on the philosophy of using oil-related geoengineering
skills and facilities built up over decades to focus on the R&D
challenges of CO2 management based on subsurface CO2 storage,
and ESR in applying subsurface imaging techniques to exploring
and monitoring the subsurface to inform engineering decisions.
1.4 The funding environment from UK Government
is already evolving to respond to such challenges, with NERC strongly
supporting initiatives in living with climate change and natural
hazards, albeit at the expense of subsurface science. At the same
time EPSRC and other avenues such as the Treasury Science and
Innovation scheme has funded significant research and staff posts
in subsurface geoengineering.
1.5 Many universities are responding to
the change in funding environment with new staff appointments
in the relevant areas, some as matching funding for government-supported
initiatives such as ECOSSE and ERP.
1.6 Industry is increasingly aware of the
need to engage, with long-term commitment to funding research
in exploration and production of oil and gas, but also more recently
in minerals and in terms of supporting new areas such as carbon
capture and storage.
1.7 Much of the "pull" from industry
in this area is in recruitment-the UK simply does not produce
enough of its own quantitative geoscientists or engineers to fill
current vacancies, and even fewer graduates who are literate across
elements of both disciplines. This is a global problem.
THE FUTURE
2.1 The challenges listed above will become
more acute with time.
2.2 Action is needed now to inspire young
people to engage with the big issues. This could be encouraged
by inclusion in School curricula of concrete worked examples to
illustrate general principles in mathematics, physics, geography,
geology, and also from a greater direct engagement of practitioners
with Schools, media etc.
2.3 Solutions must be sought over a spectrum
of resource allocation, from large-scale engineering and monitoring
programmes in coastal defence and carbon storage to working more
with nature in preserving wetlands, or low-cost engineering solutions
where funds are limited.
2.4 More explicit collaboration and demarcation
between NERC and EPSRC would be welcome to ensure no funding gap
exists between GeoSciences and Engineering. No competitive integrative
proposal in geoengineering should fail because it `falls between
two stools'.
2.5 Likewise universities should be encouraged
to continue to develop procedures and possible joint staff appointments
that encourage links and integrated research in geoscience and
engineering, reaching out to all relevant agencies, including
industry, government-directed programmes (British Geological Survey,
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology etc.) and regulatory agencies
(eg SEPA).
2.6 Continued/increased targeted government
support of this effort, beyond that provided by individual research
councils, directed explicitly at geoengineering (Treasury S&I
Scheme, DBERR) would be welcome.
2.7 Geoengineers must be encouraged to interact
more with society as a whole, in a subject increasingly driven
by a regulatory framework (hence requiring an engagement with
environmental law), with solutions that may involve action or
buy-in by the majority (hence social sciences and science-led
policy) as well as the skilled technical practitioner.
October 2008
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