Departmental Newsletter Spring 2024

News update:

UCL geophysicists installed nine seismometers around Wembley Park ahead of Taylor Swift’s first Eras concerts in London and found that the opening night performance of ‘Love Story’ produced the strongest ground tremors. The team, who were invited to install the seismometers by Wembley Park, were led by geophysicists Professor Ana Ferreira and Dr Stephen Hicks (both UCL Earth Sciences), with instruments shared by UK-based manufacturer Güralp Systems Ltd and University of Oxford’s Dr Paula Koelemeijer.

Outreach: Raising Awareness of Climate Change 

This projection aims to increase awareness and foster knowledge about climate change among the local community.

Research: How to chase waterfalls

As I stood there shivering in the water, I had a new concern – where am I going to set up the laser?!

Research: Interview with a researcher 

As an undergraduate engineering student I had the opportunity to take an geology course.  The rest is history!

Events: Honouring eminent UCL alumnae

A special event to celebrate life and work of Professor Kathleen Lonsdale and Dr Judith Milledge

Alumni News: Friends for life!

The “Class of 1976” are one of the most active groups of our alumni. Read about their most recent “meet up” .

Awards: Linnean Society’s 2024 Medal

Congratulations to Professor Paul Upchurch who has been awarded the Linnean Medal 2024 for services to science

Update from Professor Lidunka Vočadlo, Head of Department.

I write this as England are about to play their third game of the Euros – the anticipation and optimism are palpable. Along with the resigned pain of the competition so far. Our Rock Room has been decorated in the flags of all the participating countries, while the TV remains permanently on the football channels. By the time this newsletter comes out, it could all be over for us – or we could have won! At the moment, the cat in the box is neither dead nor alive. The probability function has yet to collapse. What is absolutely certain, however, is that it’s been a busy busy year in the Department. Firstly, we have had six new technical staff hires since the last newsletter: Emma Humphrey-Williams, our new Geochemistry Facilities Manager, Mark Stanley, our new Geochemistry Technician, Medhi Zahir, our new Control Systems Engineer, Finn Noyes, our new Mechanical Workshop Technician, Julie Brown, our new BEIF manager  and Joseph Paine, our new Teaching Technician. We also welcome to Professional Services Imogen Dyer, our new Education Administrator.  And we have two new NERC Independent Research Fellows joining us - Lewis Jones and Stephen Hicks working in (loosely) palaeobiology and seismology respectively. But with hellos there are inevitably goodbyes – this summer we see three members of academic staff leaving us: Nicolas Brantut, Peter Irvine and Julienne Stroeve. They are all going on to exciting pastures new and we wish them the very best of luck for the future.  

During the year we have had a number of exciting events and successes including:

• Our very first PhD Student Conference – all the PhD students gave a presentation followed by networking and socialising with staff, students and visitors. It was a fabulous event which we shall continue to hold annually.
• Our very first ES EDI Ethnic Diversity Network Culture Event which was extremely successful with ~50 people turning up to the hub space to celebrate our cultural diversity and heritage. Another event we shall continue to hold annually.
• Another first – the Women in ES Fieldtrip: 22 WiES and supporters travelled down to Perranporth for a long weekend with the most amazing weather (see the WiES article in this newsletter). Early morning yoga, sea swimming and birding was followed by geology visits to Lands End, a lavender farm, Cligga Head, Geevor coast and mine. We had unforgettable icebreakers at the beginning and an even more unforgettable cabaret at the end where all the students and staff took part – magic, traditional Chinese dancing, a slightly less traditional (I’m guessing) Chinese performance involving most of the kitchenware in the hostel, flexibility with a broom handle and lots of singing. A truly memorable weekend.
• Grant Success: we have had some major grants come into our Department already this year. Michel Tsamados  holds “Inuit-Led Adaptation to the Breakdown of Arctic Sea Ice for Community Resilience and Travel Security” worth £497k to ES. Matt Fox holds “Sensitivity of West Antarctic Icesheet to 2C Warming” worth £450k to ES and Graham Shields holds “Determining the nature and drivers of Earth's first metazoan radiation and subsequent extinction: The Cambrian 'Explosion' and Sinsk Event” worth £211k to ES. Further grants have come to the Department for Peter Irvine, Andrew Thomson, Tom Mitchell, Bridget Wade and Frances Cooper. Well done all!
• Medals and honours: congratulations to Paul Upchurch, winner of the Linnean Medal 2024, to Steve Hicks, winner of the EGU 2024 Seismology Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Prize, to Frances Cooper who is the Mineralogical Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2024-2025, and to Peter Clift who is the 2024-25 Jubilee Chair of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Finally, a massive thank you to all the staff and students in this wonderful Department who help make it the very special place that it is. With another academic year over, I wish you all a long warm summer. Or at least one that doesn’t rain every single day……

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