Geoscientist 21.04 May 2011
Rob Butler writes: In February 2011 over 200 students from across northern Britain gathered at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh for a one-day conference to explore career opportunities. A run of 10 talks largely by early-career scientists and a Q&A session chaired by Stuart Monro supported an exhibition by employers, societies and an array of university departments promoting higher degree programmes.
Maureen Traquair of OPITO, the Oil and Gas Academy, outlined the career opportunities in the sector, before a series of presentations by early career scientists. Employment in the UK oil and gas industry is highly dispersed, with relatively few in the major corporations compared with smaller oil companies, consultancies and service providers. This was reflected in presentations by Hannah Suttill (BP), Adrian Rankin (Fugro Robertson), David Tierney and Dan Campanile (Getech), Pat Coole (Neftex) and Jenny Ellis (Midland Valley Ltd.).
After lunch, presentations by Charlotte Vye (BGS) and Alex Brasier (Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre) covered research careers. The final talks provided a glimpse of engineering geology. Sarah Walker (Scotland Transerv) and Jessica Smith (Transport Research Laboratory) spoke of their work helping keep Scotland’s transport network working.
The event, co-badged by the Geological Society and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, was sponsored by BP and Fugro Robertson. It is set to become a regular feature of the Scottish calendar, with the next scheduled for 23 November 2011.