Bicentennial Conference

This flagship bicentennial event reviewed the current state of the science and demonstrated the relevance of modern-day Earth Science to many important issues of our times, as well as to fundamental knowledge.

Four parallel oral sessions over two days featured invited speakers, all international leaders in their fields, reporting on the state of the science across four broad themes. Key topics in each theme included:

1. Resources

Energy Futures
Remote sensing, exploration, sustainability
Mining aggregates, minerals

2. Environment

Built environment of London
Contaminated land
Groundwater
Spatial investigation
Applied geophysics

3. Earth and Planetary Interiors

Volcanoes, Deep magma generation, Eruptions, Hazards
Deep crustal geophysics, neotectonics

4. The Earth System

The Earth System
Geological climate change
Quaternary climate change
Hazards
Earth and Ocean systems

There were also open poster sessions and opportunities for specialist discussions.

On the third day of the meeting, a plenary session looked ahead to the future of the Earth Sciences. Distinguished speakers presented their own ideas, leading to discussions around the themes of the changing Earth System, sustainable use of non-renewable resources, and the ways in which new technologies will change our science.

While primarily a forward-looking scientific conference, the meeting was also a 200th birthday celebration. There were talks by leading historians of the science and opportunities to look back on what has been achieved.

An initiative was announced by Henry Edmundson of Schlumberger to make available the Lyell Collection, the online repository of the Geological Society's books and journals, free to teaching and research institutions in developing countries. Invaluable assistance in this work is being provided by Schlumberger and by INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications).

Careers track on day 3

At the same time, on 12 September, the QEII Centre hosted a careers fair for 1st year science undergraduates, A-level science students and GCSE students planning on studying sciences at A-level, introducing them to the prospects on offer for a career in the Earth sciences.

The purposes of the careers track were:

• To introduce university undergraduates to career options and give them the chance to talk to industry leaders about how they might gain entry into that sector
• To introduce A-Level students to university courses and possible careers in one of the many fields of Earth science, and which subjects they might need to study in order to gain a place on an Earth science course
• To introduce GCSE students to the idea of further study in science and what it could lead to

It included presentations, workshops and an exhibition running throughout the day.

Field Trips

A series of pre- and post-conference excursions visited many of the most important geological sites of the British Isles. 

We would like to thank all Bicentennial Conference sponsors for their generous support.