PETEX 2010 will incorporate the Petroleum Geoscience Research Forum, reports Adler de Wind.
Geoscientist Online 9 December 2009
The yearly international conference known as the Petroleum Geoscience Research Forum (PGRF) promotes state-of-the-art petroleum geoscience research being carried out collaboratively between industry and academia.
The aim of the annual conference has always been to bring together academic researchers and industry end-users and to provide an early-stage forum for current post-doctoral and postgraduate research. “It has always provided an excellent opportunity for industry and academia to interact, share ideas, get inspired, and to encourage and develop future collaborative research links” says Stuart Archer (University of Aberdeen). “This conference has historically also been an excellent opportunity for post-graduates to meet potential future employers and vice versa.”
In 2010, however, this will all change. “There is a strong will among both conveners and the sponsoring organisations (Petroleum Group, PESGB and AAPG) to keep this important collaboration conference alive” says Mads Huuse (University of Manchester). Joyce Neilson (Aberdeen) agrees. “There is a consensus view that the concept of a conference that focuses on the interaction between industry and academia is equally important to both communities and should definitely be continued” she says.
In an attempt to improve participation and to increase the forum’s impact and value, the Forum will be linked to the massive PETEX conference, starting this year at PETEX 2010 (Earls Court Two, November 23-25). “The Forum will retain its identity, and will run as a “conference within a conference” to continue to promote and showcase young petroleum geoscience” Chris Jackson (Imperial College) told GeoscientistOnline. But PETEX is a biennial, so in the intervening years PGRF will be free to roam to different academic institutions; a move that Stuart Archer feels neatly embodies the “crossover” nature of the Forum through the years.