Geoscientist Online

President’s Awards, 2016

The President’s Awards for 2016 are made to Huw Clarke, Cuadrilla Resources, for his contribution to the interpretation of seismicity associated with shale gas exploration; and Ann Rowan, University of Sheffield, for her contribution to geomorphology in glaciated terranes.   

Congratulations to both Huw and Ann. They will be presented with their awards on President’s Day - see details below.

Election results

A total of 1718 valid votes were cast for the seven vacancies on Council. The election was conducted by Electoral Reform Services and where the voting was close the numbers were confirmed by a recount (*). The results are as follows:

Sarah Gordon                  869 (50.5%)

Jason Canning                 720 (41.9%)

Alexander Whittaker      666 (38.8%)

Sheila Peacock                637 (37.0%)

Naomi Jordan                  633 (36.8%)

Robert Larter                  607 (35.3%)

Nicholas Reynolds           596 (34.7%)*

Teresa Ceraldi                 595 (34.6%)*

John Talbot                     593 (34.5%)*

Stuart Jones                    570 (33.2%)

Chiara Petrone                 514 (29.9%)

Simon Neale                    480 (27.9%)

Richard Collier                 464 (27.0%)

Daniel Le Heron               462 (26.9%)

Toby Strauss                   421 (24.5%)

Jack Matthews                 335 (19.5%)

Toby Hopkins                  326 (19.0%)

The seven candidates receiving the most votes (bold) will go forward to the Annual General Meeting on 8 June 2016 for election as Council members.

Notification of Officers for 2016/2017

At the AGM Fellows will be asked to elect the following members of Council as Officers for 2016/17: 

President: Mr Malcolm Brown. Vice-Presidents: Mr Chris Eccles, Mr Keith Seymour. Secretaries: Miss Liv Carroll, Dr Marie Edmonds, Dr Colin North. Secretary, Foreign & External Affairs: Mr Michael Young; Treasurer: Mr Graham Goffey.

President’s Day

President’s Day at Burlington House on 8 June will begin with the Annual General Meeting (11.00) followed by a buffet lunch with the award winners (members with ticket only – £27.50/head). As in previous years, the recipients of the major medals have been invited to give short talks; thus the Awards Ceremony will be followed by presentations from Lyell, Murchison, William Smith and Wollaston medallists (details below). The timetable for President’s Day and the agenda for the AGM are also below.

To obtain luncheon tickets please send cheques (made payable to The Geological Society) to Stephanie Jones at Burlington House, or email [email protected].  Please also contact Stephanie if you wish to attend the afternoon events, for which there is no charge.

Timetable

11.00               Annual General Meeting (members only)

12.30               Lunch with the Award winners (members with tickets only)

14.00               Awards Ceremony

15.15               Talks by Lyell, Murchison and William Smith medallists

16.30               Tea

17.00               Talk by Wollaston Medallist

17.30               President’s closing remarks

17.40 – 19.30    Drinks reception

AGM Agenda

• Apologies
• Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 3 June 2015
• Appointment of Scrutineers for the ballots for Council and Officers
• Ballot for Council
• Annual Report and Accounts for 2015
• President’s Report
• Secretaries’ Reports
• Treasurer’s Report
• Comments from Fellows
• Formal acceptance of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2015 and approval of the Budget for 2016
• Annual Fellowship subscriptions for 2017
• Deaths
• Report of Scrutineers on the ballot for Council
• Ballot for Officers
• Appointment of Auditors
• Report of Scrutineers on the ballot for Officers
• Election of new Fellows
• Any other business
• Provisional date of next Annual General Meeting

Meeting closes

Talks by senior medallists

• Lyell Medal: John Underhill – Chair of Exploration Geoscience, Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University: The need for and increasing role of forensic geosciences and visualisation in accurately characterising the subsurface
• Murchison Medal: Jon Blundy – Professorial Research Fellow in Petrology, University of Bristol): The mute testimony of volcanic crystals and what we can learn about the build up to eruptions
• William Smith Medal: Michael de Freitas – Distinguished Research Fellow, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College:Homage to William Smith: aspects of recent research

• Wollaston Medal: Susan Brantley – Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University: Exploring the critical zone: Where rocks meet life

Annual Fellowship subscriptions for 2017

Council agreed in April 2015 that Fellowship fee increases would be linked to the rate of Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) as measured in February of each year.  The increase for 2016 was 0%, based upon a zero CPI rate rise as at February 2015.  The CPI figure for February 2016 was 0.3%.  

The Finance & Planning committee recommended to Council not to increase Fellowship fees for 2017 on the basis that the total increase in the Society’s fee income by applying this formula was minimal, that even a small rise would be unwelcome to those Fellows affected by the economic downturn in the extractive industries; and that in future years it may be necessary to increase fees above the rate provided by this formula. 

At its meeting on 6 April Council agreed to recommend to the Fellowship for approval at the Annual General Meeting the subscription rates for 2017 shown below.