GSA Earth Sciences Student Symposium November 2018
A chance for Earth and Marine Science students from Tasmania to get together and discuss their research in a welcoming and fun environment!
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At GESSS-TAS we're hoping to help earth and marine scientists build relationships and develop skills to stay strong in a turbulent world. For some this is the first conference you attend in your academic career and we are excited to see what you've been doing and help you find your way.
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We want to help you showcase your research to the broader academic, government and industry communities.
The Conference
What is GESSS-TAS?
16th November 2018
8:30 am
The student-run, student-focussed, GSA Earth Sciences Student Symposium of Tasmania (GESSS-TAS) will be held on the 16th of November, 2018, in the Earth Sciences precinct of the University of Tasmania's Sandy Bay Campus.
Convened by Earth and Marine Science students from the University of Tasmania (UTAS), the symposium will provide students with a unique opportunity to be the stars of the show, promoting themselves and their interests and talents to prospective employers, mentors, academic supervisors and fellow students in a variety of fields. This conference is an initiative of the Geological Society of Australia’s (GSA) Governing Council, the Tasmania Division of the GSA, and UTAS postgraduate students, and we hope it will be widely attended by appreciators of water, rock, the environment, and life. We aspire for this conference to benefit students at all levels by providing broader exposure to other Earth Science sub-disciplines, as well as providing examples of good scholarly research and project management.
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Abstracts, posters and talks are invited from students at all levels, covering topics that include tectonics and structural geology, geochemistry, geophysics and remote sensing, environmental sciences, oceanography, biogeochemistry, climate systems, petrology, and economic geology.
Abstract submissions close October 19th 2018
Participants
80
Topics
8
Sessions
3
Speakers
12
Speakers
We are hosting Mark Curran and Jacquelin Halpin as keynote speakers at the conference.
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Mark Curran
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In 1996, Dr Mark Curran completed his PhD at James Cook University in North Queensland on Biogenic sulphur compounds in the Great Barrier Reef and Southern Ocean. Dr Curran relocated to Hobart and embarked on a career in ice core chemistry moving from taking water samples in the Tropics to taking ice core samples in the Antarctic. Dr Curran’s continued interest in sulphur resulted in a publication on reconstructing sea ice from sulphur in ice cores (Curran et al., Science, 2003). Today he leads the ice core research group at the Australian Antarctic Division and ACE CRC, which he has been involved with for just short of 25 years. The overall theme of his research is reconstruction of climate records from chemical measurements of Antarctic ice cores. Dr Curran has 94 peer reviewed publications and has been involved in over 18 polar expeditions to both Antarctica and Greenland. He is the chief investigator of the Aurora Basin North ice core project which involves 17 institutions and more than 50 scientists across the world (Australia, Denmark, France, USA, Germany and China). Dr Curran has given invited talks around the world on his research including Young Scientist, Italy (2003), Gordon Research conference, USA (2005), NIPR, Japan (2006), Uni Maine, USA (2008), PAGES, Switzerland, (2012); Uni Venice, Italy (2015), East China Normal University, Shanghai, China (2018).
Jacqueline Halpin
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Dr Jacqueline Halpin completed her PhD at Sydney University in 2007 on the geological evolution of the 1 billion year old Rayner Complex of East Antarctica. She joined the University of Tasmania in 2007, first with the Discipline of Earth Sciences and CODES (2007-2015), and is currently a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS). Jacqueline’s research explores tectonic cycles of continental amalgamation and dispersal, providing a window into the Earth’s changing shape over billions of years. Her work involves both field exploration and laboratory-based analytical methods, with expertise in geochronology (age dating of rocks and timing/rates of tectonic processes), metamorphic analysis (decoding pressure-temperature conditions recorded in the Earth's crust) and geochemistry (tracking the chemical and isotopic evolution of the continents). Jacqueline has contributed to many fascinating insights into global tectonics including the evolution of mountain belts and basins, microcontinents, oceans and atmosphere, early life, and precious mineral deposits. She is now focussed on Antarctica, working with other geoscientists to probe the subglacial frontier “terra incognita” and partnering with glaciologists to better understand the forcings and feedbacks between the Antarctic continent and the overlying ice sheet.
Peter McGoldrick
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Like many geologists, Peter McGoldrick believes he is a time lord and during 65 years of existence he has had a few incarnations! In recent years he has been searching for eukaryotes in the mid-Proterozoic. His early version grew up in Melbourne in the fifties and sixties (1968 was particularly significant). Peter first learnt something about rocks and fossils at Melbourne University. Somewhat ironically fossils were taught by fossils, which curtailed an interest in palaeontology. He spent a number years in Reid Keays’ lab performing radiochemical neutron activation analysis (whatever that was?) and eventually left Melbourne Uni in 1986 with a PhD on the famous Mt Isa deposits and a young family. After meeting Ross Large in a pub he was exiled to Van Dieman’s Land for two years studying Cambrian sea floor (or not) massive sulphides. Escaping to Kalgoorlie to warm up Peter worked for the GSWA mapping Archean greenstones in the Eastern Goldfields for several years. In 1991 Ross lured him back to Hobart with a two year contract offer and a chance to (again) work on zinc deposits in Queensland! Perhaps due to a clerical error, two years became 23 years until UTas stopped paying him in 2014. Since then he has been a University Research Associate with interests in gardening, football and the biogeochemistry of mid-Proterozoic seafloor low temperature vent systems (sometimes aka sedex Zn deposits).
Sponsors
So far, we must say a big thank you for the financial support pledged from the Antarctic Gateway Partnership (AGP), University of Tasmania, Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences (CODES), Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC), The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) Tasmania Branch, GHD, Newcrest Mining Limited, Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT), and IMEx Consulting. We would also like to thank the Lapidary Club of Tasmania for their generous donation of giveaways and prizes.
Registration
Registration is now CLOSED! Thank you to all those who have registered this year. See you Friday!
Abstract submissions
Submissions are invited from all disciplines within the fields of earth, ocean, atmospheric and environmental sciences. We are seeking research that you are particularly proud of, and work that can benefit other students through sharing of your process, findings, and experience. We also welcome submissions from research professionals and academics, particularly of past work presented at other conferences that showcase your own method/process and development as a successful researcher.
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If you are interested in participating, please email gesss.abstracts.tas@gmail.com with your abstracts before October 19, 2018.
