Our programme for the conference is available to read or download. You can also get more help with directions to Newcastle and the university.

• Prof. Dorrik Stow (Heriot-Watt University) - Vanished Ocean: How Tethys Re-shaped the World
• Dr. Amanda Owen (Glasgow University) - Predictive fluvial models: applications, limitations and examples
• Dr. Geoffrey Abbott (Newcastle University) - The organic geochemical exploration of degraded metabolites during the early evolution of land plants.
  
• Prof. Fiona Whitaker (University of Bristol) - Meteoric diagenesis of carbonate-evaporite sequences - insights from Tertiary aquifers of Qatar

16 - 17 December 2017

Field Trip

The Carboniferous Coal Measures of the Northumberland Basin: taking coals to Newcastle - Saturday 16 December, 10.00 - 16.00

Leader: Dr Stuart Jones, Associate Professor in Sedimentology, Durham University

Details: The Carboniferous, arguably more than any system, is emblematic of northern England's geology.

Mineral resources in these strata were vital in development of Britain's Industrial Revolution. They controlled location and growth of some of our northern cities, including Newcastle.

The trip visits excellent coastal exposures of the paralic Upper Carboniferous siliciclastic sequences. These are in the Northumberland Basin.

We will identify the transition from low gradient large rivers flowing into fresh-brackish shallow interdistributary lakes as small deltaic system.

Rapid lateral thickness changes, due to differential subsidence and facies changes, played an important role in controlling channel fills and coal deposition.

The discontinuous nature of many major sandstone bodies has important implications for understanding:

• the relative position of the coals and associated facies
• hydrocarbon exploration in the Southern North Sea

We'll discuss the legacy of the coal mining in the region. We'll also look at how sedimentology knowledge is important in new regional innovations.

Cost: £25 (lunch provided)

Pick-up location: Bus leaves the layby on Claremont Road, Newcastle, next to the Great North Museum, at 10.00

Workshops

Virtual Outcrops – From Data Acquisition to Application - Sunday 17 December, 09.00 - 14.30

Leader: Professor John Howell, Chair in Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen 

Details: The course will include:

• introduction to Virtual Outcrops – what they are why we use them
• brief overview of UAVs (drones) in the Earth Sciences, uses abuses and best practice
• data collection, including location selection, survey design, setting up the UAV, acquiring images (will be based on current workflow for DJI Phantom 4 pro, but will be applicable to others)
• data processing and model building, including a practical demonstration in Agistofts Photoscan software - to include image selection, building a sparse point cloud, building a dense pointcloud, editing pointclouds, triangulating and texturing, color editing
• exporting the finished model, file formats, tile sizes etc
• working with the models – an introduction to LIME
• interpreting geology, mapping and exporting data
• pros and cons of photogrammetry vs lidar based data acquisition methods - when it works and when it doesn’t, accuracy vs precision, use of ground control points 
• publishing models to the web and sharing data
• applications and a look into the future (virtual reality and beyond)

Cost: £15 (lunch provided)

Venue: To be confirmed 

How to Write Fellowships and Grant Proposals - Sunday 17 December, 15.00 - 18.45 

Leaders: Professor Christopher Jackson, Professor Peter Talling, Dr Ian Kane, Professor Daniel Parsons, Professor Jeff Peakall

Details: This very informal workshop aims to provide encouragement and advice on writing competitive research grants and fellowships.

It will try to pass on tricks of this important trade. We welcome discussion and further contributions, including from a NERC panel perspective.

Jon Tennent will also cover Open Access publishing. This has become a nightmare of mandates, policies, and author-facing requirements and charges.

This workshop will attempt to illuminate some simple ways of navigating the OA-sphere, including how to publish freely, rapidly and efficiently.

We will also discuss some of the large-scale changes happening across the academic system in the ever evolving 'open science' landscape, and how researchers can get involved with them.

Cost: Free

Venue: Lecture Theatre, Mining Institute