23 April 2019
13.00
Intel Theatre, UCD Science Hub
Our speakers:
Prof. Murray Hitzman has been Director of iCRAG and an SFI Research Professor in the UCD School of Earth Sciences since March 2018. He worked in the petroleum and minerals industries from 1976 to 1993, primarily doing mineral exploration worldwide and was largely responsible for Chevron Corporation’s Lisheen Zn- Pb-Ag deposit discovery in Ireland. Prof. Hitzman worked as a policy analyst in both the U.S. Senate for Senator Joseph Lieberman (1993-94) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (1994-96). In 1996 he was named the Fogarty Professor in Economic Geology at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and served as head of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering from 2002-07. He served as Associate Director for Energy and Minerals at the U.S. Geological Survey from 2016-17. He received the Daniel C. Jackling Award by the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) in 2015 and the prestigious Haddon Forrester King Medal by the Australian Academy of Sciences in 2016. He is considered a world authority in economic geology (mineral deposits) and has authored more than 120 scientific publications in the fields of economic geology and natural resources policy.
Maeve Boland is a Senior Geoscience and Policy Specialist, UCD/GSI, and has a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies surrounding geoscience policy. She has extensive experience in industry, academia, and policy settings. After receiving B.A. and M.Sc. degrees in Geology from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Maeve worked in petroleum and mineral exploration in the private sector, and industrial minerals at the Geological Survey of Ireland. She later received her Ph.D. in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, where she developed her policy expertise and taught multiple courses on the intersection of science and policy. Maeve served as Director of Policy at the American Geoscience Institute (2013-2018); an AAAS Executive Branch Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the USGS (2010-2012) and as the American Geophysical Union Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate (2009-2010). During her fellowships, Boland collaborated with stakeholders from Capitol Hill, the U.S. Department of Interior, the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House, and the private sector to address geoscience policy issues crucial to society.
Geertje Schuitema is a Lecturer in Consumer Behaviour and Technology Adoption at UCD’s College of Business. Prior to joining UCD, she received my MSc and PhD degrees in Social and Behavioural Sciences from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After her PhD, Geertje was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Transport Research, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom and at the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark. As a social scientist she works with scholars from many different disciplines and with industry on issues around consumer behaviour, public engagement and policy acceptance. This is evident in my active involvement in various research institutes and centres: she is a Principal Investigator in UCD’s Energy Institute, Funded Investigator of the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), Funded Investigator of the Energy Systems Integration Partnership Programme (ESIPP), Academic collaborator of the Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems Strategic (SEES) Research Cluster and Academic collaborator of the Centre for Business and Society (CeBaS).
James McAteer is an experienced geologist with a BSc in Geology and Archaeology from University College Dublin. James currently heads up geothermal research at Irish engineering consultancy, Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions (GDG). Prior to his work at GDG, James worked as a hydrogeological assistant at the Geological Survey Ireland and geologist with geothermal consultancy, GeoServ. James joined the Geothermal Association of Ireland as a committee member in 2014 where is currently the acting Secretariat. James’ work as a geologist to date has focused on in-depth research into ground source heating technologies, deep geothermal resource assessments, as well as temperature measurement and data acquisition techniques. James is currently the lead project co-ordinator for the Geothermica co-fund project ‘Geo-Urban’ assessing the geothermal potential of Dublin City and Vallés, Catalonia, Spain.