The five-day Karoo Groundwater and Shale Gas Workshop, concluding tomorrow (22 February), is a collaboration between the Africa Earth Observatory Network/Earth Stewardship Science Research Institute (AEON/ESSRI) and Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment.
The workshop exposes the attendant 35 graduates and postgraduate students to the challenges associated with global change and equips them with the requisite tools to look into said challenges. It provides training on the quantitative modelling of the Karoo groundwater systems using numerical methods and geospatial analysis, as well as geo-hydrological and geophysical approaches to groundwater studies.
Those in attendance include students from the Iphakade Programme – which is a collaborative Earth Science multidisciplinary and intercultural initiative building training and capacity for the next generation in science and technology aligned with national research and development strategies – that is running at various South African universities.
“The workshop provides graduates and postgraduate students from Science and the Humanities with the tools to engage with the challenges of global change, energy and water resources,” says Prof Moctar Doucouré from AEON/ESSRI.
Topics discussed at the workshop include shale gas baseline and exploration, stakeholder engagement and socio-economic challenges, numerical modelling and sustainable finance.
The guest speakers from the Queen’s University include Drs Ulrich Ofterdinger, Stefan Andreasson and Brian Johnston, and Ms Dawn Slevin. Mandela University staff involved include professors Doucouré and Christien Thiart and doctors Bastien Linol and Lucian Bezuidenhout.
Workshop presenters from Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland, Dr Ulrich Ofterdinger (second from left) and Dr Brian Johnston (fourth from left) are joined by AEON Nelson Mandela University’s Dr Bastien Linol (from left), Prof Christien Thiart, Prof Moctar Doucouré and Dr Lucian Bezuidenhout.