International Cooperations
The Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) is a multidisciplinary geoscience network similar to the ABC/J Geoverbund. SAGES brings together expertise in the geosciences and environmental sciences from the Universities of Aberdeen, Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Stirling, SAMS UHI, UWS and the British Geological Survey, Scotland.
The Geoverbund ABC/J has been working with SAGES since 2016. The focus is on the development of bilateral research projects as well as postgraduate training and exchange programmes for researchers. For example, cooperation is intensively promoted through the international Staff Exchange Programme: Scientists from SAGES and the Geoverbund ABC/J can apply for financial support for research stays of several weeks in the respective partner network.
These are the exchange partners for 2024:
Nicole Richter, Junior Professor of Remote Sensing of Natural Hazards at RWTH Aachen University, and Claudia Colesie, Senior Lecturer in Plant Physiology at the University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences.
The collaboration between the Geoverbund ABC/J and SAGES makes it possible to pool these competences: As lichens are among the first species to grow on lava flows, they want to use lichens to learn more about the composition of lava flows over time. They plan to study these organisms with the help of drones and other remote sensing technologies such as hyperspectral sensors.
The two doctoral students Eva Wickert (RWTH Aachen University) and Charlotte Walshaw (University of Edinburgh) are also involved in the collaboration.
Sabolc Pap from the Environmental Research Institute at the UHI University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness and Jan Schwarzbauer, Professor of Organic Biochemistry in Geosystems at RWTH Aachen University.
Their research involves synthesising biochar by pyrolysis, analysing the quality of the biochar and testing its effectiveness in removing heavy metals.
Her research can make a decisive contribution to realising the potential of converting agricultural and plastic waste into sustainable biofuels.
Applications for the International Staff Exchange Programme 2025 are expected to be open from the end of 2024
