Geology for Global Development

New GfGD University Groups

Over the past month we’ve been working with students at the University of Durham and Camborne School of Mines (University of Exeter) to establish and launch new GfGD University Groups. These groups will join our existing network of groups, based in Cambridge, Imperial College, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, Plymouth, Southampton, UCL and Trinity College Dublin.

University Groups are an opportunity for those with a passion in geoscience and development to meet together and pursue this interest. Each group is run by GfGD Ambassadors, an excellent group of students working hard to promote the groups and organise events. In addition to seminars, film nights and discussion groups (just some of the events our groups have run), they also offer members the chance to get involved in the wider work of GfGD – finding out about placements and conferences.

Each of our groups is at a different stage of development, some of them are very new just getting of the ground and others have been around since the early days of our work in 2011. Your support of our groups is very important. Here are a few ways you can get involved:

  • Seminar Speakers: If you are based in any of the above locations, and think you could give a seminar based on the application of geoscience to development contexts please do get in touch and we will link you with the group Ambassadors.
  • Film Suggestions/Discussion Groups – If you have any ideas of films that students could watch, and supplementary discussion questions, leave your suggestions in the comments section below or via our online form.
  • If you are an alumni of one of the above universities, and are currently working in development (this could be industry, government, NGOs…) why not consider working with us to develop a placement/shadowing scheme. A one week opportunity for a geoscience student to better understand the sector, skills involved and how to get there. If you think this is something that you could help support our groups with, then again, get in contact to find out more.
Joel is the Founder/Director of Geology for Global Development (@Geo_Dev) an organisation working to support geologists to make a sustainable contribution to the fight against global poverty. He is an interdisciplinary researcher, with a PhD in geography (natural hazards), and research interests in multi-hazard frameworks, disaster risk reduction, rural water projects, and sustainable development. This work has taken him to Chile, China, Guatemala, India, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Joel is currently based at the British Geological Survey, and tweets at @JoelCGill.