Honoured to have been nominated for vice-president of an organisation as dedicated to her mission and members, I firmly believe that EAGE must continue to lead and represent geoscientists and engineers as we navigate through Energy Transition and turbulent geopolitical times.

Since my MSc graduation as geophysicist, I have derived great benefits from my EAGE membership, especially from participating in technical workshops and from sharing my work. Therefore, I am keen to reduce barriers to participation in EAGE events and publications, continually assessing whether we meet the needs of our members and the wider public. Having completed an exciting “career transition” from Oil & Gas to New Energy, I am a strong advocate of such a move, which has been very rewarding and has provided me with a wider perspective on the Energy Transition.

Although challenges, questions and issues regarding climate and environment, security of energy supply, and energy independence are global in nature, respective solutions are to be implemented typically at a local-regional scale. EAGE actively encourages respectful debate and provide platforms of knowledge sharing between these regions and across scientific disciplines, thus “breaking down the silos”. On the other hand, local communities, potential operators and policy makers from local to national level require unbiased and objective data and advise from organizations like EAGE to make well-informed decisions about our common energy future and to build business cases for New Energy developments and smart Energy System Integration.

For the nearest future, I am committed to concentrate my energy on several key topics that are currently resonating throughout the energy industry:

• Establish an active and growing New Energy community, reflected by our events, publication portfolio
  and EAGE education programmes, thus expanding the role of geosciences and engineering in meeting
  environmental and energy transition challenges and climate goals.
• Promote diversity and engagement at local to regional levels, in particular the inclusion of more women
  in geosciences & engineering and young professionals seeking a role in the New Energy industry.
• Stimulate the “repurposing” and transfer of existing geophysical datasets, geological knowledge,
  subsurface technologies and best practices, and G&G skillsets & people towards the New Energy realm.
• Build bridges between our EAGE Near-Surface, Oil & Gas, and New Energy communities.
• Finding the right balance between larger-scale EAGE conferences, smaller local-regional platforms, and
  (hybrid) remote session delivery to maximize inclusion of all members and minimize travelling. Collaboration with other organisations in this arena is needed to avoid “fragmentation” of events.

I see that all EAGE communities and its members have a role to play to help shape our future; oil-and-gas operators and service companies are set to fuel the Energy Transition through their knowledge of the subsurface, E&P technologies, people and experience. The Oil & Gas sector has historically been defined by adaption and innovation. Technological advances, new energies and recently digital breakthroughs have constantly and at times fundamentally transformed every stage of the industry. From my technical perspective, what has worked for Oil & Gas typically should work for New Energy as we are investigating the same subsurface, a shared Earth, regardless whether we are de-risking CCS operations, exploring for untapped gas reserves, evaluating subsurface energy storage options, imaging geothermal reservoirs or interpreting salt domes for nuclear waste storage.

Within Near-Surface communities, the mining sector is challenged to provide the vast quantities of raw material required for Energy Transition. For offshore New Energy developments, large-scale infrastructure associated with complex energy system integration requires site characterization surveys that evaluate the impact of seafloor and sub-seafloor conditions on installation, operation, and structural integrity (and vice-versa).

The Near Surface community thus helps connecting the deeper subsurface to the surface, ensuring safe operations and mitigating “not in my back yard” resistance of local communities towards increasingly proximal New Energy operations.

In conclusion, the energy environment needs to quickly transform toward more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives, into an energy mix as diverse as our EAGE members.

I am looking forward to take on this
challenge and great opportunity.