Hazel Napier is a geographer working at the British Geological Survey. Her work connects people with geology, and especially how geology can help society achieve net zero emissions. When not at work she enjoys walking with her dog in the hills. You can contact Hazel on Twitter: @BritGeoSurvey
Originally a geographer, I started work at the British Geological Survey (BGS) in 1995 as a spatial software (GIS*) specialist. It feels like a long time ago now. My career has changed over the years and, in 2014, I took on a new role as the geoscience and society lead for BGS. The purpose of this role was — and still is — to look at different subjects outside geoscience and see how BGS might collaborate with them. This, of course, covers a huge range topics, but my focus has been largely on social sciences, creative arts and humanities. I work across the whole of BGS science, but the subject that really excites me is the energy transition to net zero, and the role that geoscience is playing in this move.
Why Geoscientists need to reach out and connect
Climate change is scary for many, but what if we could show that there is some hope too, and that geoscience can give us that hope? One way of doing this is to join with researchers from other subjects to explore how we can share our geoscience research with the wider public. How can geoscience play a role in helping the country move to net zero; for example, through renewable geothermal energy, by locking away carbon dioxide underground, or by finding natural resources that support net zero, such as lithium for car batteries? Some of these are new and unfamiliar technologies so we need ways of understanding different people’s views to communicate our research more effectively. One of the best parts of my job at BGS is to show why it’s important to share interesting topics and explore questions about research with the public. My motivation is to get people talking about geoscience and to investigate how a greater understanding of geoscience can shape how they engage with climate action. .
Combining art and science
One of my more unusual recent collaborations was with the Hot Poets project led by Liv Torc, a spoken-word artist and poet, and Chris Redmond, artistic director of Tongue Fu poetry. This fantastic experience involved working with the poet Francesca Beard. Francesca spoke to a number of BGS scientists and created a brilliant poem, “Geology Rocks!”, which focusses on how geoscience is contributing to research on climate change and was released at the climate conference COP26. There were 12 poems across the project, written with 12 different partners, all presented during the 12 days of the climate conference.
A larger activity that is currently in development involves a team of BGS scientists and collaborators from 17 universities, focussed on the deep geological storage of carbon dioxide for climate change mitigation. We are working to explore how social science, arts and humanities can be brought together with geoscience, engineering and information technologies to provide a more joined-up approach. As a group, we are thinking about how community engagement, culture and heritage may impact how people feel about new energy developments and the energy transition.
Translating across subjects
I have no formal training in working across different subject areas. This meant that when I started my role, I had to rely on meeting new people and listening to what they had to say, as well as trying to work out how to bring together researchers who might not normally connect with each other. I have met so many interesting and inspiring people from across BGS and from many UK universities, at all stages of their careers. Connecting them with our geoscience and finding ways of working together has been a fascinating experience.
There are, however, challenges of working in this way. Don’t get me wrong, these are great challenges to have – they make you think more deeply about how we work and what we do and how it connects with people and their lives — but they are challenges! Researchers from different subject areas often speak different research ‘languages’; terms are different or can have different meanings. The very diverse arts, humanities and social science community may collect, analyse, and present information differently to how a geologist would. Bringing these activities together as part of an integrated piece of work isn’t always straightforward.
I’m glad to say that the value of working across subject areas is increasing in recognition, and over the course of my job, I am seeing more and more colleagues interested in making these sorts of connections, and supporting the projects we develop. Alongside this, there is notable difference in the value of – and career opportunities for – people like me who work across or connect disciplines.
Public engagement and working across multiple subject areas can enrich geoscience by exploring new ways of talking about our topic and unlocking new types of research that enable us to approach challenges in a new and exciting way.
*Geographic Information Systems, fancy software that links data and locations in interactive maps
Feature image: Science or art? An image of the immense Terminos Lagoon, Campeche (Mexico), the entrance to which is protected by a long barrier island, Isla Del Carmen: Photo by USGS on Unsplash