What does it take to make a geophysicist?

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A&G• June 2005 • Vol. 463.7

Last autumn the British Geophys-

ical Association launched a review of the state of geophysics educa- tion in the UK with the sponsor- ship of its parent learned societies, the Royal Astronomical

Society and the Geological Soci-

ety. Aftab Khan, Peter Maguire and Christine Thomas report on the initial findings, presented at a discussion meeting at the Geolog- ical Society on 22 April by mem- bers of the Review Committee from universities, schools, the oil industry, the shallow geophysics community and the public sector.

The BGA President,

Peter Maguire

from the University of Leicester, out- lined the scope and background to the review, which is being carried out in parallel with the RAS's own review of undergraduate astronomy. Over the past few decades geophysics has emerged as an educational subject in its own right, providing graduates both for the exploration and man- agement of the planet's resources, and the understanding and mitiga- tion of natural hazards. He gave an alarming statistic: despite the univer- sity provision of excellent courses and the growing employability of graduates, the number of students entering to read for first degrees in the subject has fallen by more than

50% in the last 20 years, despite the

fact that the total number of students entering universities has been rising.

This is only partly explained by falls

of 20% (mathematics) and 40% (physics) in the number of students doing A levels. Both of these subjects are normal entry requirements for

BSc degrees in geophysics. In the

same period, the number of geo- physics MSc courses in Earth science departments in the country has reduced from five to one.Casting the net wide

The lead author of the review, Aftab

Khan , added that the rapidly declin- ing situation called for a wide-rang- ing review of all departments with degrees in the subject and detailed information on their experiences in the last 10 years was sought from all of these. In addition, short on-line questionnaires were sent to: all departments of geology, physics, archaeology and engineering that taught some aspects of the subject; employers in the oil, mining, water and environmental management industries; and present and past undergraduates. The students (40% female) were generally of excellent quality with an average A-level grade of B in both physics and mathemat-

ics. Geography was the most popularthird subject followed by geologyand chemistry. Most studentsembarked on the subject because ofscientific curiosity, without a specificcareer in mind at the start. The oilindustry was the most commonemployer, followed by IT, privatecompanies, the public sector, theenvironment, mining, teaching andresearch. Without exception, the stu-dents found their courses highlyeducative, lively and informative;they thoroughly enjoyed their time atuniversity. Their responses indicatedthat the shortage of applicants is dueto the lack of awareness in schools.They found out about geophysics intheir search for something exciting todo. Their colleagues did other thingsbecause of the lack of information,the perceived difficulty of physics andmathematics, and the demandingentry requirements.Catch them young

Stewart Bullen, who teaches science

at Hailey Hall School, described the difficulties of getting children inter- ested in science at a time when stan- dards are falling. He has been successful in generating interest through the introduction of seismol- ogy in schools. His is one of two schools that have installed seismo- graphs - with the aid of grants from the Royal Society - which have allowed them to link up with the highly successful Incorporated

Research Institutes for Seismology

schools' network in the USA. Their recordings of the Boxing Day 2004

Sumatran earthquake responsible for

the tsunami were widely reported in the press. Several European countries have a similar collaborative pro- gramme and are looking for new partners. He emphasized the need for workshops to educate teachers on the merits of using Earth examples to illustrate basic physics concepts.

Geophysics was an admirable way of

encouraging pupils to continue with physical science and mathematics to university level.

Bill Henry

, the Processing Manager of Compagnie Generale de Geo- physique, one of the major geophysi- cal contractors, gave an oil industry perspective. Companies that responded varied considerably in size, from those employing a few geo- physics graduates to those with hun- dreds. The big multinationals recruit

worldwide so it was important tocontinue producing high-qualitygraduates in the UK. The taught MScwas best known and most favoured,but the BSc and PhD were alsofavoured by many. MSci and MResdegrees were still not yet well under-stood. The skills most desired byemployers were practical and theo-retical geophysics, IT and teamwork.Other desirable skills included geo-logical and mathematical knowledge,

data handling, project management, interpersonal and field work. There were concerns about the future sup- ply of good geophysics graduates from the UK. Accreditation and charter status

John Reynolds

, Managing Director of Reynolds Geosciences Ltd and for- mer university lecturer in geophysics, gave a personal perspective from the non-oil sector, including environmen- tal, engineering, mining and archaeo- logical applications, as the responses from these areas were quite small. He indicated that multiskilled people were required by small companies and that these were acquired only after about five years from a first degree in geophysics - which was the ideal university education as it was broadly based.

The small number of expert geo-

physicists in an area in which an increasing number are required, together with the lack of understand- ing of the science by clients, leads to the need for accreditation of geo- physicists and the creation of an accepted commercial "charter" qual- ification. The universities had an important role, not only in educating a range of potential clients, but also in developing the methodology that in turn will create more job opportu- nities. The base was fragile at present and there was an urgent need for more R&D to underpin this major area of the science. There were lessons to be learnt from the increased awareness resulting from programmes like

Time Team.

Roger Clark

, director of the sole surviving MSc course based in an

Earth science department, providing

trained staff for industry at the Uni- versity of Leeds, spoke about the UK universityprovisionofuniversityedu- cation. He re-emphasized the favourable student comments about their geophysics education and bemoaned the lack of awareness in schools. The UK output of MSc grad-

uates has dropped by 50% since1990,whenthefirstofthefivecoursesclosed. Each time a course closed, thetotal number of students undertakingsuch courses fell, the remaining onesnot taking up the reduction. The clo-sure of the courses undoubtedly hasresulted in fewer geophysics MScgraduates entering the job market.This is cause of some anxiety in theindustry as these MSc courses pro-vided a safety net for good physicistswhoonlyfoundoutaboutgeophysicswhile doing physics degrees.

Russ Evans

, the Head of Discipline in Geophysics and Marine Geoscience at the British Geological Survey (BGS), is also the Managing Editor of theGeophysical Journal Interna- tional , the prime research journal in the field outside the USA. He used the

BGS as a forward-looking case study

of a huge public sector organization with more than 500 geoscientists and a range of thematic programmes requiring geophysicists for 3-D inves- tigations and concepts including imaging, visualization and GIS. He identified flexibility, responsiveness, problem solving, team working and the ability to change and be re-edu- cated as desirable features. BSc, MSc and PhD graduates all have roles.

Again there were anxieties about the

future supply of good graduates.Discussion

A wide-ranging discussion followed,

on topics including MSc course reviews, the effect of the RAE on graduate and undergraduate teach- ing, increasing numeracy education in school for scientific as well as busi- ness careers, the need for representa- tives from universities and industry to liaise with school teachers, getting more geophysics (including oceans and atmospheres) into the schools' curricula, workshops for schools, promotion by the research councils, the ambassador scheme, etc.

It was clear that there is an urgent

need to improve awareness in schools in several ways beyond the means of university and industry staff. The need for a schools liaison officer to coordinate these activities was identi- fied. It was also clear that the decline in the university provision at the BSc/

MSci and taught MSc level should be

arrested while efforts are being made to improve the situation.

Work on the Review is still in

progress and it is expected that the final report will be presented in the late summer.?Anyone with an interest in the sub- ject who has not yet contributed information or opinions is encour- aged to do so to Prof. Khan at mak@le.ac.uk.

What does it take to make a geophysicist?

Geophysics students foundtheir courses highlyeducative, lively andinformative; they thoroughlyenjoyed university

The small number of expert

geophysicists leads to the need for accreditation of

geophysicistsDownloaded from https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/46/3/3.7/229291 by guest on 29 June 2023