As other Australian universities cut back their Earth Science faculties, UNE's geologists and palaeontologists are digging in to give the University's geosciences a platform, and prominence.
The result is Litholab UNE (lith = related to rock or stone) or LLUNE, a brand that gives a shared voice to a diverse group of UNE researchers and their work.
LLUNE, on Twitter and Instagram under the handle @litholab_une, is both an identity and a community, says UNE palaeontologist and geologist Dr Marissa Betts.
"We're looking for a way to communicate with students and the community about what we do here at UNE," Dr Betts said.
"We have an outstanding group of researchers who produce world-class science across a range of geosciences. Litholab provides us with a way to tell stories about the work of our individual scientists, but to give all that work a collective identity and provide a hub for us to connect with our students."
Most of UNE's geology students study online, and most—90%—go into industry after they graduate, Geology lecturer Dr Luke Milan observed.
"A percentage have already had a career in the industry and are looking to upskill and do something different," said Dr Milan, who has been involved in the mining industry in the past. "We have the flexibility to work with them online or on-campus, depending on their priorities."
As a researcher, Dr Milan studies plate tectonics to understand Earth's dynamic processes and geological evolution. A UNE colleague, Dr Tim Chapman, also investigates big tectonic events, with a particular interest in the formation of rocks deep in the earth.
Dr Betts's work embraces geology and palaeoentology, with a focus on using fossils to date rock strata and development of the geological timescale.
All carry forward a torch that was lit for UNE geosciences 82 years ago, when legendary geologist Alan Voisey was appointed Lecturer-in-Charge of Geology and Geography at UNE College (the precursor to UNE) in 1939. Voisey became Foundation Professor of Geology when UNE became an independent university in 1954, and went on to found the geosciences faculty at Macquarie University — one of the earth sciences faculties gutted by recent university cost-cutting.
Voisey, his staff and students subsequently undertook important geological mapping of the New England region, which preserves about half-a-billion years of Earth's history across its gorges and plateaus. Much of that mapping is still in use.
More recently, UNE's Palaeoscience Research Centre has under Professor John Paterson become the largest and most diverse palaeontological research group in Australia.
Prof. Paterson and Dr Betts are scientific advisors on a World Heritage bid for South Australia's Flinders Ranges. The bid is underpinned by work undertaken by Dr Betts for her doctorate, and draws on more than 15 years of other studies by Prof. Paterson and colleagues.
Until now, these and the other diverse projects undertaken by UNE's geosciences researchers have been known within the specialist fields they occupy, but seldom gained wider publicity.
Through Litholab, the researchers hope to show the breadth of the earth sciences at UNE, and to give it a much wider audience.
Make sure to get your ticket to next week’s Sci-Flicks event at the Belgrave Cinema featuring geoscience-themed action blockbuster San Andreas, with a talk and Q+A from Dr. Luke Milan. Listen to the LLUNE team talk about their research, teaching geoscience at UNE and about the upcoming Sci-Flicks event on TuneFM, and catch the special series of interviews with Drs Milan, Chapman and Betts on the geoscience podcast Gneiss Chats.
