Due to the high incidence rate of COVID19 and difficulties in securing a suitable venue capable of supporting a hybrid event, this year’s Autumn Symposium will again be online. The event will be held via Zoom (details to be confirmed) on Friday, 26 November. We invite short talks (15 minutes) on the symposium theme of abrupt climate change. Please send abstracts (100-200 words) to gordon.bromley@nuigalway.ie no later than 18 November.
IQUA is proud to launch our new award: The Valerie Hall award for the best student or early-career researcher-led paper published by an IQUA member.
The Award is for early career researchers or postgraduate students who have written a top-quality research publication that puts Irish Quaternary science on the international stage. We hope that the award will help encourage early career researchers to consider a career in Quaternary research. One award of €250 will be given on an annual basis. Papers can be nominated by colleagues, supervisors, or other IQUA members. Nominations should be sent in writing (no more than 100 words of justification) to the IQUA secretary (Graeme Swindles – g.swindles@qub.ac.uk) for review by the IQUA executive committee before the 15th of November. The nominated paper should be attached to the email. The paper must be in the general area of Quaternary studies but does not have to be focussed on Ireland. This award is in memory of Professor Valerie Hall, who passed away in 2016. Valerie was a highly esteemed Quaternary scientist from Belfast. She began her career in botany and palynology but made a truly international mark in the field of distal tephrochronology. She was particularly supportive of PhD students and early career researchers.
The 2021 call for both the Bill Watts 14Chrono Awards and the IQUA Research Awards is now on with a deadline for application on the 15th of November.
IQUA RESEARCH AWARDS
These awards are designed to cover radiocarbon dates or laboratory fees, for instance those incurred in DNA or isotope analyses.
BILL WATTS 14CHRONO AWARDS
The Awards pay for a number of AMS radiocarbon dates for current postgraduate members of IQUA.
See our awards page for futher information and application form.
The meeting will also feature the official launch of our post primary teaching resource “Shaping the Landscape”. IQUA developed this teaching and learning resource sponsored by The Heritage Council, Geological Survey Ireland and Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. The lesson plan is the first 2nd level teaching aid for Quaternary Science in Ireland and was developed in an iterative process between teachers, geological survey staff (north and south) and IQUA committee members. The instructional aid, composed of an 8 pages of Study Notes accompanied by a 4 pages student Workbook is focused at 2nd level geography, earth science students and future undergraduates and is available to download at http://iqua.ie/outreach-and-education-resources/
The 2020 call of both the Bill Watts 14Chrono Awards and the IQUA Research Awards is now on with a deadline for application on the 18th of December.
See our awards page for futher information and application form.
On this historic day marking the retirement of Pete Coxon, the leading figure behind the organisation of the INQUA 2019 congress in Dublin 14 months ago, IQUA wishes to release the video that was produced and that highlights some of the great moments from this conference. Pete wishes to thank all people concerned with the build-up, plan and eventually the runnning of the Congress and associated fieldtrips to such a wonderful success. IQUA also wishes to thank our sponsors for the Congress; Science Foundation Ireland, Geological Survey Ireland, Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.
The IQUA Fieldtrip 2020 has been postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic situation. Several members have kindly offered to lead informal regional field meetings for interested parties, subject to individual travel arrangements in the months of September and October. Check the descriptions of the events here and contact the relevant leader to register your interest.
Note: fieldguides will not be produced and published for these excursions.
Despite our current isolation and the slow stream of IQUA related news, I am delighted to officially announce the winner of this year’s Eileen Reilly Postgraduate Research award.
Congratulations to Adrienne Foreman from NUI Galway who is currently undergoing her first year of PhD with Dr Gordon Bromley in Palaeoclimatology.
This award will allow her to expand on her research outputs and we can’t wait to hear about the results in an upcoming newsletter or spring meeting.
Best wishes to her and to you all in these troubling circumstances.
Catch up as soon as we can safely do so.
