Lyceum 2021 | Together Towards Tomorrow
Graham Grant, CEO of Seequent gives a historical and future-looking perspective on the world of geoscience, its importance and significance and Seequent’s place in it.
Together (with BSY) Towards Tomorrow! from Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems. Greg shares his perspective on advancing infrastructure and the importance of the subsurface through digital transformation to guide us Together Towards Tomorrow.
Keynote from Professor Chris Jackson: As humankind faces the most urgent climate and resource challenges in modern history, we ask how we can best harness, develop and apply individual and collective knowledge, skills and wisdom across the geosciences, to these problems. Professor Chris Jackson, Chair of Sustainable Geoscience, University of Manchester, joins us to debate and explore these issues, together with what can and should be done to ensure a better future for all.
Overview
Speakers
Graham Grant
CEO, Seequent
Christopher Jackson
Chair in Sustainable Geoscience, University of Manchester
Greg Bentley
CEO, Bentley Systems
James Lowrey
Executive Director, Commodity Finance, SMBC Bank
Duration
40 min
See more Lyceum content
Lyceum 2021Video Transcripts
Transcript:
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(stirring electronic music)
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<v ->Did you know that in 1815,</v>
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the first geological map of an entire country
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was created by one William Smith.
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He’s known as the father of geology,
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he was in fact a surveyor.
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Now what Smith discovered
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was that he could order the chronology of rocks
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using fossils as a guide,
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and as a consequence, he was nicknamed Strata.
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Now William Strata Smith’s map
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was so innovative and so profound
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that it became known as the map that changed the world.
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Last year, an original of that map came here to New Zealand,
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and it’s massive, size of a boardroom table,
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and frankly a beautiful piece of art.
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So there we go.
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The history of 3D geological models and visualization
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tracing back over 200 years.
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Hello, and kia ora.
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Welcome to Lyceum 2021,
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my name is Graham, and I’m the CEO of Seequent,
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and our theme this year is Together Towards Tomorrow.
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And over the next three days,
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we are going to unpack this theme.
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And I trust that you will learn,
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that you will contribute and collaborate.
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But more importantly,
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you will be encouraged and be inspired.
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In the next 10 minutes, you will hear from Chris Jackson,
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he is a thought-provoking geoscientist,
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who spans across commercial and academic fields,
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and I trust that you will walk away
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also challenged and inspired.
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So from 200 years ago, let’s come to 20 years ago.
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The time at which Seequent was emerging
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with implicit modeling in the mining industry.
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Through that phase, we’ve seen
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the evolution and specialization of the earth scientist,
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from the early pure scientists and surveyors like Smith,
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we’ve seen the development
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of the specialist earth scientist.
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So the engineering geologist, structural geologist,
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the geostatistician, the geotechnical engineer,
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the geochemist, and so the list goes on and on.
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And these deep specialisms
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all underpin the roles and activities
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of many other professions.
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Which includes: zoologists, climate planners,
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regulators, even bankers, lawyers, and others in industry.
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What’s become very clear through that time,
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is how critical it is to understand the intersection
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between below ground, and the activities above ground,
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in our industries, societies, and communities.
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One observation I would make,
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that as we’ve specialized in the earth sciences,
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you might say that somewhat regretfully,
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that we’ve become more disconnected, rather than connected.
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Okay, so from 200 years to 20 years,
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let’s look back and summarize the last two.
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The message we hear from our users is very clear,
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they are wrestling with very complex subsurface problems,
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with increasingly higher expectations
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on them as professionals, and what they need is more tools,
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and they need those tools joined up,
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so they can triangulate in on problems
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and produce more effective decisions
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and more effective outcomes.
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So what have we been doing at Seequent?
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Well, on the tool side, we’ve had a lot join our family.
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We’ve had gravity and magnetic geophysics join
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through Geosoft.
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We’ve had geo-technical numerical analysis join
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through GEOSLOPE.
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We’ve had electrical methods geophysics join
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through AGS, from Denmark.
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Field image data capture in the cloud, through IMAGO.
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And finally, field data management and operational data
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with Minalytix, again, all in the cloud.
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But the story goes on.
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In the last short time, we’ve seen the migration
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of all of Bentley’s sub-surface, geotechnical,
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numerical analysis and information management technology
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come to join the Seequent family, and now,
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collectively we have arguably
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the largest portfolio in the world.
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All the while,
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we’ve been seeking to connect these up through central.
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And as you’ll learn here at Lyceum,
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increasingly through our new platform, Evo.
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This has been a time of rapid evolution and of rapid change,
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and you might say to some degree, Seequent has come of age.
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We’ve reached a critical mass of scale
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that we now believe we’re a force in the subsurface,
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and frankly, we do not intend slowing down.
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Let’s take a look
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at what putting our foot to the gas looks like,
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over the next year.
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It’s all about connecting.
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Our users want things connected together.
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And then the technology moved out of the way.
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So they can get on and do what they need to do,
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as opposed to what they are forced to do.
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It’s all about time, and time is our enemy.
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So, what you can expect to see from us.
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Open APIs and new workflows.
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The connection into subsurface IOT for model monitoring.
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The evolution of machine learning to remove mundane tasks,
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and frankly just speed things up.
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Radical increases in computational speed.
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Connecting together geosciences in new ways,
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to enable new problems to be solved.
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And product innovations that will surprise.
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We have worked incredibly hard
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to get to the position we’re in,
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and for your sake, we do not intend stepping back.
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Now I’d like to look out into the future,
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where we face a vast array of challenges.
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Let me just give you three examples.
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We’re looking at global scale energy transition,
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as we look to change the way
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that we power and heat ourselves.
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The demand for resilient, safe,
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and sustainable infrastructure.
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And the demand for key mineral resources
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to underpin the growth of our economies and sustainability.
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In fact, if you look across
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all of the UN’s 17 sustainability goals.
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You can see that the majority of them
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require the geoscientist for their success.
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But as I look through these challenges,
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I see one thread pulling through.
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And that is, as I turn the pages of the media each day,
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I see an outlook that’s continually negative
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and a forecast that’s gloom.
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And I think that plays to a very human frailty we all have,
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which was a bias that we place far greater weight
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on things that are uncertain, and of concern,
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than things that are certain,
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and would give us cause for optimism.
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And I would challenge their point of view,
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in fact, the data would tell us
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that we’re doing a whole lot better than we may think.
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Some would say that we’re arguably
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the most blessed generation in the history of the world.
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Let’s look at two examples.
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50 years ago, 60% of the world’s population
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was defined as being in poverty.
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Today, that’s 10%, and all the while the world’s population
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has grown 2.5 times.
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I think that’s a miracle we should talk about.
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Now, over that same period, that same 50 years,
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the land area required to produce one unit of food
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has shrunk by 70%.
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And yet, notable forecasters of the day,
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were of the view that the world would run out of food
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by the year 2000.
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In fact, I remember that message when I was at school.
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So what went wrong?
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Or rather, what went right?
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And there’s one thing that those forecasters all forgot,
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and that was the power of human creativity and innovation.
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The compound effect of 1% at a time,
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working together, all on the edge.
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It was not a collective effort,
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it was not an effort by governments,
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it was the power of individuals connecting things together
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in ways that we would not expect.
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And that gives me cause for great optimism.
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So we’ve proven the power of technology for good.
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If we just think differently, act differently,
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and connect things together
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in ways that people may not have expected.
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I mean, who would have thought 3D geological modeling
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from medical sciences technology?
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Extracting critical battery minerals
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from the brine of an expired tin mine?
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Or extracting heat for homes and industry
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from old oil wells?
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These things are underway.
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Now, of course, we’ve got many challenges in front of us.
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We’re dealing with access to minerals.
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Resilient infrastructure
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Climate.
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The care and maintenance of our water resources.
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Of sustainability, accountability, and greater transparency.
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But while these forecasters would forecast doom,
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what I see is that role of the geoscientist,
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bringing innovation and light to these challenges,
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and I think that, frankly, is worth celebrating,
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and that’s why we are here.
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I think there has never been a better time
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to be in the geosciences.
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Now is your time.
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And Seequent is here to step up
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and help you spawn new ideas,
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to connect things together, and to innovate on the edge.
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So let’s get out there,
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all of us, together, towards tomorrow.
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(poignant electronic music)
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(stirring electronic music)
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( Adventurous music)
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<v ->Good morning, afternoon, evening everybody.</v>
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My name is James Lowry.
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It is my pleasure to introduce this keynote session,
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for Lyceum 2021.
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Today we have a dynamic and outstanding guest speaker,
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Professor Chris Jackson,
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Chair of Sustainable Geoscience University of Manchester.
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Welcome Chris.
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<v ->Hi James.</v>
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It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
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<v ->Lyceum 2021 is to focus on Together Towards Tomorrow.</v>
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We’re going to explore some of the global issues
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facing society and businesses Today and Tomorrow.
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I’d like to start with Together.
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Geoscience is a field that’s often referred to
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as a board church of many disciplines.
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How do we harness the knowledge, skills,
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and wisdom and the field to advance the science
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and address some of the issues we’re facing today
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and for the future?
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<v ->Yes, I think it’s important to recognize</v>
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the kind of history of Geoscience is a discipline.
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It is a melting pot of a lot of different,
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formerly defined scientific disciplines like:
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Biology, Chemistry, Maths, and Physics.
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So we are a, naturally almost by design,
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multidisciplinary subject.
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And therefore, bringing people together to work
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towards these complicated problems,
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is almost within the DNA of Geosciences as a discipline.
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What’s interesting when we think about geoscience
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often in the professional realm, however,
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is that we often then resilo different bits
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of the underlying activity.
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So Geochemistry may be in one department,
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Geophysics might be in another department,
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the geologists…..
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So we have this disperse structure.
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So it’s important to recognize
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that it’s in our blood to work together
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and leverage the wisdom and the knowledge
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from different skillsets, to solve complicated problems.
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And that bringing people together
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would be useful, in a corporate sense, as well.
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<v ->And with so many different fields,</v>
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you have a diversity of thought and backgrounds
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and creativity and ideas coming through there.
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<v ->Yeah. And I think rooted in all of those</v>
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disciplines is still, you know,
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a very formal quantitative approach
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to defining a problem and
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then putting in place an experimental scheme
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that will allow us to answer that problem.
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And then the reporting of it.
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So whether it’s Math, Physics, Chemistry, or Biology,
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they all share that in common.
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And then Geosciences is kind of almost built on top of that
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or is an umbrella for those different disciplines.
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I think there’s some shared approaches in
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how those things are being done
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and how they’re being reported.
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And that means that in the future, synergistically,
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we should be able to be doing maybe a lot better
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than we have in the past and we currently are doing now.
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<v ->We’ve seen an evolution from the nice to</v>
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have perhaps a corporate social responsibility
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to the now must have environmental sustainable
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and governance principles
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through the sustainable development goals
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that have become mainstream and a priority.
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How do you feel that Geoscience is placed
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and the fields places, in industry and body, individuals,
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and collectively are prepared and positioned to help.
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<v ->A really great place to start thinking about</v>
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what that might look like is
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the UN Sustainable Development goals
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and Geosciences maps on to over two thirds of those,
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in terms of the role that Geoscientists
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will play in achieving those goals.
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And in there are clearly technological
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and technical challenges to resource extraction
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and resource provision for growing economies.
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But also there’s things like Geohazard Mitigation.
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So, which some sometimes arise
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from the resource extraction activities.
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Historically, like a lot of sciences,
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Geoscience has been very focused on
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the technical capability of the people practicing it.
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So what we’ve been training people to do,
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is to do hard sums and to look at rocks
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and know where they came from and what they tell us
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about the structure and evolution of the earth.
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With an increasing awareness of the societal
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and ecological and environmental concerns,
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My feeling is that as individuals it’s probably
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not going to be enough to simply be a Geoscientist
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or we need to reimagine what a Geoscientist is.
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So it’s not somebody who’s simply as concerned with the
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structure and evolution of the earth.
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It’s somebody who, also, has an awareness
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of those concerns societally and environmentally.
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So they’re aware of those things
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but they’re also able to understand
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how their actions in their professional practice
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can impact people and places
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which are outside of their immediate geography
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and outside of their immediate view.
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And so what does that mean practically?
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That means that when we’re educating people,
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we need accreditation bodies to be a lot more incisive in
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their requirements for professional practitioners to
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demonstrate awareness of that.
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<v ->And when you take the perspective of</v>
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the power of the individual
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and the responsibility of the, of the individual,
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it’s not enough just to have the subject matter expertise,
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perhaps, in the Geoscience field
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but it’s all also that broader responsibility of
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what their actions may have on society
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and on the environment around them.
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<v ->Yes. How we deploy those skills.</v>
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Because those decisions we make
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which might be based on incredibly robust pieces of science,
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which are deeply impressive, may then have a legacy-
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a negative legacy on different communities and environments.
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Not next week but in ten to a hundred years time.
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<v ->Taking that theme a bit further,</v>
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through a sustainability lens,
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How do you think public and private sectors
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are working together to solve some of the issues today
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and to work out how to solve these issues going forward?
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<v ->Yeah, there’s a lot of challenges.</v>
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Which I think in both sectors,
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we are still currently defining what the questions are
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and we’re also then trying to shape schemes to
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and science, which can help us with the answers.
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As an academic, I’m always hesitant to say
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that the private sector and the industrial sector
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are not aware of what these challenges are
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and we need these bright,
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clever academics to come and tell us
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because clearly there are more scientists
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working outside of academia than inside.
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I think that’s one thing to always tell people.
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And so it is that collaborative effort
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that will bear fruit in the future.
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So for example, you know,
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Industrial Practitioners will be working
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in other parts of the world
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and maybe have more specific regional knowledge
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of the, okay if you develop this technique,
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this is how we’re going to implement it
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in this part of the world
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because there are series of economic powers that play here.
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There’s some governmental, you know,
[00:07:07.454]
there’s cultural barriers
[00:07:08.850]
to implementation of this great thing
[00:07:11.060]
that you as an academic have come up with.
[00:07:12.600]
On the flip side, Academia has more of a drive
[00:07:15.270]
and maybe more time and more of a
[00:07:17.580]
immediate focus on longer term solutions.
[00:07:21.880]
So these problems are not going to be solved overnight.
[00:07:23.850]
We need to come up with something,
[00:07:26.131]
which is going to take a five or ten year research efforts.
[00:07:28.310]
So we have more time and space to be able to do that.
[00:07:30.940]
And we don’t have maybe some of the financial
[00:07:33.100]
and economic pressures
[00:07:34.050]
that our Industrial partners might have.
[00:07:36.910]
So there’s clearly a synergy between those two
[00:07:40.890]
and I absolutely loathe the idea that there is,
[00:07:45.461]
you know, one is stronger than the other.
[00:07:46.990]
I think both of them need to work together
[00:07:48.850]
for the reasons I just outlined.
[00:07:50.810]
When it comes to, say, climate change, right?
[00:07:52.380]
It’s a big, big problem.
[00:07:53.530]
It’s got many, many different facets
[00:07:55.810]
and to tackle that problem,
[00:07:57.819]
we’re going to need to work together.
[00:07:59.830]
We’re going to have to put aside our differences now.
[00:08:01.902]
Our feeling that there’s more intellectual fire power
[00:08:04.220]
in our house than the other one.
[00:08:06.020]
I think the other thing is the timescale
[00:08:07.840]
of which this needs to be, this challenge needs to be met.
[00:08:10.670]
So what is the scale?
[00:08:11.880]
The other thing is it’s a big problem
[00:08:12.970]
that needs to be tackled in a short period of time.
[00:08:15.595]
And therefore we need to take all of the ability
[00:08:18.180]
across the Industrial and Public Sector,
[00:08:20.410]
the private and public sector,
[00:08:21.900]
to try and tackle that problem.
[00:08:25.010]
Do I think it’s being done well?
[00:08:28.090]
I think in pockets, it is.
[00:08:29.970]
I think there are
[00:08:34.210]
probably an awareness growing
[00:08:36.369]
within, you know, Academic Institutions
[00:08:39.330]
to have Industrial partnerships
[00:08:41.400]
and to make research more relevant is very important.
[00:08:48.100]
I think some of that has been driven by the way in which
[00:08:50.620]
universities are being measured.
[00:08:52.040]
It’s not simply in terms of paper outputs
[00:08:54.460]
and where the papers are published.
[00:08:55.900]
It’s also is your work actually transforming society
[00:09:00.130]
for the good?
[00:09:02.570]
And I think that’s a good thing
[00:09:04.500]
because what it does is it moves us away
[00:09:07.490]
from only valuing fundamental science
[00:09:09.944]
and actually starts to value people
[00:09:13.300]
within academic institutions,
[00:09:14.750]
whose work is more around a translation of
[00:09:17.307]
that site into, let’s say, Public Policy
[00:09:21.330]
or Governmental Policy and we’ve seen that recently
[00:09:23.620]
with COVID, right?
[00:09:25.246]
The quality of science is going to be limited by
[00:09:28.370]
whether we can actually convince people it’s, you know,
[00:09:31.760]
it’s robust and trustable and its a…
[00:09:34.442]
<v ->Applicability</v>
[00:09:35.275]
<v ->And its applicability, of course.</v>
[00:09:36.570]
So we, you know, I think that’s come partly
[00:09:39.021]
from the funders and also from the government
[00:09:41.080]
that we’ve seen that.
[00:09:44.889]
And clearly there’s still financial powers at play
[00:09:48.900]
from the industrial side because clearly
[00:09:50.333]
there’s still are confidentiality concerns.
[00:09:54.640]
And, you know, there is a tension there,
[00:09:57.110]
as well as, about how much Industrial Partners
[00:10:00.440]
might want to allow you to give away
[00:10:02.210]
and how much they may want
[00:10:03.080]
to give away themselves and disclose.
[00:10:05.470]
But I think some of those conversations,
[00:10:08.440]
at least in my 17 years of academia,
[00:10:10.320]
have been more open and they’ve started earlier
[00:10:13.810]
in the life cycle of a project
[00:10:16.010]
that there’s an understanding
[00:10:19.600]
that the impact of the work will be heightened.
[00:10:22.050]
If we are able to talk about it.
[00:10:24.790]
<v ->There’s many forecasts over the next 50 years</v>
[00:10:28.160]
taking us through to 2100, even.
[00:10:30.380]
<v ->Yeah.</v>
[00:10:31.550]
<v ->Many different scenarios, depending on what we do.</v>
[00:10:35.540]
How does Geosciences help craft and form the ideas there?
[00:10:40.360]
What part does Geosciences play in
[00:10:43.646]
delivering better efficiencies and supporting transition
[00:10:50.010]
and supporting policy and change?
[00:10:51.900]
<v ->Yeah.</v>
[00:10:52.733]
<v ->And taking that forward to a better outcome, frankly?</v>
[00:10:55.580]
<v ->Well I’m a Geoscientist, so I’m going to say</v>
[00:10:56.830]
that Geoscience is going to save the world, of course.
[00:10:59.033]
I’m kind of bias but it’s probably not a stretch
[00:11:02.490]
to really claim that because whether we’re looking at,
[00:11:06.871]
you know, the end of life
[00:11:09.120]
of fossil fuel based energy provision, you know,
[00:11:12.294]
that is still going to exist in some parts of the world
[00:11:16.570]
because the pace of change for the energy transition
[00:11:18.520]
is going to be, you know,
[00:11:19.353]
it’s going to get different pastes in different places.
[00:11:21.621]
So it’s going to be slow.
[00:11:22.960]
So how do we, in those places,
[00:11:24.590]
how do we make sure that fossil fuel based research
[00:11:27.480]
is making sure that the extraction is done efficiency
[00:11:29.820]
and safely?
[00:11:30.653]
So there’s still a place for that discussion to happen.
[00:11:34.418]
If we’re then going to talk about the energy transition
[00:11:37.420]
and what’s required to make that happen.
[00:11:38.860]
We think about alternative energy sources.
[00:11:40.660]
And we start talking about wind and solar.
[00:11:42.330]
And we talk about batteries.
[00:11:43.880]
And we talk about mining, of course.
[00:11:46.320]
And the environmental concerns there, Geoscience’s role
[00:11:49.410]
there is absolutely fundamental again,
[00:11:51.260]
because to understand where to go
[00:11:53.870]
and look for minerals,
[00:11:54.820]
as a many people will know in this audience.
[00:11:57.480]
We need to understand how the earth
[00:11:59.000]
has evolved over tens to hundreds of millions of years.
[00:12:02.570]
And that is firmly in the domain of a Geoscientist,
[00:12:06.160]
to answer that question.
[00:12:08.580]
We also then have a role to play in
[00:12:11.940]
when you think about Geohazards, as well.
[00:12:13.510]
So if we’re going to be mining
[00:12:15.830]
and there are hazards related to groundwater quality
[00:12:18.910]
and there are hazards related to Mine Tailings.
[00:12:21.869]
Geoscientists can work with engineers to understand
[00:12:25.210]
what the bedrock is like and
[00:12:27.070]
what the associated risks are there.
[00:12:29.142]
<v ->Water is arguably a problematic issue</v>
[00:12:33.410]
to the Geotechnical Engineer, it’s risk.
[00:12:36.360]
To the Miner it’s both risk and a resource they need to use.
[00:12:39.710]
To the Hydrologist it’s a pure resource.
[00:12:43.780]
How do we deal with this issue, of water?
[00:12:48.130]
And are we managing this resource appropriately
[00:12:51.200]
in the Geoscience’s field?
[00:12:54.420]
<v ->I feel it’s like a lot of resource related discussions</v>
[00:12:58.930]
as we need to make sure that all the stakeholders
[00:13:01.070]
are represented in there because if we have one of
[00:13:04.100]
those stakeholders being particularly powerful in that,
[00:13:07.080]
it sends that particularly loud, in terms of their voice,
[00:13:09.370]
in the decision making processes.
[00:13:11.236]
Then the benefit-the resource will start to be
[00:13:15.516]
more important or the risk will not be
[00:13:17.780]
appropriately considered and mitigated for.
[00:13:20.330]
Likewise, the communities, who upstream may be
[00:13:23.300]
benefiting from water being stored by a dam there,
[00:13:26.130]
may be penalizing those downstream community.
[00:13:29.190]
So making sure that all of those groups are in the room
[00:13:32.210]
when decisions being made seems to be
[00:13:34.070]
the most appropriate way forward to me.
[00:13:37.002]
<v ->If we think about tomorrow.</v>
[00:13:40.210]
And we think about yesterday.
[00:13:42.610]
And you’ve just talked about 40 50 years
[00:13:44.740]
or we would go back a hundred years
[00:13:46.740]
with the evolution of the use of oil and gas,
[00:13:50.180]
as we have done it in other minerals
[00:13:52.490]
and rare earth materials. And we move forward.
[00:13:56.020]
And we think about batteries, electric vehicles,
[00:13:59.547]
and other technological advances
[00:14:00.980]
that are coming to the fore.
[00:14:03.330]
We think about the oil bodies that have been discovered,
[00:14:06.800]
the oil bodies left to be discovered
[00:14:09.310]
and how economic or marginal they might be, to extract.
[00:14:15.840]
How do we learn from the past?
[00:14:17.920]
How do we use the science
[00:14:20.190]
and the experience to design a better outcome
[00:14:26.630]
to develop better solutions
[00:14:29.640]
and innovations to meet the demands of tomorrow?
[00:14:33.550]
<v ->I think this is an incredibly exciting place, right?</v>
[00:14:36.900]
So take this.
[00:14:37.733]
So we’ve got this big challenge coming with mining, okay.
[00:14:40.970]
We’ve developed all these technologies.
[00:14:42.510]
We’ve developed all these techniques
[00:14:43.770]
that have historically been applied to mining
[00:14:45.260]
but also to a bunch of other sectors, okay.
[00:14:46.767]
And we’ve applied them in a, maybe, a very blunt
[00:14:50.540]
and not socially and environmentally conscious way.
[00:14:53.840]
So we’ve got this chance to do things better
[00:14:55.745]
with this specific challenge.
[00:14:58.070]
So what other big challenges is there?
[00:15:00.040]
One is I think in terms of the technology, Okay.
[00:15:02.180]
So we’ve got tools with increasing resolution.
[00:15:04.680]
We have Geophysical and Geological tools
[00:15:06.600]
with better resolution, meaning we can locate smaller
[00:15:09.510]
and more marginal bodies and
[00:15:10.510]
perhaps produce them in a better way.
[00:15:12.780]
I think one of the existing challenges still there
[00:15:15.060]
is communicating uncertainty and risk.
[00:15:17.930]
And I think with subsurface Geosciences,
[00:15:19.780]
which is my area of expertise,
[00:15:21.190]
we are not particularly great at doing that.
[00:15:23.310]
We’re not particularly good at telling people
[00:15:25.730]
how unsure we are of something and
[00:15:27.781]
that uncertainty maps directly onto risk, of course.
[00:15:31.330]
Because then if you’re very certain, there is no risk,
[00:15:34.280]
if you believe you’re within your risk threshold.
[00:15:35.930]
Whereas if you’re wildly uncertain,
[00:15:37.840]
it’s important to be aware of that.
[00:15:39.520]
And that relates to how reproducible a resorce is,
[00:15:43.040]
in terms of analysis.
[00:15:44.040]
So I think we’ve got a huge
[00:15:47.140]
step to make in terms of communicating on certainty
[00:15:50.360]
and risk, both to the shareholders within any given company
[00:15:52.850]
but also to the local populations,
[00:15:54.550]
in which, we’re operating.
[00:15:57.630]
I think the other thing that I’m really excited about is,
[00:16:01.040]
you know, if we look at these negative legacies
[00:16:03.891]
of our operations and our actions,
[00:16:06.220]
where communities have effectively been decimated
[00:16:10.020]
and have been left with the absolute worst of our mining
[00:16:13.120]
or, you know, oil and gas expiration,
[00:16:18.300]
productions facilities that we’ve had in different places,
[00:16:22.840]
how do we avoid that in future?
[00:16:25.130]
How do we make sure that
[00:16:26.720]
when we find a marginal oil body
[00:16:28.790]
and we want to go and exploit that,
[00:16:31.480]
having corporate social responsibility
[00:16:33.480]
at our first decision gate, okay.
[00:16:35.450]
If we go and work in this particular environment,
[00:16:38.240]
what are the cultural sensitivities that we need to be aware of?
[00:16:41.200]
What level of investment are we going to put in
[00:16:46.100]
training people in those communities
[00:16:47.830]
to contribute to the production facility itself?
[00:16:51.930]
What are we going to do around education
[00:16:53.590]
and health in these communities?
[00:16:55.890]
<v ->I think that ties back nicely to</v>
[00:16:57.840]
your thoughts around the individual.
[00:17:01.720]
The holistic approach, the legacy,
[00:17:04.800]
but also the life cycle of a project.
[00:17:07.120]
End to end the full life cycle.
[00:17:08.860]
<v ->Yeah. Where are we at?</v>
[00:17:10.250]
what’s your Wikipedia entry going to be as an individual?
[00:17:12.980]
And, you know, you might have on your CV, this amazing,
[00:17:18.890]
you know, mining site that you contributed to
[00:17:23.113]
but are you looking at that in the round?
[00:17:25.010]
In terms of, you’ve got this many tons of this iron ore
[00:17:28.000]
but, you know, if it polluted the downstream waterways,
[00:17:31.800]
and then, you know, after you died
[00:17:33.030]
there was a mine tailings burst
[00:17:35.260]
and then, you know, few thousand people died.
[00:17:37.380]
That’s, that’s a problem.
[00:17:39.519]
I think people should be viewing
[00:17:41.350]
that as their professional responsibility,
[00:17:44.710]
as much as it is to deliver quote unquote
[00:17:47.140]
value for your shareholders.
[00:17:48.740]
It’s your broader society responsibility
[00:17:52.502]
outside of your immediate employer.
[00:17:55.320]
<v ->You talked about uncertainty and risk.</v>
[00:17:59.400]
I’d like to talk about data and how data plays into that.
[00:18:04.060]
Id talk about the quality of data, the accessibility,
[00:18:08.180]
and the availability of data.
[00:18:09.630]
The ownership of data owned by public bodies
[00:18:13.690]
owned by private organizations
[00:18:15.680]
that have captured, invested,
[00:18:17.208]
and capturing, analyzing that data.
[00:18:20.920]
There’s some great examples of data
[00:18:23.240]
being made widely available.
[00:18:24.870]
There’s other data that’s captured and not available.
[00:18:30.060]
Is there a concept of making data more open source?
[00:18:35.370]
How do we make the best of the data
[00:18:37.580]
that’s available in the pockets?
[00:18:39.840]
And mine that as effectively as we can.
[00:18:43.206]
<v ->I think it was Brian Nosek is a….</v>
[00:18:45.460]
I think he’s an experimental psychologist in America
[00:18:48.270]
but he had this saying which was,
[00:18:49.177]
«Transparency is a replacement for trust.»
[00:18:52.110]
And I think this speaks to then to making data available
[00:18:55.040]
because it’s based on those data that decisions are made.
[00:18:57.980]
And so if you want people to trust you, one way is
[00:19:00.510]
by making it transparent,
[00:19:02.540]
the process by which you came to that decision.
[00:19:04.690]
So, yeah, I think making data available is really important
[00:19:08.450]
because if you make it available
[00:19:10.350]
than a number of different workers can analyze that data.
[00:19:13.820]
And then you can actually see almost in a,
[00:19:15.722]
slightly deterministic/ stochastic way,
[00:19:18.530]
like what the outcomes are of that analysis.
[00:19:20.320]
And that gives you a bit more of a view of
[00:19:22.360]
what your real uncertainty is and then your associated risk.
[00:19:25.920]
The other thing that’s really powerful in
[00:19:27.400]
that respect, for private organizations,
[00:19:29.620]
is that if you make your data public
[00:19:31.510]
and actually engage with public bodies to analyze that data,
[00:19:35.600]
it does give you a bit more credibility in terms of
[00:19:38.460]
that public trust, that perception of public trust.
[00:19:40.690]
Because if it’s all, «Trust us, we know what we’re doing
[00:19:43.864]
because we’ve seen this data.»
[00:19:45.640]
I think that as a citizen,
[00:19:47.900]
forget me being a Geoscientist here,
[00:19:49.350]
as a citizen I would find that response quite problematic
[00:19:53.500]
because I would have absolutely no line of sight of like
[00:19:57.210]
what the qualifications were of the person doing that,
[00:19:59.285]
you know, what their biases might be
[00:20:02.250]
that came to play in that analysis.
[00:20:03.880]
So there is a reason to make those data
[00:20:08.890]
readily available from the private sector.
[00:20:10.710]
But I can see why it’s tension
[00:20:12.020]
then against the financial investment
[00:20:14.720]
they’ve already made in acquiring that data.
[00:20:16.000]
There may be a hesitancy to do that.
[00:20:18.400]
<v ->Can we explore that a bit further,</v>
[00:20:20.070]
the format or homogeny of data.
[00:20:23.808]
<v ->When we’re collecting data and processing data.</v>
[00:20:26.420]
We should be thinking about it
[00:20:27.480]
not in the short term of what we,
[00:20:29.650]
as an individual corporate entity, can derive from it
[00:20:32.620]
but we might be wanting to think longer term
[00:20:34.400]
about the interoperability of that data.
[00:20:36.545]
So although we are using this data now
[00:20:38.940]
there may be a company out there,
[00:20:40.190]
whose data in 10 years time we’re going to get access to,
[00:20:42.480]
and we need to be able to have
[00:20:43.410]
that in a readable and sensible format we can utilize.
[00:20:48.670]
So I do like this idea of corporate bodies coming together
[00:20:52.360]
and thinking about, you know, almost formatting standards,
[00:20:57.150]
if you will.
[00:21:00.048]
And to do that, I really think you need to
[00:21:01.470]
then start to think about more collaborative ways of working
[00:21:04.050]
or the fact that longer term,
[00:21:06.070]
you may need to use a piece of data
[00:21:07.720]
that you didn’t collect yourself.
[00:21:09.890]
<v ->Is there also, given the public good,</v>
[00:21:12.920]
an issue around the ownership of
[00:21:14.330]
that data or those standards?
[00:21:16.720]
<v ->Absolutely.</v>
[00:21:17.553]
And the governments have a huge amount of influence on that.
[00:21:20.540]
And they’ve got a huge amount to say about that
[00:21:22.170]
because as part of your licensed to operate
[00:21:26.310]
in a certain environment.
[00:21:28.390]
And we see this for the oil and gas industry.
[00:21:30.460]
In certain countries, all data have to be
[00:21:32.050]
made publicly available after two to five years.
[00:21:34.750]
And that’s because the governmental body
[00:21:37.370]
or the government itself says that you’re collecting data
[00:21:40.130]
that is to the benefit of that particular country
[00:21:42.520]
therefore that data needs to effectively be public
[00:21:45.050]
and for the public good.
[00:21:47.780]
So I think again, the government have a
[00:21:49.690]
very strong hand in this despite the
[00:21:52.550]
kind of natural instinct of a the corporate entity
[00:21:55.840]
to keep that data siloed.
[00:21:59.280]
Are you storing up problems by not being transparent now?
[00:22:03.130]
because then in, you know, 10,
[00:22:04.300]
20 years time when there is a problem
[00:22:06.300]
and then it’s mapped back to these decisions
[00:22:09.100]
that were made on this closed data,
[00:22:11.650]
you could mitigate for that by releasing
[00:22:13.700]
that data earlier and accepting the fact
[00:22:15.650]
that you may be giving away some
[00:22:16.910]
of your short term competitive edge.
[00:22:20.530]
<v ->Yes and the economic gain from that</v>
[00:22:23.620]
or we talk about the democratization of data.
[00:22:26.970]
<v ->Yeah. There’s a huge issue to do with</v>
[00:22:28.160]
the democratization of data, right?
[00:22:32.553]
Because if we want to engage with communities
[00:22:34.250]
around the world and we want them to
[00:22:37.520]
have access to all of the education opportunities
[00:22:40.190]
that we currently enjoy then one thing
[00:22:42.440]
that they need is data and training data sets.
[00:22:45.367]
And there’s something I’m very excited about is
[00:22:49.170]
sharing those data and those training technologies
[00:22:51.120]
and those hardware and software
[00:22:52.140]
to analyze those data as widely available as possible.
[00:22:55.220]
Because then we can democratize access
[00:22:58.390]
to science full stop, You know.
[00:23:00.850]
This idea of a science capital,
[00:23:02.670]
we call it, so everybody can then start to learn.
[00:23:06.150]
And I think as well, there’s another thing,
[00:23:07.530]
even if people don’t become scientists themselves,
[00:23:09.830]
if they’re aware of the scientific process,
[00:23:11.980]
they are going to be more willing to engage with scientists.
[00:23:16.690]
So we can’t then complain when we see
[00:23:18.200]
differential uptake rates in, say, COVID-19 vaccines.
[00:23:23.410]
One reason is because there’s a lack of trust in
[00:23:26.670]
those doing the science and those communicating the science.
[00:23:29.500]
So your science is great
[00:23:31.060]
but it’s not being implemented
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as well as it could be because of this problem
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you hadn’t really thought about before.
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You hadn’t really considered the fact
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that the translation would be hampered by a lack of trust.
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<v ->Chris, my last question,</v>
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you’re a public enthusiastic and advocate for Geoscience.
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What makes you look forward with hope
[00:23:50.222]
and enthusiasm for Geosciences and the future?
[00:23:54.057]
<v ->I’m very excited about Geosciences reinventing itself.</v>
[00:23:58.920]
There’s a really good chance to reimagine what we do
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and what our role in society is.
[00:24:05.410]
Maybe cast ourselves in a more positive way.
[00:24:12.000]
Can we look back in a hundred years time
[00:24:13.960]
and say that Geoscience has entered
[00:24:15.450]
the public psyche in the same way
[00:24:17.010]
that virology and immunology has over the last year.
[00:24:20.007]
You know, Geoscience is going to be
[00:24:21.790]
central to resource provision.
[00:24:23.770]
It’s going to be central to Geohazard Mitigation
[00:24:25.950]
and prevention of harm as we have expanding cities.
[00:24:28.870]
So there’s a real central role for Geosciences to play.
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It’s something that the public are very aware of.
[00:24:35.420]
It is the science which provides us with life saving
[00:24:39.100]
and life changing resources.
[00:24:40.760]
That’s a hugely positive thing to think about.
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I think when we talk about the future of Geosciences.
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<v ->Chris, thank you for your time today,</v>
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sharing your insights and thoughts on
[00:24:53.940]
some really weighty issues.
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<v ->It’s been an absolute pressure, James.</v>
[00:24:57.040]
Thank you for having me here.
[00:24:58.885]
( Adventurous music)
[00:00:00.229]
(bright uplifting music)
[00:00:10.570]
<v ->Hello, Greg Bentley here.</v>
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I appreciate this chance to participate in Lyceum.
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Lyceum sessions introduced me to Seequent
[00:00:18.240]
and have helped me to learn
[00:00:19.820]
about new to me, Geoscience professions.
[00:00:23.440]
I have intended for Lyceum to continue.
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And in fact, to grow,
[00:00:30.670]
as we say this year together toward tomorrow.
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And the reason in particular is I think
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that together we have a mutual interest.
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I like to put it this way, in advancing infrastructure,
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by going digital.
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Infrastructure for Bentley Systems,
[00:00:47.280]
is everything constructed to improve our planet,
[00:00:50.770]
sustaining both our economies and environment
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at the same time.
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And where the risks so often have to do
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with conditions in the subsurface,
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which would be our work in the Geoscience professions
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to help with that.
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Our responsibility, I think
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is for resilience digital twins,
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and to deepen their potential to the subsurface
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from 3D to 4D living digital twins
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that would help us with
[00:01:24.270]
when we talk about sustainability,
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resilience and mitigation and adaptation,
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requiring all of our work together.
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So that notion of living an environment,
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takes us to ESG,
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a concern for every public company
[00:01:42.450]
and public company CEO.
[00:01:44.690]
But I like to think of it this way,
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that while all of us are concerned about that,
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it’s the work of those in infrastructure
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and supporting infrastructure,
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that actually makes a difference.
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So I say not ESG,
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but ask our folks to think about ES(D)G
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and I put the D in paren, so ES paren DG,
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would be Empowering Sustainable Development Goals
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as a way of thinking about our responsibility uniquely
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together toward tomorrow.
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And that takes us to our keynote for today.
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We’ve asked for our keynote
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to be moderated by James Lowrey.
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He’s the global head of research and analysis
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for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in London,
[00:02:37.920]
but he served in similar roles in Singapore
[00:02:40.970]
and in his native New Zealand,
[00:02:43.450]
which he shares with many others you’ll hear from.
[00:02:46.500]
James is also the deputy chairman
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of Business for Development,
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which is a for purpose project consultancy
[00:02:53.030]
that assists companies and communities globally
[00:02:55.320]
to develop sustainable value chains
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for improved outcomes and poverty reduction, ES(D)G.
[00:03:03.130]
James will interview our keynote Geoscientist,
[00:03:07.410]
Professor Chris Jackson.
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He’s the chair of Sustainable Geoscience
[00:03:12.460]
at the University of Manchester.
[00:03:14.360]
So I’d like us to think as we hear
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from James and Chris to go beyond our ESG footprint,
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to an ES(D)G handprint,
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and in which we help Geoscience professionals
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and in infrastructure engineering
[00:03:32.580]
in going digital.
[00:03:34.670]
Over to you, James and Chris,
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to help kick off Lyceum and our thinking in this respect,
[00:03:41.400]
about our responsible,
[00:03:43.550]
but also gratifying handprints,
[00:03:46.630]
together towards tomorrow.
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Over to you, James and Chris.
[00:03:51.227]
(bright uplifting music)