Welcome address: Graham Grant | Together (with BSY) Towards Tomorrow! Greg Bentley | Keynote: Can geoscience save the world? Professor Chris Jackson

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,

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there’s cultural barriers

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to implementation of this great thing

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that you as an academic have come up with.

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On the flip side, Academia has more of a drive

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and maybe more time and more of a

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immediate focus on longer term solutions.

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So these problems are not going to be solved overnight.

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We need to come up with something,

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which is going to take a five or ten year research efforts.

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So we have more time and space to be able to do that.

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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

[00:23:32.370]
as well as it could be because of this problem

[00:23:34.610]
you hadn’t really thought about before.

[00:23:37.013]
You hadn’t really considered the fact

[00:23:37.846]
that the translation would be hampered by a lack of trust.

[00:23:41.570]
<v ->Chris, my last question,</v>

[00:23:43.640]
you’re a public enthusiastic and advocate for Geoscience.

[00:23:47.491]
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

[00:24:03.820]
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.

[00:24:32.830]
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.

[00:24:44.450]
I think when we talk about the future of Geosciences.

[00:24:48.540]
<v ->Chris, thank you for your time today,</v>

[00:24:51.850]
sharing your insights and thoughts on

[00:24:53.940]
some really weighty issues.

[00:24:55.680]
<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>

[00:00:12.230]
I appreciate this chance to participate in Lyceum.

[00:00:16.060]
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.

[00:00:28.560]
And in fact, to grow,

[00:00:30.670]
as we say this year together toward tomorrow.

[00:00:35.040]
And the reason in particular is I think

[00:00:36.820]
that together we have a mutual interest.

[00:00:40.060]
I like to put it this way, in advancing infrastructure,

[00:00:43.820]
by going digital.

[00:00:45.650]
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

[00:00:54.100]
at the same time.

[00:00:55.620]
And where the risks so often have to do

[00:00:59.010]
with conditions in the subsurface,

[00:01:01.720]
which would be our work in the Geoscience professions

[00:01:05.760]
to help with that.

[00:01:07.750]
Our responsibility, I think

[00:01:11.060]
is for resilience digital twins,

[00:01:14.270]
and to deepen their potential to the subsurface

[00:01:18.460]
from 3D to 4D living digital twins

[00:01:22.470]
that would help us with

[00:01:24.270]
when we talk about sustainability,

[00:01:25.920]
resilience and mitigation and adaptation,

[00:01:30.000]
requiring all of our work together.

[00:01:33.670]
So that notion of living an environment,

[00:01:37.520]
takes us to ESG,

[00:01:39.670]
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,

[00:01:47.070]
that while all of us are concerned about that,

[00:01:50.100]
it’s the work of those in infrastructure

[00:01:52.930]
and supporting infrastructure,

[00:01:55.070]
that actually makes a difference.

[00:01:57.010]
So I say not ESG,

[00:01:58.700]
but ask our folks to think about ES(D)G

[00:02:02.530]
and I put the D in paren, so ES paren DG,

[00:02:08.810]
would be Empowering Sustainable Development Goals

[00:02:12.910]
as a way of thinking about our responsibility uniquely

[00:02:17.640]
together toward tomorrow.

[00:02:19.600]
And that takes us to our keynote for today.

[00:02:24.760]
We’ve asked for our keynote

[00:02:28.100]
to be moderated by James Lowrey.

[00:02:31.610]
He’s the global head of research and analysis

[00:02:34.240]
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

[00:02:48.260]
of Business for Development,

[00:02:49.690]
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

[00:02:57.680]
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.

[00:03:09.560]
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

[00:03:16.920]
from James and Chris to go beyond our ESG footprint,

[00:03:23.300]
to an ES(D)G handprint,

[00:03:26.290]
and in which we help Geoscience professionals

[00:03:30.280]
and in infrastructure engineering

[00:03:32.580]
in going digital.

[00:03:34.670]
Over to you, James and Chris,

[00:03:37.160]
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.

[00:03:48.740]
Over to you, James and Chris.

[00:03:51.227]
(bright uplifting music)