FEST: 'Applied Earth Sciences in practice: easier said than done?'

Friday Earth Sciences Talk by Sander Osinga (TNO)

Many, if not most, scientists and researchers aim for their work to have some practical, real-world application or impact. The sentence “Understanding process X will lead to valuable impact on Y” can be found in innumerable introductions to papers, theses and research proposals. Often however, the way in which this impact is affected remains vague at best.

In this talk, we go through (what I believe to be) some characteristics of what constitutes applied research, and discuss examples of applied earth sciences-based projects at TNO. We end with a “Quick start guide” to help those who are interested get started on their own journey of making sure their research can be applied by others. There is room for open discussion throughout the presentation as well as at the end.

With the FEST, we intend to bring the departments of Earth Sciences and Physical Geography together. The aim is to present (mostly) Utrecht-based Earth Sciences in an accessible way, primarily in order to stay familiar with each other’s work across disciplines. Simultaneously, this provides an excellent platform to help (in particular MSc.) students in their orientation on possible graduation specialisations and future careers.