4. EVALUATION OF UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS
4.1 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN
4.1.1 D EPARTMENT OF E ARTH S CIENCE
KEY METRICS
No. of Professors 24
No. of Associate Professors 11
No. of Professor II 13
No. of Emeritus Professors 4
No. of Doctoral students: current 55 No. of PhD students graduated 2007-2009 25 No. of MSc Students graduated 2007-2009 94 No. of Postdoctoral Research Fellows 16 No. of Non-tenured Researchers 7 No. of Technical/Admin. Staff members 31
Research Groups GRADE
1. Quaternary Geology and Palaeoclimate 4/5 2. Marine Geology & Geophysics 4
3. Geobiology 4/5
4. Petroleum Geosciences 3-4
5. Geodynamics 3/4
The Department of Earth Sciences was established in 2003 by merging the former Department of Geology and the Institute of Solid Earth Physics. It is a partner in three Centres of Excellence (CoEs: BCCR, CIPR, Geobiology). The Geophysical Institute (GFI) within the University conducts complementary research in meteorology and oceanography.
The Department hosts an extensive range of research facilities and analytical laboratories, including 3 research ships. As a consequence there are high annual operating costs to sustain these facilities. In addition the Department runs the Norwegian seismic network. Analytical facilities include: stable isotope (O,N,C), cosmogenic isotope and U-series mass
spectrometry; an XRF scanner for cores; LA-ICP-MS dating and Raman spectroscopy. The overall level of the infrastructure and facilities is excellent and a number of laboratories are state-of-the-art, reflecting recent investments.
The Department has an excellent management structure and very strong leadership. Research strategy seems to be well developed at departmental level, based on a 5-year planning cycle, but appears more uneven at research group level. The research atmosphere is dynamic and extremely supportive of the early-career researchers (PhDs and post-doctoral research fellows) and there is a strong vision for the future. Their plans involve closer collaboration with the BCCR and CIPR CoEs when their funding comes to an end; this seems to have been thought through very carefully as part of the long-term strategic planning process. A new CoE inEarth System Dynamicsis proposed.
Following the 1998 Review of Earth Sciences two research areas (organic geochemistry and hydrology) were cut. The current research focus is on energy (petroleum, renewables,
geothermal), carbon storage and sequestration, palaeoclimate, geobiology, Earth dynamics, marine and polar research.
Whilst there has been recent recruitment to all research groups there is some concern about the age profile of the academic staff; 7 members of staff will reach the age of 70 in the next 5 years and there is an evident lack of staff under the age of 40. The Department is confident that it will be able to renew these posts and views this as an opportunity to refocus its research profile. A common problem in all Norwegian universities is the difficulty in hiring good Norwegian researchers because of competition from industry. Consequently an increasing proportion of the scientific staff are foreign nationals.
Relationships with the central University Administration are generally good, although rather bureaucratic management systems and procedures can be an impediment. For example, the lack of systems to enable the Department to roll-over surplus funding from one financial year to the next prevents them building up an infrastructure fund for new equipment purchases.
The Evaluation Committee found the relationship between the Department and staff employed by the University research companyUni Researchdifficult to understand; this appears to add additional administrative complexity.
The Department appears to have good research links with national and international partner organisations and in a number of areas can be considered internationally leading. Their research agenda appears to be based upon fundamental research questions and ”grand
challenges”, although they also have strong links (including joint industry projects -JIPs) with a number of major hydrocarbon companies (e.g. Statoil, Shell, Total), facilitated by Professor II positions.
Publication outputs are rather variable between the different research groups. It is clear that not everyone is publishing at an acceptable rate or in sufficiently high impact journals. It is recognised, however, that very applied publications (e.g., in petroleum geoscience) may have low numbers of citations but nevertheless a high impact on the industry.
Five research groups were considered in this evaluation:
Quaternary Geology & Paleoclimate, Marine Geology & Geophysics, Geobiology, Petroleum Geosciences and Geodynamics. The boundaries between the groups are not rigid and
extensive collaboration occurs between the different groups.
4.1.1.1 Quaternary Geology and Palaeoclimate
The group currently consists of 4 Professors, 1 Emeritus Professor, 1 Associate Professor, 2 Professor II, 2 Postdoctoral fellows, 1 Researcher and 4 PhD students. 4 PhD students and 11 Masters students have graduated since 2007.
The main research focus is on Quaternary climate and environmental change, involving glacier and ice sheet studies, cave and karst science, landscape and landform evolution and geochronology.
ASSESSMENT& GRADING
This has been an extremely strong research group for the past 20 years with an excellent record of high quality publications in the top journals. There appears to be a good level of collaboration with BCCR. The Group has interesting future plans for partnership in a Nordic CoE in climate-cryosphere interactions. However the Evaluation Committee has concerns
that the group lacks a strong vision for the future and has an unbalanced age profile.
Speleology will be under threat when the present professor retires.
OVERALLGRADE:4/5 Recommendations
This is a relatively small group with 4 out of 5 staff over the age of 55. There is an urgent need for the development of a much more strongly focused research strategy. If paleo ice-sheet reconstruction is to be pursued seriously in the future then research in regional glacial geomorphology and glaciological modelling needs to be strengthened. There are good opportunities to develop their expertise in the lacustrine environment to complement those of BCCR (which are more marine oriented) and in the development of high-resolution
paleoclimate proxies in cooperation with researchers studying marine proxies at BCCR;
integration of the magnetic susceptibility core-scanner facilities with the XRF-MST track could facilitate world class research in this area.
4.1.1.2 Marine Geology & Geophysics
The group currently consists of 5 Professors, 1 Emeritus Professor, 3 Associate Professors, 1 Emeritus Associate Professor, 1 Professor II, 3 Postdoctoral fellows and 15 PhD students. 2 PhD students and 18 Masters students have graduated since 2007.
The main research focus ison marine geology, marine geophysics and paleoclimate studies of passive continental margins and their adjacent ocean basins.Paleoclimate studies are, to some extent, integrated with those of BCCR.
ASSESSMENT& GRADING
This group has a good track record of research and a strong international network of
collaborators. Collaboration with the hydrocarbon industry is also good, providing access to large seismic datasets and funding for research infrastructure. Nevertheless it appears to be somewhat heterogeneous without strong leadership or an integrated and well-formulated vision for the future; many research projects will end soon without clear plans for follow-on work. The group has a reasonable publication record, although a little light in terms of numbers of outputs; nevertheless their publications are of excellent quality and published in well-regarded, high impact journals includingScienceandNature. Some of the more
internationally known Antarctic research revolves around one faculty member who is close to retirement; thus continuation of this line of research seems unlikely. Several researchers in this group have been active within the International Ocean Drilling Program – IODP.
OVERALLGRADE:4 RECOMMENDATIONS
There is an urgent need to develop a strategic plan to underpin the future research direction of the group with a greater emphasis on collaboration within the group, with other research groups in Earth Sciences (e.g. Geodynamics), the Geophysical Institute and BCCR.
4.1.1.3 Geobiology
The group currently consists of 3 Professors, 1 Associate Professors, 3 Professor II, 5
Postdoctoral fellows, 4 Researchers and 6 PhD students. 1 PhD student and 1 Masters student have graduated since 2007.
This multidisciplinary group was established in 2007 as part of the CoE in Geobiology. Its main research focus is on life in extreme environments, the early Earth, the origins of life and the deep biosphere of the oceanic crust.
ASSESSMENT& GRADING
The Evaluation Committee found this group somewhat difficult to evaluate because it is relatively small, sitting within a much larger (and relatively recently established) CoE which has a large biological component that we were not required to evaluate. The researchers clearly benefit from the excellent research facilities provided within the CoE. The group appears to be highly integrated.
The publications by this group are excellent and are in the top international journals with high visibility and citation rankings; the overall publication rate is slightly below average, but this is partly due to the fact that the group has not been established for many years. The vision and main activities of this group appear to be excellent. There is strong collaboration with other leading international groups in this field of research, including the ICDP, IODP and
Interridge programmes.
OVERALLGRADE:4-5 RECOMMENDATIONS
This group has many opportunities for future development. They should, however, take care to retain a strategic focus and critical mass for their research and not spread their activities across too many different themes.
Their plan to develop a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) capability in collaboration with the University and other marine research institutions is an excellent one and essential for this type of research. This should be fully supported.
4.1.1.4 Petroleum Geosciences
The group currently consists of 6 Professors, 3 Associate Professors, 7 Professor II, 1 Postdoctoral fellow, 1 Researcher and 22 PhD students. 12 PhD students and 52 Masters students have graduated since 2007.
The main research focus is on the origin, architecture and properties of sedimentary rocks with an emphasis on the research needs of the petroleum industry (both exploration and production). The group has a broad range of expertise in sedimentology, stratigraphy, seismology, reservoir geophysics.
ASSESSMENT& GRADING
This group has a strong industry focus which, to some degree, may have compromised their strategic research vision. They have a good level of industry funding and are active members
of the CoE CIPR (Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research). There are good research links with the Geodynamics group and with the BCCR CoE; however internal collaboration within the group could be improved. There is a high level of expertise in polar research.
International collaborations are quite strong but could be developed further. There is strong national collaboration with the University of Oslo within the field of petroleum geophysics.
Facilities are excellent, including a new, state-of-the-art laboratory for seismic data processing and interpretation.
Publications are not particularly strong with average numbers of publications and low rates of citation; this is, in part, a consequence of the highly applied nature of their research.
The Evaluation Committee recognise the high number of PhD and Masters students supervised by group members; this is clearly a time intensive activity.
OVERALLGRADE:3-4 RECOMMENDATIONS
With the recent appointment of a new Professor in the field of tectonics and sedimentation the group has an opportunity to sharpen its strategic focus whilst still maintaining an active dialogue with industry. Internal collaboration within the group needs to be strengthened.
They need to improve their publication strategy. New research opportunities in the field of CO2sequestration and shale gas should be followed up.
4.1.1.5 Geodynamics
The group currently consists of 6 Professors, 1 Emeritus Professor, 5 Associate Professors, 5 Postdoctoral fellows, 1 Researcher and 8 PhD students. 6 PhD students and 12 Masters students have graduated since 2007.
The main research focus is on understanding the dynamics of the Earth’s lithosphere and deep mantle over a range of spatial and temporal scales by linking observations at the surface and at depth to the underlying physical processes. Research is multi-disciplinary and involves both observation and modelling; there is expertise in structural geology, tectonics,
tectonophysics, geochronology, earthquake seismology and igneous petrology. This group is also responsible for the operation of the Norwegian Seismic Network together with
NORSAR.
ASSESSMENT& GRADING
In the past this group has had a patchy track record. However following some excellent new staff appointments they appear to be much more dynamic with a clear vision for their future research trajectory. The Evaluation Committee considers that they show excellent promise for the future. Given the research focus there appears to be insufficient expertise in igneous and metamorphic petrology, although this is partly compensated by collaboration with the Geobiologygroup. They have good national (e.g. University of Oslo, NORSAR, NGU) and international (France, Canada) collaborations and excellent facilities for computer-based modelling. Publications are in general average, with below average citations; however there are some highlights e.g. 2011Naturepaper. They have internationally recognised expertise in basin and geodynamic modelling and a growing seismology group.
OVERALLGRADE:3-4
RECOMMENDATIONS
The group needs to focus on developing its next 5-year strategic plan; this should be a collaborative effort. The group needs to be better integrated, perhaps with an emphasis on fewer, but better executed, projects. Better technical support is needed to support the computer modelling. Given that they run the Norwegian seismic network they should take steps to better utilise these data. The new research initiative in geothermal energy research is an important development; this reinforces the need to strengthen their expertise in ”hard rock” petrology.