b'OpinionA future for geophysics in Australia?particularly as resources become harder to find This decline is reflected across the resource industry as a whole, with problems attracting the next generation of geoscientific personnel Arguably this is a result of the perception that the industry, and its allied fields such as geophysics, are part of the climate change problem rather than its solution This is beginning to be addressed in various advertising campaigns (BHPs Our products help build a better, clearer future and BPs Reimagining energy) and even corporate names (Total became TotalEnergies to reflect its desire to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet Figure 3.ASEG annual membership income and administration spend. facing the climate challenge)Unfortunately, I cannot claim to have all the answers, nor can I assure the reader that the situation is salvageable The chance to increase undergraduate student numbers indirectly by increasing the profile and attractiveness of the profession, as well as directly by providing scholarships, for example, and to save some courses may have already gone, but the fight is still well worth taking up What remains is the need for a clear acknowledgement that geophysics in Australia, despite the apparent state of the commercial industry, is in trouble and urgent action is required to attempt Figure 4.ASEG income and expenditure on education. to save it Clearly ASEG should be at the centre of these efforts, if only as the only to look at the effect of the abolition of freeunlikely to produce the next generationsignificant geophysical representative membership for students by the SEG inof geophysicists body remaining Australia has a wealth 2018 on their membership demographicsof experienced geophysicists, and the (Figure 2) Another alternative is to mergeBy this stage you, the reader, have perhapsSociety has significant cash reserves, we with another Australian geosciencebecome dispirited by the picture I haveshould leverage these resources before it society, or to become an overseas chapterpainted, an almost vanished universityis too lateof a large international society such aseducation sector and a professional society the EAGE or the SEG Doing so wouldapparently in decline One would thinkAcknowledgementsimmediately enlarge the membershipthat our industry was centred around base and help promote the Societyobsolete technology such as overheadI would like to thank Denis Sweeny, Kate Clearly, there is no simple answer to theprojectors and phone books The reality is,Selway, Lisa Worrall, Megan Nightingale, decline in Member numbers, but I feel thathowever, that the industry is in rude healthNick Josephs and Sean Strong, amongst seemingly radical solutions should not beand that the demand for geophysicsothers, for interesting discussion on this discarded because thats the way weveand geophysicists is only increasing,topicalways done itAgain, with the decline in universityTim Dean is a Specialist Project Geoscientist for Anglo American Prior to joining education it is likely that the importanceAnglo American he was a Research Fellow within the Department of Exploration of the ASEG for educating the nextGeophysics at Curtin University This followed an extensive career at Schlumberger/generation of geophysicists willWesternGeco/Western Geophysical in a variety of roles including marine and land increase However, looking at the ASEGsfield operations, software development, and research located in Saudi Arabia, expenditure on education (Figure 4),England, Norway and Australia Following his final position within Schlumberger we see that the ASEG spends almostas Principal Research Geophysicist at the Schlumberger Fibre-Optic Technology nothing on education (and this declineCentre Tim joined HawkEye Technology (a division of Sony) as a Project Advisor for existed before the impact of COVID) Thethe introduction of goal-line technology into the UEFA Champions League He also upcoming Camp for Applied Geophysicsconducted research into the use of sensors within sports as diverse as cricket, AFL, Excellence, which offers 20-25 studentsand volleyball Tim has an Honours degree in geophysics from Curtin University and early career professionals a week ofand a PhD in physics from the University of New South Wales His research interests geophysical field work in South Australia,include land acquisition, particularly vibroseis sources, land data processing, and is clearly a positive move, but alone isdistributed fibre-optic sensing23 PREVIEW OCTOBER 2022'