Thomas Harvey

The Geological Society is the UK’s professional body and learned society for geoscience, supporting a global community of geoscientists. By operating a diverse programme of activities, the Society supports geoscientists to conduct and disseminate their work in a range of ways. This facilitates varied pathways for specialist knowledge to have impact, both within the scientific community and with non-specialist audiences.The Society maintains a high-impact science programme comprising novel thematic meetings, interdisciplinary conferences, research workshops, and research grant funding. We seek to foster collaboration within and out of the geoscience community by bringing together researchers, practitioners, technicians, citizen scientists, policymakers, funders, and representatives from government and Parliament.Through the substantial body of expertise held by members of the organisation, the Society works to ensure geoscience is represented in public policymaking through a range of opportunities that geoscientists can engage with. These approaches vary from re-active to proactive, as well as in the degree to which scientists are directly exposed to policymakers. These include opportunities to contribute evidence to support policy such as drafting briefing notes, providing direct evidence to decision makers, participation in communities of interest or practice, and participation at policy relevant meetings to connect with stakeholders.Whilst these opportunities are accessed by many in the community, there are barriers that limit engagement from scientists of certain groups within the community. This may result from unclear framing of opportunities, lesser representation or engagement of certain groups, or lack of exposure and/or resource to prioritise engagement of this type.In order to ensure robust and inclusive scientific evidence for policy, it is important to understand how these barriers vary across different types of policy work, and between organisations, with a view to improving transparency and widening participation from the community.

The CB (Bencubbin-like) chondrites are a metal-rich group of carbonaceous chondrites that probably formed in an impact-melt vapour plume resulting from a collision between two planetesimals. Many samples, for example the CBa-type meteorite Gujba, show evidence of secondary impact processes that occurred after formation, such as silicate-dominated impact melt veins. We investigated the texture, crystallographic microstructure and chemical composition of Fe,Ni metal particles in Gujba to distinguish primary features from those caused by secondary impact melting. We developed a qualitative classification relating the morphology of primary metal particles in Gujba to the extent that they were deformed by secondary impact melt. Electron backscatter diffraction analyses showed that less deformed Fe,Ni metal particles preserve a prior crystallographic structure, partially overprinted by recrystallization textures. Fe,Ni metal inside melt veins has been melted and recrystallized. Unmelted metal particles retain similar compositions to each other, but metal entrained in impact melt, and melted Fe,Ni metal differ slightly. Conditions on the CB parent body after secondary impact resulted in no significant equilibration between particles with primary compositions, probably as the effects of impact heating were relatively rapid. Metal–melt particles in larger systems from other planetary bodies may show more evidence of modification during impact melting.

'GeoFutures' is the Geological Society of London’s flagship conference series focussing on 21st century geoscience and solutions that geoscientists can offer to global challenges. The series cycles through the Society’s five strategic science themes, with the inaugural 2023 meeting centred on the theme of 'Digital Geoscience' and the 2024 meeting focussed on the theme of ‘Planetary Geoscience’.Both meetings have sought to foster collaboration within and out of the geoscience community by bringing together researchers, engineers, citizen scientists, policymakers, funders and representatives from government agencies. We actively seek to encourage attendance by groups and individuals who do not traditionally attend scientific meetings. The series aims to cultivate networks and research partnerships, as well as to spark innovative ideas to shape the response of geoscientists to future issues.In addition to the disciplinary topics, sessions have focussed on the application of breakthrough technologies and methods, as well as considering how geoscientists might apply these to scientific and societal problems both current and future. Fundamental to this is consideration of how best to ensure that subsequent generations of geoscientists and geoscience facilities are adequately prepared, as well as the importance of communicating geoscience issues and solutions to the public effectively. A large part of both conversations involves promoting open data and science, and collaboration between the many varied interested parties.In 2025, the series turns to the Society’s ‘Climate and Ecology’ theme, integrating themes from a series of talks and discussions, around the UK, related to climate and ecological research and issues. On a continuing basis, we aim to demonstrate that bringing together contributors and organisations from diverse sectors at novel, discipline-specific meetings is an effective measure to support the UK and wider international geoscience communities to tackle current and future challenges.

The geosciences have a long association with economic development and growth owing to the legacy of coal, oil and gas exploration, and mining. However, in the 21st century where geosciences have cleaned up their act and are leading the way in sustainability and climate science, digital technologies, and space exploration globally, it’s often still hard to shake the outdated perceptions of our field, and anecdotally this has been cited as a contributor to the diminishing student numbers seen across university programmes (Stephen et al. 2023; 2024).This is Geoscience is a new public awareness campaign from the Geological Society of London, designed to challenge current perceptions of geosciences in the public domain by providing additional insights into the breadth & benefits of geoscience, and encouraging the use of the word ‘geoscience’ or ‘geology’ in schools to improve geoscience literacy (Stephen et al. 2024). These unbranded materials focus on the diverse array of geoscience topics that may be overlooked and are simple images or moving graphics with single strapline; this is geoscience. They are made available online, across social media, and in print, and are available to everyone to use.The main aim of the this is geoscience campaign is to encourage geoscience uptake at university and to future-proof our field with a plentiful supply of new, diverse talent within our pipeline, and to ensure we can reduce the growing skills gap that we face. However, it will take many years, perhaps decades, to be able to determine any meaningful impact at that scale, and therefore in the medium term the focus is on university admission numbers, and on the accuracy and diversity of careers information currently available to our prospective students. This presentation will share the newly available resources, highlight important trends in past data, and discuss what comes next: Geoscience for All.

We present an analysis of the quenching of star formation in massive galaxies (M _* > 10^9.5 M _⊙) within the first 0.5–3 Gyr of the Universe’s history utilizing JWST-CEERS data. We utilize a combination of advanced statistical methods to accurately constrain the intrinsic dependence of quenching in a multidimensional and intercorrelated parameter space. Specifically, we apply random forest classification, area statistics, and a partial correlation analysis to the JWST-CEERS data. First, we identify the key testable predictions from two state-of-the-art cosmological simulations (IllustrisTNG and EAGLE). Both simulations predict that quenching should be regulated by supermassive black hole mass in the early Universe. Furthermore, both simulations identify the stellar potential (ϕ _*) as the optimal proxy for black hole mass in photometric data. In photometric observations, where we have no direct constraints on black hole masses, we find that the stellar potential is the most predictive parameter of massive galaxy quenching at all epochs from z = 0–8, exactly as predicted by simulations for this sample. The stellar potential outperforms stellar mass, galaxy size, galaxy density, and Sérsic index as a predictor of quiescence at all epochs probed in JWST-CEERS. Collectively, these results strongly imply a stable quenching mechanism operating throughout cosmic history, which is closely connected to the central gravitational potential in galaxies. This connection is explained in cosmological models via massive black holes forming and growing in deep potential wells, and subsequently quenching galaxies through a mix of ejective and preventative active galactic nucleus feedback.

Photogrammetry is a low‐cost, nondestructive approach for producing 3‐D models of meteorites for the purpose of determining sample bulk density. Coupled with the use of a nondestructive magnetic susceptibility/electrical conductivity field probe, we present measurements for the interrogation of several physical properties, on a set of Antarctic meteorites. Photogrammetry is an effective technique over a range of sample sizes, with meteorite bulk density results that are closely comparable with literature values, determined using Archimedean glass bead or laser scanning techniques. The technique is completely noncontaminating and suitable for the analysis of rare or fragile samples, although there are limitations for analyzing reflective samples. It is also flexible, and, with variations in equipment setup, may be appropriate for samples of a wide range of sizes. X‐ray computed tomography analyses of the same meteorite samples yielded slightly different bulk density results, predominantly for samples below 10 g, although the reason for this is unclear. Such analyses are expensive and potentially damaging to certain features of the sample (e.g., organic compounds), but may be useful in expanding the measurements to accommodate an understanding of internal voids within the sample, lending itself to measurement of grain density. Measurements of bulk density are valuable for comparisons with estimates of the bulk densities of asteroids that are suggested as meteorite parent bodies.