2023 Geoscience Society Demographics

At the end of 2023, the AusIMM Geoscience Society had a following of 3,600 AusIMM members and 2,290 non-members. The Geoscience Society member following has shown a steady increase in members from 2,900 in 2015 to 3,600 in 2023.

Geoscience Society demographics (as at August 2023) show that most members (1,900) are in the age group of 40 to 60. Membership grade can be broken down to 653 Fellows, 2,680 Members, and 257 Associates and 11 Students. At the end of October 2023, AusIMM demographics indicates about 2,115 followers with the title “geo”, out of 3,600 member followers. The classification of “geo” is derived from membership records, wherein this number may not reflect actual practicing geologists.

2023 Activities

Geoscience Awards
The AusIMM Geoscience Committee awarded Jessica Keats with an Associate membership (AAusIMM) for 2023 in recognition of her initiatives and benefits to the broader geoscience community of initiating and hosting a regular program of “GeoHug” webinars focussed on applied exploration geoscience. The webinars, which are offered free to subscribers, enabled geoscientists who were otherwise unable to work due to Cov19 restrictions, to maintain programs of professional development over this challenging period. The GeoHug webinars continue post Covid19. See

Newsletters have continued through the year, and were published in March, May, June, July, August, and December 2023.

LinkedIn site was initiated in June 2023. This initiative was undertaken to support continued learning, increased member reach and engagement. The committee members assisted in building a following of up to 800 by the end of 2023.

Short term initiatives to review and revive the Society web page commenced during 2023 and will continue through 2024.

• Lachlan MacDonald (Past Chair) imitated an internal review of the Society as “Strategy on a Page” that was designed to further motivate the committee to deliver greater value to the members and the institute.
• In March 2023, several members of the Geoscience Society committee volunteered to contribute to discussions to develop an Institute statement on “Our Role: Sustainability, Climate Change, Energy Transition”.
• In June, Julie Allen, AusIMM Head Events & Conferences gave an outline of her department's role. Julie encouraged the Geoscience society to actively participate in the organisation committee to prepare for the 3-day conference: International Mining Geology Conference 2024.
• Dave Turvey kept the committee up to date with the Geoscience societies engagement with various education programs. The CoRE Learning Foundation provides quality STEM learning integrating into education systems to deliver future sustainable workforces for the Australian. ESWA is to support the teaching of earth science in schools by developing teaching and learning resources, providing professional development. Scitech is here to spark questions through playful science, technology, engineering and mathematics experiences.

Geotourism

Dave Turvey & Ian Wollff actively contributed to AGC National Geotourism strategy and Working Group 5 monthly meetings, as per The AusIMM has agreed to coordinate (through their secretarial services based in Brisbane), the engagement of the three Communities of Interest (Heritage Committee, Geoscience and Social & Environment societies) to support the work of WG5".

The Australian Geoscience Council Inc (AGC) represents eight major Australian geoscience societies, including The AusIMM. Launched in April 2021, the AGC is implementing a National Geotourism Strategy (NGS). This initiative, supported by The AusIMM Geoscience Society, helps raise the profile of geoscience.  A MOU between Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) and the Indonesian Geoparks Network (IGN) was signed on 25 May 2023. The 5TH GEOTOURISM FESTIVAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (GEOFEST) 2024 is an Australia-Indonesia Geotourism Collaboration Project with the theme; ‘The Volcano as a World Class Sustainable Geotourism Destination’. An initial promotional website can be found 

Webinars

The AusIMM Geoscience Society completed a number of webinars throughout the year, led by Lachlan MacDonald (Past Chair);

• On the 17 November 23, the AusIMM Geoscience Society hosted the webinar “Planning for future Alpine Fault earthquakes” as presented by Prof. Caroline Orchiston of the University of Otago, New Zealand was held. Recording available here
• On the 19^th September 2023, the webinar video Geoscience Society – systems to Discovery by Dr. Cam Mc Cuaig was held. Recording available here
• On the 27^th July 2023 the webinar Geoscience Society; Olympic Dam, the worlds largest IOCG deposit – But what about Rare Earth Elements? by Dr. Kathy ehrig was held. Recording available here

Branch Collaboration

The Geoscience Society worked with the AusIMM Darwin Branch and the AusIMM Heritage Society to prepare an article on the Pine Creek mining heritage site. This was published in the bulletin here.