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Pangeo Austria - Major Conference at the University of Leoben Print
One of the biggest conferences in Austria in the field of geosciences, the "Pangeo Austria 2010", was hosted at the University of Leoben from September 15 to 19, 2010. Under the motto „Earth Sciences – Basic Research and Application“, more than 300 experts from seven nations gathered and participated in 150 presentations and just as many poster presentations, in addition to eight geologic excursions that were scheduled before and after the conference.

"Pangeo" is a young geoscientific conference series which is only held at locations providing adequate academic and educational facilities. After Salzburg in 2002, Graz in 2004, Innsbruck in 2006 and Vienna in 2008, it was now on the Universtiy of Leoben as the fifth Austrian "geoscientific training location" to present the last conference of the first "Pangeo” rotation series.

„With this conference, we would like to enhance the interdisciplinary cooperation among the geoscientific education facilities, and of course also promote our junior scientists“, Prof. Fritz Ebner from the Department of Applied Geological Sciences and Geophysics explains. „Moreover, it is of course an exhibition of the Austrian geosiences in a rather small, informal and atmosphere, which is ideal as an introductory event for young researchers and scientists“, Ebner says.

The conference title was chosen as the geoscientific research at the University of Leoben is fundamental and very application-oriented (deposit and raw materials research, proprieties of raw materials, environmental geology, raw materials and oil prospection as well as applied geophysics). Furthermore, Leoben is a centre for applied geosciences, providing a platform for university-based and non-university raw materials research and geotechnics and all relevant industrial cooperation.

„With this conference, we also are also trying to address the public“, Prof. Ebner says. „With the exhibition ‘When the Earth is Shaking’, we would like to increase public awareness of the importance of Earth Sciences“, Ebner explains. The exhibition was developed as an Austrian contribution to the International Year of Planet Earth. It is open to the public and can be visited in the entrance hall of the Leoben City Hall until October 1, 2010 in addition to a talk on this subject.
Other main focuses are natural disasters, the raw materials issue, and for the first time, there is the attempt to integrate an advanced training seminar for teachers on “Geology in School“ in the conference.

Since 1875, the geosciences have been represented at the University Leoben by professorships, departments and chairs. With about 250 students enrolled, the study programme Applied Geosciences is very well frequented and is the only programme in this field which is available at a technical university in Austria. As special master programmes, the University of Leoben offers Raw Materials and Environmental Geology, Petroleum Geophysics and Applied Geophysics as well as Petroleum Geophysics.

Further information:
o. Univ. Prof. Fritz Ebner
Tel.: +43 3842 402 6100
E-Mail: fritz.ebner@unileoben.ac.at