TWO DECADES OF EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH

Abstract

In 2012, the Évora Geophysics Centre (CGE) celebrates 20 years of activity. In these two decades, the national scientific system underwent a profound transformation, new organizational structures appeared, and participation in structures and international networks, and scientific integration reached very high levels. The national scientific environment is now more qualified and competitive; however the available funding per researcher became scarcer. Currently the CGE team includes 67 full members, and is organized in two main Lines of Research: (1) Atmosphere and Hydrosphere, (ii) Solid Earth. The first one comprises the centers of activity: Meteorology & Climate, Water, Environment, & Surface Processes, and Energy & Flow Structures, while the latter is composed of the centers of activity: Active Tectonics & Risks, Lithosphere, Mantle & Geological Resources, and Heritage & Archeometry. The time of maturity has come for GCE as a research unit, with a growth trajectory that was not always linear; however it has been progressive with respect to scientific quality, organizational structure, and the scientific and training outputs that were made available to the community. It is also the time to reflect on the past and to define future strategies. This debate is carried out within the evolving framework in which the CGE develops its activity. Actually, CGE faces new challenges on the times ahead. At the national level new rules of public funding have been announced, which are expected to increase competition for national funding, together with a strong pressure to make networking among the teams for the use of the available facilities. At the international level, CGE is challenged to collaborate with national and international teams to get access to the new European funding program HORIZON 2020. The workshop “Two Decades of Earth Science Research” was held at the University of Évora, on 23 November 2012, as the closure of the Program of Celebrations, which spanned over the year of 2012. For this workshop we invited national and international key figures as "keynote speakers", and other colleagues, which with us will reflect on the evolution of Earth Sciences, Atmosphere and Hydrosphere, and the national and European science on these two decades. With this initiative we will also make our contribution to the community for the analysis of this framework and define new directions for the scientific activity.