Students and professors from the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics of the University of Bucharest are part in the project RO-GEO4HUMANITY.
RO-GEO4HUMANITY is an international educational project with a strong focus on the necessary multidisciplinary geophysical competences to support meeting the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goal 16 regarding peace and security, part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Organization (UN-SDGs).
Conceived by Lect. Dr. Eng. Florina Țuluca, from the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics of the University of Bucharest and president of the Romanian Society of Applied Geophysics (SGAR), the project intends to create awareness of the power of education in earth sciences to build disaster resilience and achieve sustainable development goals (SDG-UN).
RO-GEO4HUMANITY is an intensive educational program designed to provide knowledge to a target group of students and young researchers who want to embrace a career in earth science and to guide them to achieve technical competencies for career perspectives in ensuring security and peace both at local and global levels. The focus is put on enhancing their expertise and practical skills in specific subjects related to the detection of geophysical signals of illicit usage or tests of mass destruction weapons, as well as to the geophysical technologies that can be used to identify buried unexploded ammunition and mines that are contaminating places that witnessed or witness military conflicts, posing a risk for human lives.
Starting from the present global situation, the first component of the project RO-GEO4HUMANITY focuses on the study of anthropic-provoked signals (military explosions, accidental explosions) and their effects. The educational activities from the first part of the project are prepared together with specialists and technical experts from the Working Group B of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization – CTBTO. The practical activities, led by Dr. Daniela Ghica (NIEP, Romania) and Dr. Ulrike Mitterbauer (GeoSphere, Austria), have as purpose to train the project participants in this subject, using also the programme package NDC-in-a-Box. The training program developed for RO-GEO4HUMANITY participants includes: (1) the analysis of the explosive sources of ultrasounds coming from the Ukrainian war zone and the detection of the signals generated by kamikaze drones and bombs, and (2) analysing seismic data following the most recent nuclear tests conducted by North Korea.
The second component of the project concentrates on the use of geophysical techniques for the detection of buried unexploded ammunition and mines that pose a risk for human activity .Accordingly, the project includes a theoretical part dedicated to the geophysical methods and their efficacy in detecting hazardous objects and hands-on training for the usage of these geophysical detection technologies mounted on drones for the rapid scanning of the risk areas and the precise localization of the objects.
The educational activities meant to enhance the practical competencies in using geophysical techniques able to detect buried unexploded ammunition and mines are developed together with specialists in the field of ground detection and airborne (UVAs) methodologies. The students taking part in the project come from faculties in the field of earth sciences from Romania, Serbia and Greece. They have the opportunity to participate in a training program focused on the detection of military objects under the supervision of experts Radu George Dimitriu (GeoEcoMar, SGAR), Irina Stanciu (GeoEcoMar, SGAR), Sebastian Pop (“Henri Coandă” Air Force Academy from Brașov, Romania), Cătălin Cioacă (“Henri Coandă” Air Force Academy from Brașov, Romania) and Florina Țuluca (FGG-UB, SGAR). The field activity is financed by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and SEG Foundation-USA, as a result of the project competition FIELD CAMP 2024.
A third phase of the project includes the presentation of results to the public under the umbrella of the International Symposium GeoScience 2024, scheduled for 14-16 November 2024.
The project RO-GEO4HUMANITY is organized by the Romanian Society of Applied Geophysics (SGAR) together with cu key-members of the BSC-SEG Society (Ana Suditu, Daria Măciucă, Andreea Mihaela Răducanu, Vlad Catarig-Iancu, Timeea-Maria Manolache, Mario Lazu, Gheorghe Turturea, Eduard Dragnea, Robert Alexandru Birta), students and teaching staff from the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics of the University of Bucharest.
Main partners are The National Institute for Research and Development on Marine Geology and Geo-Ecology – GeoEcoMar, Romania, The National Institute for Earth Physics (NIEP), Romania, The Institute of Geodynamics of the Romanian Academy and “Henri Coandă” Air Force Academy from Brașov, Romania.
More information about the project RO-GEO4HUMANITY are available here and on the SGAR website.
Those interested in supporting or taking part in this project are kindly asked to write at e-mail florina.tuluca@g.unibuc.ro.