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The University of Aberdeen has appointed Dr Kathryn Goodenough, BGS Head of International — Regional Geoscience, as an honorary professor. The new position will focus on critical minerals and the wider energy transition, building on her existing teaching role as part of the undergraduate course, ‘UN Sustainable Development Goals and geoscience’. 

Kathryn’s research focuses primarily on the critical minerals that are needed for the energy transition, such as lithium and the rare earth elements (REEs). She has led major NERC- and EU-funded research projects for BGS, including the Lithium for Future Technology (LiFT) project and the EURARE and HiTech AlkCarb projects investigating REE deposits. Kathryn currently leads BGS’s programme of externally commissioned international research and capacity building, delivering global collaboration across BGS’s science remit.

The appointment has the potential to help foster further links between BGS and the University of Aberdeen, which has several areas of complementary research, including its  and the BGS-led .

I’m delighted to have been appointed as honorary professor at the University of Aberdeen and am incredibly grateful to colleagues at the university who have supported me. Aberdeen holds a special place in my heart as the first place I lived in Scotland, but it is also on the front line of the energy transition, with a hugely important role to play as we move from fossil fuels to renewable energy and a world where minerals are ever more important.

Dr Kathryn Goodenough, BGS Head of International — Regional Geoscience.

Kathryn’s expertise in critical minerals and the role that they and the rare earth elements will play in providing clean energy is a key area of focus in the school and our Centre for Energy Transition, with a recently appointed University Interdisciplinary Fellow working in this area.

Kathryn is a welcome addition to our team at a time when the geosciences are playing a major role in renewable energy and the related geopolitical conversation.

In her role with the British Geological Survey, Kathryn has already worked with a number of our researchers in recent years and we are really looking forward to expanding this further in her new honorary role with us.

Prof Dave Muirhead, head of the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen.

Kathryn is chief editor of the Earth Science, Systems and Society journal, published by the Geological Society. In February, she was awarded their prestigious Coke Medal, given to geoscientists in recognition of their contribution to science and for activities that result in benefits to the community.  

In 2020, Kathryn was named one of the top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining by Women in Mining UK.