Designação do projeto: Centro de Geociências
- Código: UIDP/ 00073/2020
- Região de intervenção: Centro
- Entidade Beneficiária: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar
- Data de início:01-01-2020
- Data de conclusão:31-12-2023
- Entidade Financiadora: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
- Montante do Financiamento:66312,40€
- Objetivo principal: The scope of CGEO, from its foundation in 1975, has been to build from the identification of geological resources into their use and within the cultural context of societal options in their regard. From 2013, CGEO re-structured this vision, in line with sustainability concerns, strengthening its relations with R&D units, companies, international science bodies and UNESCO. CGEO understands technology as the core of human adaptations, energy as the basic requirement for the transformation of raw materials, and sociocultural dynamics as the framework for facing dilemmas. Cultures are embedded with knowledge on resources, techniques and socioeconomic matrices for regulating access to both.
- Objetivos, atividades e resultados: The focus of CGEO is in this tripod, together with heritage, since this raises awareness of the relevance of resources and technology, biding together the three dimensions, as IYGU demonstrated. The first dimension converges into three major issues: Stratigraphy, Basin Analysis and Geoconservation. This includes: high resolution stratigraphy approaches supporting basin analysis studies calibrated by biostratigraphy using different fossil groups; petroleum systems studies and hydrocarbon exploration projects oriented to both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources (oil, gas, shale gas, etc.); natural heritage and geoconservation studies, considered to play a main role towards a balanced economic development and a major contribution aiming at significantly improve the public perception of the natural resources exploration as a sustainable and useful activity within present day societies. The second dimension, Geotechnology, includes activities based on a strong relation between geosciences research and the knowledge transference to engineering and society. The core research is focused on engineering geology, geotechnics and mining, seeking to improve the engineering procedures efficiency and the outputs, considering circular economy as a major research subject. The recycling of the geological materials and resources, the reduction of waste, the recovery of raw materials from used ones are focused in the group research activities The core of research on human adaptations throughout the Quaternary, the third dimension, is to assess human transitions, focusing on the relation between resources, their transformation, the related logistics, the social access to knowledge and products and the cultural understandings of all these processes. Geosciences (geoarchaeology, dating, etc.) seat as the backbone of such a research strategy that builds into paleotechnology, paleoeconomy, paleoecology and paleoethnology, these allowing for then bridging with contemporary concerns on landscape management and sustainability. Hence, CGEO integrates researchers from several higher education institutions who are active in a wide range of domains: Exact and Natural Sciences (namely Earth and Environment Sciences, Paleontology, Geochemistry, Climate research and Energetic Resources); Engineering and Technology (in particular in Environmental Engineering, Geological Engineering and Geotechnics); and Humanities (mainly focused on History, Archeology and Cultural Landscape management). These converge into three avenues. Within this strategy, CGEO is in charge of two UNESCO chairs (Geo-Parks, Sustainable Development and Healthy Lifestyles; Integrated Landscape Management), engages with several PhD and Master programs, has a relevant activity in Portugal and other Portuguese speaking countries, plays a major role in UNESCO programs (World Humanities Conference, Geo-Parks network, International Geoscience Programme, Sustainability Science steering committee) and undertakes projects in over 20 countries from 4 continents. A holistic vision of culture is shared by all the members of CGEO, who aim continuing to pursue interdisciplinary approaches in their daily investigation and development activities, under the aim of the Foundation for Science and Technology.
