Dear InterPore colleagues,

InterPore2023 is still quite some time ahead of us, but an interesting and important talk is already announced. Professor Christopher Jackson will talk about Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI). An essential topic for an international society like InterPore.

Of course, DEI comes back in all aspects of InterPore activities, explicitly or implicitly. Obviously, the upcoming InterPore elections, featuring candidates from across the planet. Somewhat less obvious, the InterPore Awards, as everyone is eligible… although… the award is based on scientific achievements, which requires education and access to facilities, which can be limited based on e.g. gender or socio-economic status. The same holds for the chapter meetings and the short course by Rainer Helmig.

Freely available is the interesting Research Spotlight, although it still requires internet access and… all in all, DEI is a very relevant topic!

All the best,

Matthijs de Winter
Editor-in-Chief
InterPore News

Invited Speaker at InterPore2023

Professor J. Carlos Santamarina
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

Title: Multi-Physics Repetitive Loads

Professor J. Carlos Santamarina holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University, an M.S. from the University of Maryland, and a B.Sc. from the Universidad de Cordoba and is a corresponding member of the Argentinean National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. His research focuses on the fundamental study of geomaterials and subsurface coupled processes at multiple scales.

Most natural and engineered systems experience repetitive loading cycles of all kinds. Repetitive loads can cause significant accumulations of volumetric strain (towards the terminal void ratio) and plastic shear strains (shakedown or ratcheting), lead to accelerated transport (of heat, chemical species and particles), and alter material properties and system performance. Multi-scale experiments and simulations provide insights into the underlying mechanisms that explain the observed responses. Analysis and design must consider the influence of multi-physics repetitive loads on the long-term performance, serviceability and safety of engineered systems.

Find all our plenary speakers here.

DEI Lecture & Workshop

On Monday, 22 May 2023, Professor Christopher Jackson, geoscientist at the engineering consultancy Jacobs and Visiting Professor in Basin Analysis at Imperial College, will present his lecture entitled “Race, Racism, and Barriers to the Participation of Black People in the Geological Sciences: How bad is it? Should we do something about it? What can we do about it?” at InterPore2023 as part of the inaugural DEI event. A lunchtime forum will be held immediately after the lecture. This event will be open for all participants of InterPore2023. Details on registration will follow. We look forward to welcoming Professor Jackson and thank InterPore’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Committee for putting together this event!

Did you know… Edinburgh?

InterPore2023 will be in Edinburgh, a city with a lot of things to offer with respect to science, science history and porous media. This week we highlight a historic figure.

Considered by many the founder of modern geology, James Hutton advanced the idea that physical world’s remote history can be inferred from evidence in present-day rocks. Born in Edinburgh in 1726, Hutton was inspired by the geological landscape around the city’s outcropping coastlines and volcanoes. The Hutton section at the Salisbury Crags, located underneath the landmark Arthur’s Seat, is just a stroll away from the city center of Edinburgh. At this outcrop it is evident that a slab of sedimentary rock has been torn away during the injection of magma. Siccar Point, famous for Hutton’s observations on his Theory of Unconformity, is 1h to the east by car.

Hutton contributed to and also benefitted from the vibrant intellectual environment in Edinburgh during the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’, the late-18th century intellectual and scientific movement characterized by the paradigm shift from religion to reason. A founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s national academy of science and letters, Hutton died and was buried in Edinburgh in 1797.

InterPore Elections are coming up, spanning an election period from 01 – 30 November 2022. We wish to inform the Society members about the details of the election procedure. It can be found in full here (PDF 208 KB).

Who will be elected? A new President-Elect, four new Council members and four new members for the Student Affairs Committee will be elected.

Who can vote? All current InterPore members.

Who are the candidates?

Details of all candidates can be found on our website.

InterPore BeNeLux chapter meeting

14 October 2022, Hasselt University

The InterPore BeNeLux chapter meeting will be held on 14 October 2022 at Hasselt University (Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium).

Registration is free of charge, but compulsory. Please notify us in the registration form if you would like to present a poster.

For more details, please go to our website.

WAIC kick-off meeting

The West Africa InterPore Chapter (WAIC) is organizing an online kick-off meeting on 27 October in the afternoon (PDF 106 KB).

For a Zoom link, please contact Dr. Marcel Kebre and for general inquiries, please send an email to Africa@InterPore.org.

6th InterPore UK conference report

The 6th InterPore UK conference was held on 12th and 13th September 2022 at Brunel University and online. In total close to 30 participants from 15 organizations attended the conference, including one Bangladeshi and three Chinese institutions. The conference was opened by a keynote talk given by Prof Florian Doster of Heriot-Watt University. In addition, we had another four invited speakers, including one industrialist and the Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lectureship 2023 awardee Prof Adrian Bejan of Duke University.

The conference focused on three topics on fundamental topics of porous media, porous media applications in energy and engineering, and porous media applications in health and environment. There were also five posters introduced by the authors with flash presentations.

The conference was concluded by Prof Vahid Niasar of Manchester University with an InterPore UK committee meeting, with discussions on how to enhance the impact of the InterPore UK Chapter internationally and better support the InterPore 2023 conference to be held at Edinburgh. The conference received financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK, which is gratefully acknowledged.

Short Course by Rainer Helmig

The next short course to be hosted by the InterPore Academy for Porous Media will be taught by Prof. Rainer Helmig of the University of Stuttgart.

Lecture title: Porous Media Free Flow Coupling

Dates:14, 21, 28 November and 5 & 12 December (from 3 – 6 pm CET).

Location: Online

Speaker: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Helmig

Please click here for more details and information.

Call for Award Nominations

Have YOU made outstanding scientific contributions?

Hopefully your colleagues receive this email because they can nominate you for one of the InterPore Awards! (hint: Help them sign up for the Newsletter). Or one of your colleagues really deserves recognition. In that case, please inform us, as InterPore recognizes young and senior scientists for their contributions in the field of porous media research as a sign of appreciation and as a stimulus for more excellent work.

Please find more information about the InterPore Awards in this flyer.

Deadline: 1 November

Research Spotlight: UNAM

At the Petroleum Engineering Department of the Earth Sciences Engineering Division (DICT) of the Faculty of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) one of the interesting research areas involves numerically modeling gas extraction through hydraulically fractured horizontal wells. The model incorporates the resulting anisotropic and heterogeneous nature of the unconventional reservoirs as well as the triple porosity nature of the system (organic matrix, inorganic matrix, and fracture network).

A stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) with enhanced petrophysical properties of the original natural microfracture network, represented by heterogeneous and anisotropic fractal distributions around each of the hydraulic fractures, is considered. The model also includes the presence of anomalous diffusion both in the natural fracture network and in the organic and inorganic matrices by applying the Caputo fractional derivative.

The full Research Spotlight can be found on our website.

UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and what ISC does to contribute to achieving SDGs by 2030

In 2015, the United Nations published a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. This blueprint has 17 goals at its heart that are known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If you have not yet familiarized yourself with SDGs we strongly suggest you check the following UN website where more information can be found.

A significant amount of the work we do within the InterPore remit contributes to achieving SDGs. Some of the obvious ones are goals 6: clean water; goal 7: affordable and clean energy, and goal 13: climate action.

ISC Discussion Time

It is an interesting opportunity to map your research against the SDGs if you have not done this exercise already. In a group meeting, share your thoughts on how your research contributes to SDGs.

In ISC news items we propose topics for group discussions with your research team, either during a coffee break or in a dedicated session. InterPore is a member of ISC

2nd EPOS-NL annual meeting

8 November 2022, Utrecht, Netherlands

You can register now to the 2nd EPOS-NL annual meeting! In this meeting you can learn about:

• The latest developments on research at an operating geothermal well being installed at Delft University of Technology
• Research performed by Facility Access participants – who received free-of-charge access to Dutch Earth Science labs last year
• How you can apply too!

Exciting new subsurface data that can now be accessed and improved means to easily navigate these and other international data from a single access point. The meeting is free-of-charge, and will be hybrid (physical + online). Have a look at the full program and don’t forget to register!

Promote your Publication

InterPore Members, do you want to promote your publication to the community? If so, please submit your highlight to newsletter@InterPore.org. Note that we will not review the entries nor does InterPore endorse the published work. Furthermore, we publish on a “submitted first, published first” basis. The highlighted publication should be no older than 6 months (available online).

The highlight should be short (500 characters) and contain an illustration. Please note that we offer this opportunity exclusively to InterPore members. If you would like to become a member, please have a look here.

PhD positions

• PhD position on particle transport by diffusiophoresis in porous media, Institute of Earth Sciences of Orléans, France

If you have a job opening in your institute and would like to promote it internationally, please send the description and weblink or PDF to newsletter@interpore.org, and we’ll be happy to add it to the list.