A recruitment crisis in geoscience threatens to derail the UK’s sustainability journey, says Graham Grant, CEO, Seequent
G
rowing up, what did you want to be? According to a recent BBC survey, today’s teens aspire to be doctors, engineers, teachers, and lawyers. The list probably hasn’t changed in years – the safe, traditional professions everyone knows.
While these are really important careers, more of the same isn’t going to help solve some of the biggest challenges the world faces right now. In a world with an increasingly fragile resource base, grappling with major environmental, climate and energy challenges, we need more of our young people to consider an alternative.
Geoscientists are part of the earth science community and help us investigate, understand, analyse and interpret our earth. Geoscience covers a wide range of fields – from geology to hydrogeology and geophysics – and are crucial to industries like energy, environmental consulting, water management and even hazard monitoring.
When you understand how crucial their skills and knowledge are to understanding and helping reduce our impact on the planet – and then realise the profession is in severe decline – you start to see the problem.
It is a recruitment crisis that doesn’t just threaten the future of the geoscience profession itself; it could also derail the UK’s progress towards hitting its environmental and sustainability goals.
Geoscience isn’t seen as an attractive career
The UK has seen a big drop in students signing up for geoscience courses. In 2023, ESTA indicated that the number of secondary school students choosing A-Level Geology in their final year was 935, less than half the number in 2015, which was the last time geology interest peaked. This has also spilled over into university recruitment with UGUK reporting that the number of geology students at UK universities in 2020 was down 43% compared to 2014.
Geoscience is in Seequent’s DNA. We employ a number of geoscientists and many thousands of them are our customers. Anecdotally, what we are finding is that people don’t tend to make an active choice to study geoscience, but fall into it from an adjacent subject, potentially because it’s not promoted or that well understood. Also, a number of young people aren’t making the connection between their desire to help our earth and the geoscience profession.
one issue is that the profession still relies heavily on traditional fieldwork and theory from textbooks, which can be a bit outdated when compared to more tech-driven STEM fields like computer science and data analytics, which give students hands-on experience with cutting-edge tools.
There are plenty of innovative tools that can make earth science education a lot more engaging for today’s students, like 3D modelling, virtual reality or AI-based earth observation. It’s about meeting young people where they are now and seeing things differently.
Impact on industry and climate goals
The ripple effect of this talent shortage is significant. Geoscientists play a key role in building renewable energy projects, assessing carbon capture and storage sites & even helping to manage natural hazards like floods and earthquakes. Their expertise is crucial for sustainable management of Earth’s natural resources, especially as climate change and population growth put even more pressure on our planet.
Without enough skilled geoscientists entering the workforce, the UK might find it difficult to meet its environmental commitments – especially the target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The demand for sustainable practices across industries is only going to increase, and we’ll need more, not fewer, experts who can assess environmental impacts, advise on resource extraction and help develop strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change.
We’re already seeing the effects of this skills gap. A report from the Geological Society of London in 2021 pointed out that many employers are having a hard time filling key positions. This shortage is slowing down important projects in renewable energy and environmental monitoring, making it harder for the UK to stay on track with its climate goals.
Changing how people see geoscience
Engaging students early – at the school level – could make a big difference. Outreach programmes, like Earth Science Week, coordinated in the UK by the Geological Society of London, aim to inspire young people by showing how geoscientists are working to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. These kinds of efforts are going to be essential if we want to reverse the decline in student numbers.
More importantly, educators must embed new technologies to breathe life into geoscience education. These can make learning more interactive and engaging for younger students. For example, Visible Geology , an initiative by Seequent allows students to visualise basic geology concepts in a 3D, digital environment. Instead of reading about geological concepts in textbooks or looking at 2D cross sections, students can actually build, manipulate and explore 3D models of the subsurface. It’s a far more engaging approach to learning.
By integrating technology like Visible Geology into geoscience courses, educators can tackle the very issues that make traditional geology feel less appealing to today’s students. Introducing an element of interactivity with cutting-edge tech that fits perfectly with the kind of digital experiences students already enjoy in other STEM fields.
As industries and governments push forward with ambitious climate goals, geoscientists are more critical than ever. If we don’t address the decline in students and training, the UK risks falling behind in the global race to combat climate change and build a sustainable economy. If we want to protect the future of geoscience – and by extension, the health of the planet – the time for action is now.
