The Young Geoscientists Forum (YGF) of the Ghana Institution of Geoscientists (YGF–2023)
Theme: “Harnessing and Safeguarding Earth Resources for National Development”
Announcement and Call for Papers
We are pleased to announce that the Ghana Institution of Geoscientists (GhIG) is organising the 2023 Annual Young Geoscientists Forum (YGF – 2023) under the theme “Harnessing and Safeguarding Earth Resources for National Development” at the Ghana Geological Survey Authority (GGSA) Seismological Station, Accra, Ghana from 26 to 28 July 2023.
This Forum, which will be organised virtually, will include technical sessions and keynote presentations by participants from Ghana and abroad on contributed papers for oral presentations.
We, therefore, extend an invitation to you to participate in the YGF – 2023 and submit abstracts for the scientific/technical sessions under the following subthemes:
- Petroleum Geoscience
- Hydrogeology and Water Resources
- Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering
- Geology, Geophysics, Mining and Minerals Resources
- Climate Change, Geohazards and Disasters
- Geoscience and Society, Geo-diversity, Geo-heritage, Geo-education
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
| First Call for Titles/Abstracts | 21 April 2023 |
| Second Call for Titles/Abstracts | 17 May 2023 |
| Final Call for Abstracts/Contributions | 30 May 2023 |
| Abstract Submission Deadline | 10 June 2023 |
| Notification of Acceptance/Rejection of Abstract | 30 June 2023 |
| Programme Dates | 26-28 July 2023 |
| Submission of Titles/Abstracts should be done via | info@ghig.org |
1.Background
The Young Geoscientists Forum (YGF) is initiative with the primary objective of attracting and sustaining the interest of young people in the GhIG, as they will be the future of the Institution and the larger geoscience community. The YGF provides an excellent platform for young geoscientists and students to share knowledge, explore innovative ideas, update their ideas/concepts and improve on their professional skills in the field of geoscience. More importantly, the Forum is intended to identify and shed light on a range of skills and competencies that are required of a young geoscientist to have a successful geoscience career. The Forum also provides networking and collaboration opportunities for the young people in the GhIG.
2. Forum Objectives and General Description
The theme for the Forum is “Harnessing and Safeguarding Earth Resources for National Development.”
Harnessing natural resource wealth is a great transformative opportunity for many developing countries. Extraction of resource forms part of the largest source of exports and inward investment and, generates revenues for government. It is the responsibility of government to come out with a carefully crafted decision chain on how the resource revenues are managed, distributed, and used. Thus, where they are invested and ultimately how the generated revenues are transformed into physical, social and human capital for sustainable prosperity of present and future generations. Policymakers leverage existing and newly discovered natural resources for improved human development outcomes in Ghana. It expected that the discovery of extractives translates into more and better jobs and business opportunities. For example, wealth derived from our natural resources could be used to meet stated ambitions in education, health and social protection.
The question is: why do countries that discover abundant natural resource wealth perform no better on human development metrics, and sometimes significantly worse, compared to countries with similar income levels without natural resources?
YGF-2023, therefore, aims at providing platform for effective deliberation on this important topic among industry players, young geoscientists, researchers/scientists and students, workers of government agencies, policy-makers and users of scientific information. It will serve as a unique forum for experts and professionals from Ghana and abroad, engaged in different fields of Geoscience, to appraise the local/national and global challenges related to the sustainable extraction of natural resources.
It is expected that at the end of the forum, participants would have been enlightened on the importance of natural resource sustainability, measures required to safeguard our natural resources, as well as a proposed framework for policymakers seeking to leverage natural resource wealth for human development outcomes.
3. Sub-themes and Topics
The organisers of the forthcoming YGF – 2023 invite the submission of abstracts for oral and poster presentations that address themes and topics of the Forum. Contributed papers will be accepted on the following subthemes:
- Petroleum Geoscience
- Hydrogeology and Water Resources
- Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering
- Geology, Geophysics, Mining and Minerals Resources
- Climate Change, Geohazards and Disasters
- Geoscience and Society, Geo-diversity, Geo-heritage, Geo-education
- Other Contributions
4. Contributed Papers, Participation and Registration
To start with, authors are required to submit titles and/or abstracts of their contributed papers. The initial submission of titles is to give authors enough time to prepare their abstracts. However, abstracts of contributed papers must be submitted before the abstract deadline of 10 June 2023, in order for their abstracts to be considered. All abstracts are to be submitted under a scientific/technical category. There is a limit of I page including key words. The abstract should include the concise definition of the scientific topic, goals of the study, methodology, findings and discussion, implications and significance of the study. With the exception of invited papers or contributions, authors, must present original work.
No fee is required for abstract submittals. Please submit all abstracts electronically via email account info@ghig.org, following the instructions provided (Annexes I and II). Presentation would be done orally via a virtual mode. Authors will be informed about the acceptance or rejection of their abstract by 30 June 2023.
All authors who have been listed on abstracts must consent to being named as part of the abstract at the time of submission, and share responsibility for submitted abstracts. In order to qualify to make a presentation, the presenter must be listed as an author of the abstract at the time of submission or publication. The organisers wish to remind you that at least one author from each submission accepted for the YGF-2023 technical programme is expected to register for and attend the forum at their own expense. Please use the form provided in Annex III to register for the Forum.
5. Participation Fee
The registration fees for categories are as follows:
| MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES | REGISTRATION FEE |
| Undergraduates & National Service Personnel | GHs 30.00 |
| Postgraduate Students & Young Professional Geoscientists* | GHs 50.00 |
| Other Ghanaian Nationals | GHs 100.00 |
| ECOWAS Nationals | USD 20.00 |
| Other Internationals | USD 30.00 |
*Young Professional Geoscientists should show evidence of maximum 30 years of age and/or minimum 2 years of working experience.
6. Working Language
The working language of the Forum will be English. All communications and contributed papers must be sent to the GhIG Conference Secretariat in English.
7. Important Deadlines
| First Call for Titles/Abstracts | 21 April 2023 |
| Second Call for Titles/Abstracts | 17 May 2023 |
| Final Call for Abstracts/Contributions | 30 May 2023 |
| Abstract Submission Deadline | 10 June 2023 |
| Notification of Acceptance/Rejection of Abstract | 30 June 2023 |
| Programme Dates | 26-28 July 2023 |
| Submission of Titles/Abstracts should be done via | info@ghig.org |
8. Conference Secretariat
General contact details of the Conference Secretariat:
Crisler A. Ankrah
Ghana Institution of Geoscientists
- O. Box CT8108 Cantonments
Accra, Ghana
Tel.: +233 244962162
Email: info@ghig.org ; ghigcon.secretariat@ghig.org, crisanks@gmail.com
Scientific Secretaries of the Forum:
Patrick A. Sakyi
Chairman
Committee for Conferences and Seminars (COSEC)
Tel.: +233 241473153
Email: pasakyi@ug.edu.gh
ANNEX I
ABSTRACT PREPARATION SPECIFICATIONS
All Abstracts must be in Microsoft Word format and SHOULD NOT EXCEED 1 PAGE IN LENGTH, including keywords, in Times New Roman 11-pt regular, single columns, single-line spacing, fully justified, A4 page. The margins should be 2.5 cm or 1” for all other sides. All abstracts are to be submitted under a technical category.
Abstracts should be written in good, concise English (British or American spellings, but not a mixture of both). The abstracts should be informative, clearly stating the scientific scope, major findings and relevant conclusions of the work. The style conventions of SI units should be used throughout. Please send every abstract, whether oral and/or poster, electronically via e-mail info@ghig.org following the instructions provided. The files should be named after the presenting Author’s surname; e.g., Geoscientists.doc.
Abstracts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portions of the paper have been published or are being considered for publication elsewhere, and that all of the authors have agreed to their submission for publication in the Book of Abstracts. The scientific committee for this forum is only accepting maximum 8 authors for each abstract submitted.