The Department of Earth Sciences has a broad curriculum in the Earth Sciences; BSc: Earth Sciences and Earth and Economics; MSc: Geology & Geochemistry, Hydrology, and Earth and Climate. MSc and PhD programs form the Graduate School of Earth, Environment and Ecology (Triple-E).
Vrije University is a world leader in argon geochronology, with two automated state-of-the-art multi-collector instruments. The VU University team is well known in Europe for post-graduate training in transferable skills through the NSG course program.
The Institute for Mineralogy in the University of Münster, Germany is part of the faculty of Earth Sciences and offers courses leading to BSc., MSc. and Doctorate degrees. Under-graduate numbers are approximately 100. Currently there are 15 PhD students actively re-searching in the key areas of geochemistry, petrology and mineralogy. The Institute is ac-tive in national and international professional groups and has a strong representation in the German Research Council (DFG) meetings, the European Geological Union meetings and several other international conferences. The Institute leads several field trips each year for the training of undergraduates as well as for research purposes. There are 6 full professors, all with high citation and publication records and leading active research groups, making the Institute one of the leading departments in Europe. Internationally Münster is also well-known for research in the field of Earth Sciences.
The Institute for Mineralogy is fully equipped with state-of-the art instruments including SEMs, TEMs, Electron Microprobe, LA-ICPMS, several ICPMS,TIMS, X-ray diffraction, Raman, InfraRed spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Having taken part in several previous ITNs the Institute for Mineralogy has extensive experience in successful supervision and training for transferable skills as well as leadership skills in conveying es-sential information needed for future careers. Previous doctoral students are highly suc-cessful in careers both in academia and industry.
The Open University (www.open.ac.uk) is a world leader in modern distance learning and is one of the largest Universities in Europe with circa 174,000 students. The OU has an ac-tive research programme, winning around €32 million of research income annually. It en-joys an international reputation for the quality of its research in many fields. The OU’s in-stitution-wide Research School has considerable academic, managerial and administrative experience and expertise in leading significant projects on the national and international scale. The Open University had 82 projects funded under FP7 including ten Marie Curie actions and two ERC projects. Within H2020 49 projects have been funded across all three pillars and cross-cutting priorities; of these, the OU coordinates nine. The OU is recog-nised for commitment to researcher career development through the award of the Euro-pean Commission’s ‘HR Excellence in Research’ badge. The University holds the UK Quality Code for Higher Education and the UK Concordat to Support the Career Develop-ment of Researchers. The School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences provides a vibrant and stimulating academic home to some 60 academic, technical-support and postdoctoral staff and postgraduate students.
Our extensive suite of fully-equipped facilities includes mass spectrometers for Ar/Ar and noble gas analyses, an electron microprobe, a new laser-ablation and solution ICP-MS fa-cility, a petrological microscope laboratory including a fluid inclusion rig, thin section la-boratory, and a rock crushing/preparation laboratory. Furthermore, the OU has a Graduate School Network that offers a full suite of transferrable skills training. Previous doctoral students are following successful careers both in industry and academia.
RWTH Aachen University, established in 1870, is one of the leading technical universities in Europe and a member of the IDEA League. It is divided into 9 faculties, which cover a broad spectrum of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and medicine. Approximately 43700 students are enrolled in 152 study programmes. The high number of foreign students (5000) demonstrates the university’s strong international orientation. Every year about 6000 BSc, MSc and doctoral degrees are awarded. Approximately 539 professors, 5355 academic and 2749 non-academic staff work at RWTH Aachen University. The university budget amounts to 886.7 million Euros out of which about 337 million Euros come from third-party funding. RWTH Aachen university hosts a large number of collaborative research centers, 27 graduate programmes, including 10 graduate colleges supported by the German Research Foundation, and 16 affiliated institutes with strong industrial partnership. These figures demonstrate the considerable research potential of RWTH Aachen University. The Division of Earth Sciences and Geography is home to some 120 academic, technical and postdoctoral staff and postgraduate students. With the strong focus on Applied Earth Sciences and the collaboration network in the multidisciplinary Faculty of Georesources and Materials Engineering, the Division of Earth Sciences and Geography provides a unique research and training environment at the interface between natural sciences and engineering.
UNIMIB is a young and very competitive University with more than 30,000 students. Ac-cording to the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2014-2015, UNIMIB ranked 1st among Italian universities under 50 years old, and 21st worldwide. The Depart-ment of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), is organized in six research areas: mathematics – informatics, chemistry, physics, biology, earth sciences and ecology.
Within the department, a fluid inclusion laboratory was created in 2012. In addition, full access to the Raman microspectroscopy lab of the Centro Scansetti in Torino is available.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center is the Dutch national research institute and infrastructure on biodiversity and systematics. Employing over 100 researchers, the institute provides an inno-vative and integrated research and BA/MA program towards its core expertise comprising a whole array of disciplines, ranging from taxonomy and systematics to geology and mineral-ogy. Naturalis is also one of the leading natural history museums worldwide, receiving over 400,000 visitors a year and harbouring about 42 million specimens of plants, fungi, animals, fossils, rocks and minerals. Naturalis receives ca. 600 international visiting scientists per year. Naturalis is involved in many Pan-European programs and outreach initiatives.
Naturalis houses state of the art imaging facilities (Micro-CT, electron and optical micro-scopes) and a GeoLab that includes a FEG-SEM-EDS, XRD, micro-XRF, FTIR and micro-Raman. Naturalis hosts the Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory and is well equipped and highly experienced to disseminate science to the public, for example in museum exhibits. Naturalis has all facilities required for curation and documentation, including relevant exper-tise, a well-equipped library and collections. This includes the world’s largest collection on the Variscan basement of Galicia (Spain), and many other relevant rock and mineral collec-tions available to this project. A selection of best samples from FluidNET-ETN will be curated by Naturalis after the project has finished, and will be accessible for future research. Full GIS facilities are available with technical and scientific support.
Amphos 21 Consulting S.L. is a SME that provides scientific and technical consultancy ser-vices addressing a range of environmental issues, mainly associated with the management and disposal of hazardous wastes, contaminated groundwater and soils as well as environ-mental planning and management. The main output is the expert advice to national geological agencies and regulators, along with industrial innovation. Amphos 21 counts on a team of more than 40 highly qualified professional specialized in scientific and technical disciplines related to geosciences.
Amphos 21 business is mainly based on numerical modelling (geochemistry, mechanics, reactive transport, and atmospherics) and the offices are equipped with the latest generation of computers and workstations containing commercial and experimental numerical tools.
Utrecht University (UU) is a globally leading university ranked 13th in Europe and 1st in the Netherlands (Shanghai Ranking 2018). UU has about 29000 students and 8600 staff members. Within Horizon 2020, UU has hosted more than 30 ERC projects and 34 MSCA individual fellowships. In addition, UU has been involved in 27 H2020 MC ETNs and more than 20 EU projects around societal challenges. The FluidNET-ESR will be hosted at the Department of Earth Sciences (DES) in the Faculty of Geosciences (FoG). The FoG is the largest academic institute for geosciences in the Netherlands, with some 2200 students on five Bachelor and 14 Master degree programs. The faculty is ranked 11th in the world in Earth Sciences. The DES employs 70 permanent faculty covering 4 broad research themes, including Earth materials, to which the FluidNET participant will belong. The DES plays a key role in several national large-scale research initiatives encompassing the fields of cli-mate research and solid Earth sciences.
The Structural Geology group at UU is associated with the UU electron microscopy square, a state-of-the-art microscopy laboratory that provides access to FIB-SEMs, EBSD systems and TEMs. Also, the GeoLab at DES is a next-generation Earth science laboratory equipped with multi-function chemical laboratories, an electron microprobe, a nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometer (nanoSIMS) and Raman spectroscopy system. The ESR will have access to all these laboratories and will also be able to use high-end computing infrastructures directly available at DES.
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