International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) - Official Blog

Edmund Nickless appointed as IAPG expert on 

"Geoethics for Society"

Until the end of September 2015 when he retired after 18 years service, Edmund Nickless was the Executive Secretary (Executive Director) of the Geological Society of London (GSL), the oldest national geological society in the world. Previously he held senior positions with the British Geological Survey (BGS) where he was for 29 years, during which time he was seconded first to the Earth Sciences Directorate of the Natural Environment Research Council - NERC (1982 to 1989) and then the Science and Technology Secretariat of the Cabinet Office (1989-1991). 

In BGS he worked on resource assessment projects in England and Scotland and the first environmental geology maps published by the Survey. He has written papers on the Quaternary geology of East Anglia and on celestite, an evaporite mineral occurring in the Bristol area of western England. 

At NERC he was responsible for research grants, studentships, international programmes including UK membership in the International Ocean Drilling Programme and the British Deep Reflection Profiling Syndicate. 

At the Cabinet Office he provided policy advice on subjects as diverse as HIV/AIDS, bioethics, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (so called mad cow disease), and the research provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, data charging, space policy and identifying the UK spend on environmental research as part of a government White Paper on the environment. 

On his return to BGS as an Assistant Director he was responsible for managing the physical and electronic collections, publishing and coordinating external relations. 

At the GSL he worked with its Council and Officers to move the Society from being solely a learned body to being both a learned society and professional body and, in particular to raise the status of the practice of geology and of its professional title, Chartered Geologist. He developed strong links to other geoscience organisations in North America and Europe and was instrumental in ensuring the Society’s participation in GeoScienceWorld, an electronic aggregate to maximise the discoverability and use of peer reviewed content. 

As a Board member of the UK Science Council he was active in drafting its Declaration on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, and as the UK representative to the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) worked with colleagues to draft their code of ethical guidelines. 

Currently he is member of the Ethics Board of EPOS - The European Plate Observing System, a Research Infrastructure aims at creating a pan-European network for solid Earth science to support a safe and sustainable society. 

Finally, Edmund Nickless is Councillor of the IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences (2016-2020).

List of IAPG Experts: http://www.geoethics.org/ccs