There was a sense of joy, pride and reflection as the Department of Geoscience celebrated this year's graduates at its traditional graduation ceremony.

Head of Department Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz congratulated the new bachelor's and master's graduates on their achievements and reminded them that working life will bring both successes and challenges

- "We are proud of you and excited to see what you will go on to do. There will be both ups and downs, but your education has given you a strong foundation that will help you overcome them," she said.

Director of Studies Ole Rønø highlighted the hard work required to complete a university degree and the personal development he has had the pleasure of witnessing throughout the students' years at the university

- "It has been hard work, but you have succeeded in earning your degree. I have enjoyed getting to know you and following your development. Now you are ready for working life," he said.

The ceremony's alumni speaker, Marie Svendsen, shared her experiences from life after graduation. She spoke about travelling, taking the first steps into the job market and the steep learning curve that comes with the transition from student to professional.

Her message to the graduates was clear

- "There is no typical path. There is no right path. There is your path."

On behalf of the graduating class, Pernille Runge Jørgensen delivered the student address. She reflected on the strong sense of community that had grown over five years of study and the bittersweet feeling of now going their separate ways.

- "For the first time in five years, we won't be meeting in the classroom, over lunch or at Friday bar. But we figured it out together, and I'm sure we'll continue to find our way forward," she said.

The Department of Geoscience congratulates all of this year's graduates on completing their degrees and wishes them every success in the next steps of their individual journeys.

Marit-Solveig is among the 30 new members admitted to the Academy in June 2026. The election is a recognition of outstanding scientific contributions and at the same time reflects the breadth that the Academy strives to achieve across research fields.

Marit-Solveigs research lies within past climate and ocean circulation, marine geoscience, micropaleontology, multiproxy investigations. She has a particular focus on understanding the climate system in particular the ocean circulation and tis interaction with the atmosphere and cryosphere. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in palaeoceanography in the Greenland and North Atlantic region.

As a member, Marit-Solveig will become part of a strong interdisciplinary community working to strengthen research for the benefit of society. Here, members contribute through committees, panels, and projects to help shape and advance the research agenda in Denmark.

This was clearly demonstrated at this years Nature Meeting, where 3,0004,000 of the total 30,00035,000 visitors stopped by Aarhus Universitys stand. Here, the Department of Geoscience invited guests to engage directly with research through a range of activities and events such as Be a geologist for a day and Geological treasure hunt  and guided landscape tours.

Outreach students from Geoscience together with associate professor Søren M. Kristiansen helped create dialogue, communicate scientific knowledge, and make complex topics about Earths history, climate, and landscapes accessible to a broad audience.

The PhD environment includes around 25 students working on a broad range of geoscience topics, including palaeoclimatic reconstruction, seismic analysis, and climate mitigation science. Across research groups, a shared community has been built through initiatives such as academic lunch meetings, buddy schemes and social events, which help ensure knowledge exchange and allow new researchers to quickly find their footing.

"We have created an environment where we can share our ideas, challenges and achievements - where we celebrate and support each other through the highs and lows of a PhD," says Sophie Vidal, PhD student, who accepted the recognition on behalf of the group. 

The department has worked strategically to foster an inclusive culture, where early-career researchers thrive and develop across disciplines.

Head of Department Marit-Solveig highlights the importance of this strong pipeline: Nurturing talent and maintaining a vibrant environment for younger researchers is essential to our department. It is here that we gain the creative energy that drives both our research and our teaching.

The department will continue its focused efforts to provide strong conditions for high-level research and to support the next generation of researchers in realising their full potential.

The collaboration has recently given the researchers access to unique core material from one of Energinets major offshore wind areas in the North Sea.

The cores are up to 70 metres long and contain sediments from the Holocene, Weichselian, Eemian and Saalian periods. This gives researchers and students an opportunity to investigate and learn more about the geological development of the North Sea during the latter part of the Quaternary Period.

The material may provide new insights into the environment, geology and former landscapes of the North Sea. This includes Doggerland, the former land area between Jutland and England where Stone Age people lived before the area was submerged.

At the Department of Geoscicence, Professor Katrine Juul Andresen is already working with data from the surveys together with two PhD students, a postdoc and several Masters and Bachelor's students. She expects more students to work with the material in the coming years. 

This is a good example of how collaboration between universities and industry can strengthen research, teaching and talent development while ensuring that existing data and samples are used to generate new knowledge.

For some students, this has meant that going to the toilet during field trips has involved discomfort, uncertainty or careful planning. Some have avoided drinking water, waited for long periods before going to the toilet or tried to avoid having their period during field trips.

Associate Professors Timothy Patrick Lane and Henrieka Detlef from the Department of Geoscience have therefore taken the initiative to develop a new field kit, which will be brought along on the departments field trips in future.

The kit includes a privacy tent for toilet visits and a backpack containing sanitary pads, tampons and other hygiene products. It also contains items such as a shovel, painkillers and electrolytes.

The aim is not only to provide students with a practical solution when no toilets are available nearby. The field kit is also intended to help break down taboos surrounding toilet visits, menstruation and hygiene during fieldwork.

The initiative was developed with input from students, ensuring that the field kit addresses the specific challenges they may experience on field trips. At the same time, it sends a clear signal that access to toilets and hygiene facilities is a natural part of planning field-based teaching.

According to Timothy Patrick Lane, an important part of the solution is also to talk openly about the need for toilet breaks and hygiene during field trips. In this way, the field kit is intended to make field-based teaching more inclusive, safe and comfortable for all students.

Read more about the field kit in Omnibus article and the post on Instagram.

The mission is led by Christoffer Karoff from the Department of Geoscience at Aarhus University through the DISCO programme. It brings together students from Aarhus University, the IT University of Copenhagen, and the University of Southern Denmark, who have designed, built, and tested the satellite in close collaboration with Danish industry partners.

About the size of a milk carton, the satellite will monitor glacier dynamics in Greenland and measure ocean temperatures in surrounding fjords. The data will contribute to a better understanding of how climate change is affecting the Arctic environment.

DISCO-2 demonstrates how students can turn knowledge into real-world solutions and contribute to research that advances our understanding of climate change in the Arctic.

The analysis can determine how much of the carbon in biochar has been transformed into highly stable structuresknown as inertinitewhich can remain stable in nature for thousands of years.

Until now, the carbon storage potential of biochar has primarily been estimated based on theoretical calculations.

According to Hamed Sanei, the method represents an important shift:
For the first time, certification of carbon removal at the EU level is based on direct physical evidence of carbon stability. This is crucial for credibility, trust in the market, and the long-term integrity of climate policy. 

The certification scheme is voluntary but is expected to have global implications. It can help ensure that carbon credits purchased by companies to offset their own CO emissions are based on documented and durable carbon reductions rather than uncertain estimates. In this way, it may help reduce the risk of greenwashing.