CANCELLED Webinar | Geoscience: A Key to Canada’s Energy Future
Resource industries, particularly oil, gas, and mining, are built on the knowledge and hard work of professional geoscientists. However, fewer students have been attracted to geoscience in recent years and the pipeline of new talent is being constricted.
Yet, there are more opportunities than ever for aspiring geoscientists. We’ll need oil and gas for decades to come, and developing alternative energy sources and new technologies will require leveraging geological knowledge in new and exciting ways. Join this workshop for a current and practical assessment of new opportunities in resource geoscience such as critical minerals, geothermal energy, energy storage, and carbon sequestration.
Learning objectives
- understand that opportunities for resource geoscience careers are growing, not shrinking, as technologies and the energy transition unfold
- realize that geoscientists will play a huge role in determining how energy and resources will be generated and exploited for decades to come
- assess how your geoscience skills and interests can be best leveraged to take part in new resource opportunities
This session will be held through Zoom.
For any questions on this session, please contact [email protected].
About the speaker 
Dr. Brad Hayes. P. Geol, is president of Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd., a geoscience and engineering consulting firm advising clients on oil and gas development, subsurface carbon storage, water resource management, helium and lithium brine exploration, and geothermal energy. He joined PRCL in 1996 after 15 years in oil and gas companies, including Shell Canada and Canadian Hunter Exploration. He currently serves on the Board of Alpha Helium, a private helium exploration company based in Calgary.
Dr. Hayes earned a PhD in geology from the University of Alberta after completing a B.Sc. in geology at the University of Toronto. He is the outreach director for the Canadian Society for Evolving Energy (CSEE), and a past-president of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG). He completed two three-year terms as councillor for APEGA in 2013-2019. He is also a member of the Energy Technical Advisory Committee for Geoscience BC.
Dr. Hayes is an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta department of earth and atmospheric sciences. He has published and presented extensively on a variety of technical geoscience subjects at industry and regulatory conferences. He is also a prominent media commentator, writing for a variety of technical and business publications as well as engaging actively on social media, focused on energy systems of the future.
Dr. Hayes was awarded the Stanley Slipper Gold Medal by the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) in 2022, and the Canadian Professional Geoscientist Award by Geoscientists Canada in 2024.