WP2 Leader and Professor of GeoEnergy at The University of Edinburgh, with research interests in Geological CO2 storage, underground hydrogen storage, diagenesis, clay minerals and more.
Mark Wilkinson was born in Scunthorpe in Northern England. An early interest in geology led to a life-long career. He has a degree in Geology from the University of Oxford and completed his PhD at the University of Leicester (funded by Shell). Mark worked at the University of Liverpool and the University of Glasgow looking at sandstone diagenesis — the processes that turn loose sediment such as sand into rocks — before going to Edinburgh in 1998. He was a researcher on temporary contracts until 2005 when he became a lecturer teaching CCS, diagenesis, subsurface geology and field geology.
“I have been interested in rocks, fossils and minerals for as long as I can remember, and I was lucky to be able to study geology for O-level at secondary school. Carbon storage was relatively recent, my first paper was from 2005, though it took a few years before things got rolling. It was a natural progression from studying reservoirs for oil and gas, and a lot greener!”
Interests outside of academia, include outdoor activities and other hobbies, but never stray far from geology.
“I enjoy hill-walking (mixes well with geology!) and rock climbing — though I’m past my best-before date (mixes even better…). Otherwise, I like crosswords, reading and watching films. And I own, with my wife, a small piece of woodland which we try to manage for the benefit of wildlife.”
Having been previously involved in the STRATEGY-CCUS project, our predecessor project, Mark found a natural progression into the PilotSTRATEGY project, where he is the WP2 leader.
“I knew some of the key members of the STRATEGY-CCUS team. Júlio Carneiro (University of Evora) was WP leader for the section I was involved in, and I was glad to see I’d be working with him again.”
WP2 is looking at Geo-characterisation, and has been assembling, acquiring and interpreting geological data for the three pilot sites (Ebro, Lusitanian and Paris Basins), building conceptual geological models of them. For the two secondary sites (West Macedonia, Upper Silesia) data is being acquired, re-processed and re-interpreted.
“As WP leader, I coordinate and oversee the work of others. I have co-edited many of the WP2 reports, which have long author lists and a wide range of topics — these are both interesting and challenging.”
CCUS has taken a more prominent role in combatting global climate change. Looking ahead at the outlook for Europe, Mark remains cautiously optimistic.
“Technically, the outlook for CCUS is very good. It all depends on the politicians; it is always cheaper to leave someone else to clean up your mess.”
Mark was recently awarded the title of Personal Chair (Professor) at The University of Edinburgh for his outstanding contributions to research and teaching.
“I’m sure my work in PilotSTRATEGY contributed to this, but we’ll never know for sure as we don’t get any feedback. However, Fernanda Veloso (former project coordinator) was one of my referees, many thanks to her.”