Dr Kathryn Goodenough is a Principal Geologist and Deputy Director, BGS Global, and also the Principal Investigator for the LiFT project. She has a background in igneous petrogenesis and tectonics applied to the understanding of mineral resources. Her current research focuses on the geology of critical raw materials (particularly the rare earth elements and lithium) and the sustainable development of mineral resources. She is Chief Editor of Earth Science, Systems & Society (ES3) and a Council Member of the Geological Society.
I’m a Hydrogeologist/Geophysicist with 35 years' experience working for BGS in the UK and 30 countries overseas, including advisory, field and characterisation work on salars in the 'Lithium Triangle'. I currently manage facilities including Aquifer Properties Characterisation Laboratories and Geophysical Borehole Logging and Field Testing. As well as on the Lithium 4 Future Technology (LiFT) Study I’m a co-investigator on a project integrating earth observation techniques for evaluating geology and hydrogeology in Bolivia focussing on the Uyuni Salar and its catchment and on developing a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) for the Lithium Triangle Countries and Peru.
Jon Ford is a geologist with a background in mineral exploration in South America, and geological mapping and 3D geological modelling in the UK, Africa and Asia. A common theme throughout Jon’s career has been applied geological research of the subsurface to support effective decision-making in resource management, urban development and environmental regulation. As a co-investigator on the LiFT project, Jon is involved in the geological characterisation and conceptualisation of the geological systems that form Li-brines in salars of the “Lithium Triangle”, and investigating how these deposits relate to magmatic ‘sources’ and sedimentary ‘sinks’ in the broader Li cycle.
Dr Andrew Hughes (ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9940-1813) is a Principal Groundwater Modeller at BGS. He has tackled brine extraction problems by applying models to high Andean Salars in South America, developing code simulating evaporation in basins of internal drainage. He currently leads the Innovate UK funded project “Use of innovative techniques to ensure Li brine supply for the low-cost battery market”, focussed in Bolivia and the IADB funded project “Consulting for a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESAs) of the Lithium Triangle Countries and Peru”, which aims to understand if SESAs are “fit for purpose” for application to lithium extraction.
Dr Evi Petavratzi, BGS is a Senior Mineral Commodity Expert. At BGS, she is leading research in the fields of security of supply and the circular economy. She is a Co-I in: the NERC “Lithium for Future Technologies - LiFT project, two InnovateUK funded project investigating the sustainable upscaling of lithium supply in Bolivia, and an IADB funded project on the development of a Strategic, Environmental and Social Assessment for Li in the Li-Triangle and Peru. She is also the Co-I of the UKRI: Circular Economy Centre in Technology Metals – TechMetCE and the “Circular Economy Network Plus in Transportation Systems - CENTS” projects. Over the past five years, she has managed several projects on raw materials in the areas of critical raw materials (e.g. 2017 EU list of critical raw materials), material flow analysis and the enhancement of the EU knowledge base for raw materials. She holds a PhD in Mining Engineering, she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Waste Management and a Member of IOM3.
Mr Richard Shaw (ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7691-4568) is an Economic Geologist at the BGS. His research interests include critical raw materials (CRMs) and the formation of CRM-bearing ore deposits. His recent research has largely focussed on the formation of rare-metal (Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum) pegmatites, but also the role of fluids in rare earth element mineralisation in alkaline rocks. He has been involved in a number of EU projects focussed on CRMs (e.g. the 2017 EU CRM Assessment), and is author of the BGS Risk List. He has also worked on a number of projects looking at CRMs in waste materials, such as fly ash from coal-fired power stations and slimes from silica sand processing.
I have a PhD degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering with focus on water resources management and modelling, supported with 14 years of professional experience in water infrastructures engineering out of UK. Developed a large-scale groundwater management model in Middle-East to explore possible climate change impact on aquifer resources. Worked as PDRA (2020-2021) in University of Manchester as water modeler to develop a complex transboundary river basin management model to retrieve wetlands environment (http://www.futuredams.org). I have vast experience optimization techniques and developing relevant mathematical simulations. Authors of many publication (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1819-8599) in relevant field. Also, have experiences in sustainable management, decision making, big-data analysis, sustainable resource management, environmental management, risk assessment and management, climate change and political decisions impacts, uncertainty management, scenarios testing, results dissemination.