esclogo

 

European Seismological Commission

YSTC Chania 2008

ESC TRAINING COURSE FOR YOUNG SEISMOLOGISTS: CHANIA 2008

 

By Ina Cecic

 

The ESC, with IASPEI financial support, has sponsored seven training courses for Young Seismologists in order to expose them to different areas of seismology, under the tutorship of established seismologists throughout Europe and beyond. This recent training course, followed the now established format. It took place in the four days before the General Assembly with the lecturers, GA Papadopoulos, G. Hloupis, H. Kokinou, R. Console, P. Soupios, J. Makris, I. Cecic, I. Papadopoulos, V. Karastathis, DA Storchak and F. Vallianatos focusing on active tectonics and seismicity, and going into more details about the geodynamics and structure of the Hellenic Arc, seismotectonics, active faulting, earthquake physics, macroseismology, microtremors, seismological networks, earthquake clustering, microzonation studies, and the principles of data collection.

 

The primary aim of the Young Seismologist Training Course in Chania was to provide wider knowledge on practical aspects together with the theoretical background in abovementioned topics. A part of the time was spent on practical exercises using the computer equipment provided by the Laboratory of Geophysics and Seismology of the Tecnological Educational Institute of Crete in Chania. The course started with a brief overview of what was to be expected and what could be gained from the course, given by the local YSTC Direstor, Prof Vallianatos. I Cecic gave the students a short presentation of ESC and its activities. The opening lession was given by the ESC LOC President, Prof Papadopoulos, who introducet to the students the overview of the knowledge on the geodynamics of the Hellenic Arc and Trench and associated phenomena.

 

During the course the lecture notes were prepared on the daily bases. Some tutors prepared some of the printed papers as the additional material. At the end of the course all the lectures were burned on a CDrom and distributed to the participants. It should be mentioned that the administrative and technical help of the Laboratory and the common and good accommodation of the participants helped a lot to create a creative and vital environment for the participants and lecturers during this course.

 

Thirty six students from nineteen countries attended the course. Questionnaires were distributed amongst the students inviting them to comment on the overall impression of the course together with the level struck by each individual lecturer. The responses indicated a very good rating for the course, overall, and the individual lecture questionnaires highly commended the lecturers in both their delivery and level of teaching. 41% of the studens said that all they learned at the course was relevant to them, and 59% said that for the some of the course content. 31% of the students said that their overall impression of the course was excellent, for 56% the course was very good and for 13% it was good.

 

Many students indicated that they would have benefited from having the lecture notes before the course which should be noted for the future course in Montpellier. Also, a short introduction of students, each of them stating their research interests, would be a good idea. Some students indicated possible topics for the next Training Courses (e.g. observational seismology, seismology and safety management, focal mechanisms, paleoseismology, earthquake prediction etc. ). They were satisfied with a wide spectrum of topics covered at this TC, but in general expressed a wish for more training exercises and field work.

 

It was clear that the students had a varied level of experience and background knowledge, a situation which is always difficult to cater for. Despite this, and because of the expertise of the lecturers, significant advances in understanding and technical ability were achieved for all students.

 

Following receipt of a positive report on the training course, the ESC Bureau commended the lecturers and organisers on behalf of ESC members and endorsed a proposal to hold a eighth training course before the next General Assembly in Montpellier, September 2010.

 

YSTC students:

 students 2008

 

Ina Cecic, Ljubljana, 2008

News

ESC/SSA Travel Grant to attend the 2024 SSA Annual Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska

Apply for the ESC/SSA travel grant by the deadline of 30 November 2023! Seismologists from any member state of the ESC are eligble to apply. We encourage in particular students and early-career researchers to consider applying. More information can be found here.


From the ESC Working Groups:

Visit the website of the WG Preservation, valorisation and analysis of seismological legacy data

Visit the website of the WG Harmonizing Internet Macroseismology in Europe 

Contribute to the Portal of the ESC WG on Communication here

Get to know the website of the FAULT2SHA Working Group and find out forthcoming activities! The WG promotes a new initiative, open to all researchers interested in contributing to discussions on topics that could improve the assessment of seismic hazard.

________________________

Find out about the Young Seismologist Training Course here.

________________________

What were the past General Assemblies of the ESC like? Find out! Interesting documentation has been made easily accessible.

This list summarizes the files.

________________________

Sadly we announce the loss of esteemed and beloved colleagues and friends:

 
Older obituaries can be found here.