A paper co-authored by a team of geologists from the University of Aberdeen have received a top award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).
Dr Juan Alcalde, Dr Clare Bond, Professor Rob Butler and Dr Mark Cooper have been honoured with the 2018 Best Recent Publication Award from the AAPG Petroleum Structure & Geomechanics Division.
Their paper - The importance of structural model availability on seismic interpretation – focuses on uncertainty and bias in structural geology and seismic interpretation. It was published last year in the Journal of Structural Geology, where it is one of the most downloaded articles.
Commenting on the award, lead author Dr Alcalde said: “It is an honour to have our 2017 paper on availability bias in seismic interpretation recognised as the best recent publication by the AAPG Petroleum Structure and Geomechanics Division.
“In our paper, we use the results from an experiment carried out with students here at the University to emphasise that teaching materials can have important and undesired effects in students’ reasoning, and therefore we should be careful in the design and delivery of this training.
“It is a heads-up for students, teachers and lecturers, which I consider is very important. It is great to see that our research efforts are being picked and considered useful by the industry.”
Dr Alcalde added: “The ‘Uncertainty’ group at the University of Aberdeen has been working on uncertainty and bias in structural geology and seismic interpretation over several years. The focus has been to identify and quantify the effects of cognitive biases on uncertainty and risk, particularly for the petroleum industry.
“It is therefore not only a personal honour for each of us to receive this award, but also truly rewarding to see this work recognised as having impact internationally in the petroleum industry beyond its academic roots.”