From oil digger to energy transition enabler: the critical role of exploration geosciences education in Europe

Recent disruptions of raw material value chains during the  COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted Europe’s depency on imports of metals and minerals. Meanwhile, the European Commission is establishing ambitious policy initiatives, aiming at making Europe climate neutral in 2050. In this contribution, we emphasise the critical role of geosciences education in this energy transition, in forming the next generation of mining professionals. In the Nordic countries, active industry–university collaboration in one of the most active mining hubs in Europe has allowed frequent student–industry interaction, access to real-life learning environments, and development of specialised educational modules. These have been made accessible to exchange students from other European countries via exchange programmes and innovative digipedagogical learning tools.