Uppsala University Geophysical Society
About Us
Uppsala University Geophysical Society (unformal Uppsala SEG Student Chapter) was established at Uppsala University on 18th March 2009, with the goal to organize activities that engage and inspire our students and the geophysics community. Our community is growing with new students and we exchange knowledge by collaborating with other Student Chapters.
Current SEG Student Chapter Officers 2026-2027
President Jolanta Putnaitė
Vice President Kristina Kucinskaite
Treasurer Emmanouil Konstantinidis
Secretary Arianna Koufopoulou
Social Media Félix Van Santvliet, Viktor Stender, and Hugo Lovmar
Faculty advisor Myrto Papadopoulou
Former SEG Chapter Officers
| Term | President | Vice President |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-2027 | Jolanta Putnaitė | Kristina Kucinskaite |
| 2025-2026 | Kristina Kucinskaite | Emmanuel Alofe |
| 2024-2025 | Emmanuel Alofe | Samuel Zappalà |
| 2023-2024 | Emmanuel Alofe | Nini Tatiana Pertuz Puentes |
| 2022-2023 | Nini Tatiana Pertuz Puentes | Emmanuel Alofe |
| 2021-2022 | Nini Tatiana Pertuz Puentes | Erina Prastyani |
| 2020-2021 | Ellisaveth Kollia | Nini Tatiana Pertuz Puentes |
| 2019-2020 | Agnieszka Stoch | Shelly Mardhia Faizy |
Main Activities
We are organizing and participating in many activities. Here is a brief summary of the main activities during 2025-2026 term.
e-FIKA Series with Geophysics
Fika is the Swedish term for having coffee and snacks. We coined the term e-Fika in 2021 during the pandemic; we started an online discussion series where different persons (students, professors, etc) could present their work and discuss it. The series is still online because it attracts attendees from outside Uppsala University and has a broader reach beyond Sweden. With this series, we enrich knowledge and provide a semi-formal platform where anyone, regardless of their academic title, can share their thoughts and ideas about geophysics.
Shallow geophysical investigations in Lithuania (Nikita Dobrotin, January 24)
This e-FIKA event presented more than a decade of applied near-surface geophysical studies in geological, archaeological, and ecological contexts. The speaker discussed practical applications of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI), highlighting survey design, data interpretation, and real-world case studies from Lithuania. The session emphasized the role of integrated shallow geophysics in environmental and engineering investigations.
Insights into the interior of Icelandic volcanoes — with P- and S-wave travel time tomography (Ari Tryggvason, May 23)
This session focused on local earthquake tomography as an important and powerful geophysical tool. As both lithology and state variables (e.g. temperature and pore fluid state and saturation) influence seismic velocities, LE tomography is often used at volcanoes to obtain knowledge about if and where any magma is stored in the volcanic system. This is important for obtaining a general understanding of the volcanoes, but also for hazards assessments. The presentation emphasized that LE tomography is most effective when P- and S-wave travel times are used jointly, as demonstrated by recent studies of the ongoing volcanic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland.
High-resolution seismic imaging of the Pantano–Ripa Rossa segment of the Irpinia Fault, southern Italy (Giuseppe Ferrara, September 03)
This talk addressed high-resolution seismic methods for imaging active fault systems, with a focus on advanced seismic acquisition and processing techniques to improve the structural characterization of seismogenic zones.
SEG Field Camp 2025: Geophysical investigation of quick-clay landslides in southwest Sweden (Jolanta Putnaite & Madina Jafarzade, October 27)
Field camp leader Jolanta Putnaite presented the field camp project, and our first-place winner of the participant presentation contest, Madina Jafarzade, shared what it was like to participate in this exciting camp.
SEG Field Camp
Our student chapter was awarded the SEG Field Camp Grant in 2025 to organize the field camp “Geophysical investigation of quick clay landslides in southwest Sweden”. The initiative combined a research-oriented geophysical survey with hands-on training for students. The geophysical survey is part of a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS. The investigation is being conducted with the full support and collaboration of the Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI) and the Trollhättan Municipality.
Quick clay landslides represent a serious geohazard in Sweden due to the unique mechanical properties of quick clays. These are overconsolidated marine clays with a flocculated microstructure that collapses upon remoulding, leading to a significant loss of shear strength. Their presence has been linked to catastrophic retrogressive landslides in several regions. For this reason, non-intrusive geophysical methods are being increasingly used to characterize quick clay formations.
The field camp was conducted at the Skälsbo site near the Göta River in Trollhättan, southwest Sweden. The field camp ran from August 12 to September 30, with field activities taking place between August 29 and September 2, and offered participants practical training in geophysical survey design, data acquisition, interpretation, and communication. Three geophysical methods were used: seismic, gravity, and magnetic.
The field camp brought together 12 participants from eight different countries: Morocco, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Italy, India, Pakistan, Algeria, and United States of America (USA). The group represented diverse academic backgrounds in geology, geophysics, geoscience, environmental science, engineering and others. The group included three bachelor students (Uppsala University; SEG ASOIU Student Chapter, French-Azerbaijani University), six master students (Uppsala University; Sapienza Università di Roma”; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona), one doctoral student (Cadi Ayyad University), one early-career, and one professional from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia.
Science Festivals
We participate annually in SciFest, a major science festival held in Uppsala that attracts more than 1,000 visitors per day. The event features a broad programme of workshops, live demonstrations, competitions, scientific meetings, and public lectures for all age groups, with a particular focus on high-school students. During the festival, our chapter engages with students and younger audiences by introducing fundamental concepts of geophysics and explaining how geophysical methods are used to investigate the Earth’s interior. We also demonstrate seismic acquisition equipment used in field surveys, providing participants with direct exposure to real research tools and workflows. Through our continued involvement, we aim to strengthen long-term outreach and scientific awareness.
SEG Virtual Student Conference
Our chapter student members regularly participate in and our officers volunteer for the SEG Virtual Student Conference each year, demonstrating strong engagement with SEG academic and professional activities. In 2025, several members achieved excellent results, with Viktor Stender earning 2nd place, Arianna Koufopoulou placing 4th, and Lea Gyger placing 5th. These achievements reflect the high academic standard of our chapter and its active involvement in the global SEG student community.
Past Activities and Achievements
International collaborations
We actively collaborate with SEG and EAGE student chapters from multiple countries to promote international knowledge exchange and joint scientific activities.
In collaboration with the Student Chapter at the University of Pisa, we organized a seminar on the Energy Transition in 2023, during which our officers presented recent carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects conducted in Denmark.
In 2024, we organized the international event “Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Applications” in collaboration with the University of Pisa, ETH Zürich, and TU Delft. This event provided a platform for students and early-career researchers to exchange knowledge on emerging DAS technologies and their applications in geophysics, strengthening academic links between the participating institutions.
Building on these successful initiatives, we aim to further expand our international collaborations through future joint seminars and technical events focused on innovations and applications in geophysical methods.
SEG Best Student Chapter Award 2020
SEG Uppsala University Geophysical Society was recognized as the best student chapter for the hard and fruitful work done along all the years since its beginning. The award was announced during SEG Annual Meeting in Houston (USA). Due to covid conditions the event was carried out online and the awards were broadcasted on live. Watch SEG Honors & Ceremony 2020 The announcement can be seen at 15:50.
International Geosciences Student Conference 2019
From 16 to 20 June 2019, Uppsala SEG Student Chapter hosted the 8th International Geosciences Student Conference in Uppsala, Sweden.
The International Geosciences Student Conference (IGSC) is a student-led and student-organized event. IGSC is an excellent opportunity to build leadership skills, network with peers and sponsors, and make a difference in the community.
IGSC 2019 theme is Sharing ideas. Responsibly securing natural resources. With the ever importance of climate change and the energy transition we want to draw student’s attention to the role of geosciences in shaping the future of the world. We would like to focus on the way all earth science disciplines contribute to securing the natural resources responsibly and sustainably for the next generations and how geoscience helps moving towards green and clean energy for a better future for many generations to come.
SEG Most Improved Student Chapter Award 2018
In 2018 Uppsala University Geophysical Society was awarded with the Most Improved Student Chapter Award and is the first student chapter recipient of this award. Award was handed during SEG Annual Meeting in Anaheim, USA to former chapter president Bojan Brodic.