Two PhD research students from Glasgow University have beaten competition from their contemporaries from across the world to win top awards at a conference in Germany.

Kate Dobson and Daniel Campanile of Glasgow's Earth Surface Dynamics research group were awarded first and second prize, respectively, for the best oral presentations by current PhD students at the European Conference on Thermochronology in Bremen, last week.

The thermochronology conference, held every 4 years, attracts delegates from Europe, USA, Australia, Japan, India and Pakistan. 'Thermochronology' measures the Earth's thermal history and Glasgow's PhD students' work builds on the illustrious heritage of Lord Kelvin who famously used the thermal history of the Earth's surface to calculate the age of the planet.

Professor Roderick Brown, Professor of Earth Sciences said: "We are absolutely delighted and proud that Kate and Daniel's research, and their ability to communicate its importance effectively, has received such high recognition. Congratulations to them both."

Kate Dobson's presentation - entitled: 'The post magmatic evolution of the Hebridean Igneous Provice: A multiple chronometer study' ﾖ won her top prize of a book on the original development of the low temperature thermochronology by Dr Gunter Wagner. Her fellow Glasgow PhD student, Daniel Campanile took second prize for his presentation entitled: 'The post break-up evolution of the Western Indian high elevation passive margin'.

Following the successful meeting in Bremen in 2006 the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences (http://www.ges.gla.ac.uk) at University of Glasgow has been selected to host the next meeting scheduled for August and September 2010.

The European Conference on Thermochronology continues a tradition that was established with three consecutive meetings on 'Fission-Track Analysis*: Theory and Applications' in Italy (Bologna 1997, Florence 1998, Chatillon 1999), and a European workshop in C￡diz (Spain) 2002. Scheduled between the 'International conference on Fission Track Dating and Thermochronology' every four years, the conference signifies the rapid development and growing importance of fission track and (U-Th)/He thermochronometry* and related methods in recent years.

* Fission-track analysis and (U-Th)/He thermochronometry are radioactive dating methods.

Further information: Kate Dobson, Kate.Dobson@ges.gla.ac.ukhttp://www.ges.gla.ac.uk:443/postgraduates/kdobson

Daniel Campanile, d.campanile@ges.gla.ac.ukhttp://www.ges.gla.ac.uk:443/postgraduates/dcampanile

Professor Roderick Brown, Professor of Earth Sciences University of Glasgow 0141 330 5460 roderick.brown@ges.gla.ac.uk

http://www.ges.gla.ac.uk/research/groups/earthsurface

Martin Shannon (m.shannon@admin.gla.ac.uk)

First published: 10 August 2006