Field Trip
CERENA's mission is to develop research at the highest level of excellence related to the sustainable use of natural resources, including energy, as well as their impact on the environment. CERENA uses an approach that is simultaneously integrative, multidisciplinary and multi-scale, from the molecular level to the planetary scale, where researchers from different scientific fields - earth, chemical and material engineering - converge towards the same objectives.
The field trip is scheduled for Thursday, 8 October 2026*.
*Exact date and timings may change subject to the Technical programme schedule.
During the field trip, we will visit the GEOLAB and the Multi-scale Imaging Laboratory (MIL).
The Geosciences and Geotechnologies Lab (GEOLAB) is dedicated to the study of mineral and energy resources, oil and gas. It has an area of 900m2 and is one of the largest laboratories on the IST campus (Alameda).GEOLAB is equipped to carry out geomechanical and physical characterisation tests on rocks and on oil reservoirs. It also offers a range of ore processing tests. In 2016 new facilities were implemented in the laboratory for production tests as well as secondary and tertiary production/recovery methodologies (EOR - Enhanced Oil Recovery) for reservoirs.This laboratory provides important support for teaching in the Master's programmes in Geological and Mining Engineering (MEGM), Energy Resources Engineering (MERE), Environmental Engineering (MEAMB), and PhDs in Geo-Resources (DG), Petroleum Engineering (DEEP), Chemical Engineering and Refining (ENGIQ) and Environment (DA). GEOLAB focuses its activity on R&D projects with mining and also oil and gas companies, with which has long-standing partnerships within CERENA, the Centre for Natural Resources and the Environment. GEOLAB also provide support in consulting services for the development of new projects/processes in the mining industry and geotechnical works.
The Multi-scale Imaging Laboratory (MIL) gives support to research on mineral and non-mineral materials and endorse research on remote sensing, providing a wide spectrum of imaging and characterization capabilities from the nanometer scale to the kilometer scale. In the lowest scales, MIL includes facilities for physical characterization, surface science and optical microscopy, including X-ray nanotomography Skyscan 2214 from Bruker, with fast dedicated computer software and hardware for image processing and analysis. This nano-scale facility complements the existing capabilities of the other CERENA’s two Core Labs - GeoLab and ChemLab - and it is open to the scientific community and supply services to industry.
