ECR Alumni Case Study – Juan Alcade

Where did you study your undergraduate degree?

I did my undergraduate degree in geology, in my hometown of Salamanca, in Spain. I spent five years there, and then worked as a geophysicist for 10 months at a company in Spain.

In 2009, I was offered my PhD and scholarship in Barcelona to do seismic acquisition, processing and interpretation for a prospective CO2 storage pilot site to be built in Spain. In 2013, my contract ran out, but I hadn’t finished my PhD. I was offered a position at the University of Edinburgh, where I could work for four days a week and spend one day a week working on my thesis. So, I finished my thesis there, which I passed with a viva in 2014, and I stayed in Edinburgh.

I worked at the University of Edinburgh but also very closely with the British Geological Survey (BGS) – at the time, the BGS building was still next to the Edinburgh School of Geosciences! We were working on a scientific drilling project proposal to study the overburden of major oil and gas fields in the North Sea to become secondary reservoirs for potential CO2. Unfortunately, the project was never funded.

A young(er) Juan at the Giant’s Causeway (Northern Ireland) during his time at the University of Aberdeen

Then, in 2015, I moved to the University of Aberdeen, where I kept working on CCS related ideas. I also began exploring other topics, such as uncertainty in geological interpretation and negative emission technologies.

In 2017, I finished in Aberdeen and moved back to Spain. At the beginning, I was unemployed for a few months but, by the end of 2018, I got another job at Aberdeen working on the Acorn project, which I did remotely. We worked on, for example, the selection of the East May site, an expansion site of the Acorn project that they’re hoping to develop.

And then I started a role here in Barcelona at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), coming back to where I did my PhD. This is where I’m still working now – I got a couple of fellowships and, last year, I finally got a permanent position as a tenured scientist at CSIC. I’m also the coordinator of the Geo Resources Challenge in my institute.

Fantastic! It seems like with academia, it can be very bitty, can’t it? You get a short contract here and then a PhD there…

Yes, I’ve had a taste of how difficult that journey can be. When I started my Bachelor’s in geology, there was virtually no unemployment in my field— a lot of geologists were working on construction and things like that. But I finished in 2009, when the big economic crisis hit, especially in Spain, so people were moving abroad, to South America or wherever they could find work.

Then I started my PhD in 2009 and everybody was saying that it was an exciting moment with seismics and CCS. But, by the end of it, this is when the oil crisis exploded and, again, there were a lot of people in my field becoming unemployed. There is a lot of instability in research, with institutions often only able to offer short term contracts – three months here or two months there.  It was super stressful and difficult, you really need to be very resilient.

Well done for surviving! Can you tell me a bit more about your current role?

So, now I am a permanent researcher and can choose my own fields of research, although they are still guided by high-level strategic calls for projects, such as those driven by the European Union’s research interests. I’m basically specializing in geological storage, initially CO2 storage and, more recently, expanding into hydrogen and other forms of renewable energy storage in the subsurface.  I’ve done a little bit of work on raw materials exploration as well, e.g. mining exploration and materials for enhanced weathering. But my main interest is in CO2 storage, where I’ve done a wide range of things including geophysical and geological characterization, working with well logs, storage appraisals, risk assessments, etc. Site selection has been both one of my main areas of work and one of my favourite aspects of the job.

Juan on top of a 32 tonnes Vibroseis truck, used for acquiring reflection seismic data

I’ve always enjoyed doing many different things in research.  Some people don’t like that, they have the “need” to be labelled as specialists. I’ve often been asked, “but are you a geophysicist? or a seismic interpreter? or what are you?”. I’ve always felt uncomfortable with labels. I don’t see myself as particularly outstanding or specialised in one thing, but I’m fairly good at a range of things, which I believe has its own value.  What I really enjoy about science is the ability to explore — if I have an interest, an idea, or even just a hunch, I can pursue it and see where it leads.

Do you see a big difference between CCS in the UK and CCS in Spain?

Yes, it’s a huge difference. First of all – and this is actually something that I’m investigating in my research – Spain is not a hydrocarbon-producing country. That really makes a difference, because in the UK you are and, as a result, have a society which is more open to, or at least more aware of, the use of the subsurface. That’s a good start for decarbonizing and for meeting climate goals with CCS, whereas here, there’s much less understanding of how the subsurface can be used — especially for storing CO₂. I’m not talking just about the general public. Policymakers and politicians often have little or no awareness of it. That really slows down the development of CCS because there’s a lot more need for outreach and shared understanding among all stakeholders, including the public and decision-makers.

Juan speaking on CO₂ storage and decarbonising hard-to-abate industries in Spain

The fact that the UK is a hydrocarbon-rich country makes it a lot easier and cheaper for you to develop CCS, so it’s more attractive for everyone. Hydrocarbon companies may find CCS interesting, because it’s not about developing something completely new, but rather about reusing existing resources or in-house expertise.

And that doesn’t apply only to companies, it also applies to universities, because the skills are very similar to the oil and gas industries, and the lecturers can incorporate CCS into their teaching. Whereas here in Spain, the geosciences are more focused on classical solid Earth science and not so much on applied topics, which can add more complications to the transition to these technologies and their integration into education.

Can I make sure I’ve understood this properly (and simply!) – because Spain doesn’t take things out of the ground (oil, gas, etc.), people struggle to think about the possibility of putting things back underground again?

Yes. So, for example, I’ve lived in Aberdeen and while not everybody may know exactly how oil or gas is extracted from the ground, they do know it is an industry that can bring jobs and economic activity to the area. People are aware that it has both negative and positive aspects, but there’s a general understanding that the subsurface can be a resource — and that awareness makes conversations about things like CCS easier to have. But in Spain, while people know about oil and gas, they know it as something that comes from abroad. That disconnect from the actual processes creates an additional barrier for the development of CCS, as there’s less foundational understanding to build on.

I’ve never even considered that before, how much we take for granted here in the UK because of having hydrocarbon industries.

I have a good example for this, as I’ve also worked a bit in the mining exploration field. We have a very rich metal belt in the southwest of Spain, known as the Iberian Pyrite Belt – a  world-class ore region. For example, this is where the Rio Tinto mine is located, which actually gave its name to a major mining company.

So, I was working in Huelva, where they’re reopening a mine that was in operation during the 19^th and first half of the 20^th centuries, and people are very excited about it.  They know about the potential risks associated with mining, some have suffered the issues firsthand, for example in their families. But they also recognise that reopening will bring jobs and revive economic opportunities for a region that has had very little since the mine closed in the 1970s. This contrasts with what’s happening near my hometown, Salamanca, where there are plans to open a mine and there is a lot of citizen opposition. Many people are saying no to it. I myself have concerns as well. But it’s true that if if you’ve never experienced this kind of industry, it’s harder to fully understand what the potential benefits might be.

I believe this is a relevant example of how familiarity with subsurface industries — even with their risks — can shape public perception and openness toward similar technologies, such as CCS.

L – Juan conducting geophysical work to characterise the subsurface in North Caicos (Turks and Caicos Islands)
R – Juan flying his drone in Lipari (Aeolian Islands, Italy) to capture high-resolution images for studying deep reservoirs through outcrop analogues

In your career journey, when did you first engage with the UKCCSRC and how did you engage with us?

The project I started working on in Edinburgh was funded by the UKCCSRC, working with Stuart Haszeldine and Mark Wilkinson at the University of Edinburgh, and Maxine Akhurst and Heather Stewart at BGS. At the time, there was also a UKCCSRC programme called the Educational Task Force, organising training for ECRs [the original UKCCSRC ECR Programme!], in which I was involved as a member for a couple of years. There have always been a lot more activities for PhD students than postdocs, but the UKCCSRC actively encouraged and supported both groups.

Building your network during your PhD is really important, and programmes like that make a real difference. I also attended various meetings and conferences as part of that effort.

I have to say — and I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m making this up for the sake of the interview – I’ve always viewed the UKCCSRC with a bit of envy, because I would have loved to have something like it in Spain. There’s just not enough of a CCS research network in Spain to create that, but I’ve always felt that it’s a marvellous tool to create a community around. Because of that, I actively try to stay connected, reading newsletters, etc.

Thank you, we’re glad you can stay connected to the wider community as well!  Do you have any other thoughts you want to share about CCS in general – its present, its future, concerns, etc?

I am quite optimistic about it. I think we’re in an exciting time where CCS is really starting to take off. Back in the early 2010s, there was a lot of talk – people kept saying, “Oh, this is going to happen, it’s just around the corner” and then nothing happened for over a decade. Now, though, it feels like things are genuinely starting to happen, which is great to see.

At the same time, we need to be careful to steer it in the right direction — towards supporting the energy transition and genuine decarbonization. But overall, I am excited and hopeful, and I think that it’s a positive development.