Mineral Deposits Studies Group

   

The 49th Winter Meeting of the Mineral Deposits Studies Group will take place in Belfast in early January 2027 (4th-6th), organized by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland.

The technical meeting will open with an icebreaker at The Northern Whig  on the evening of Monday the 4th of January in Belfast City Centre. Time to be confirmed.

Keynote talks, technical sessions, and poster sessions will occur on Tuesday the 5th and Wednesday 6th of January at W5. W5 is located in the Belfast Titanic Quarter, a 15-20 minute walk from the city centre. All lunches and morning/afternoon refreshments, and the conference dinner are included in the registration cost. The conference dinner will take place at Titanic Belfast on the evening of Tuesday 5th January.

Prizes: There will be prizes for the Best Student Talk (sponsored by Rio Tinto), Best Student Poster (sponsored by Rio Tinto), Best Student Masters-level Project (sponsored by the Applied Mineralogy Group), and Best Mineral Systems Talk (sponsored by Halliburton).

Keynotes: We have a number of excellent keynote speakers lined up, including Dr Mike Stock (Trinity College Dublin), Dr Marie Cowan (Director, Geological Survey of Northern Ireland), and our new MDSG ECR Distinguished Lecturer (to be announced shortly).

Social events (included in registration fee): on January 4th an evening icebreaker event will be held at The Northern Whig. The conference dinner will take place at Titanic Belfast on the evening of 5th January. There will also be a social run on the Tuesday morning (5th January) for those interested (time to be confirmed).

Workshop: We are planning a post-conference workshop (Thursday 7th January), restricted to ~25 PhD students / early career geologists. Details will be announced shortly. This will be held at the offices of the Department for the Economy where the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland is based. Further details will be announced soon.

 

Abstracts and registration: We welcome abstract submissions on any topic relevant to the MDSG community to ensure interesting and inspiring technical sessions. We will have 10 min talk slots (with additional time for questions) and poster sessions. Details on Poster format will be provided soon.

Registration and abstract submission is open, and will close on 9th of November at 5pm (UK time).

Please register here. You will be asked for dietary information. Please note allergies, and if you are vegan, gluten free, etc. There will be no remote (i.e. online-only) attendance for the conference this year. Please do not select this option when registering.

Please find the abstract template here.

Please upload your abstract when you register.

Please indicate upon registration whether you prefer an oral or poster presentation. Priority will be given to students if talks are oversubscribed.

If you have any questions please get in touch with one of the organizers at mdsgUK@gmail.com

Registration fees are:

• £125 student rate (undergraduate, masters level, PhD students)
• £175 retired professionals rate
• £250 full rate (not students or retired)

Accommodation: The conference will take place at W5 within the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. There are lots of choices of accommodation to suit every budget. These include Aloft by Marriott, Residence Inn, Premier Inn Belfast, AC Hotel, and several other options closer to the city centre.

Travel: Belfast is accessible by air from most major cities in the UK. George Best City airport is a short taxi / bus ride into the city centre and Titanic Quarter.

 

 

Student Bursaries: MDSG will be offering travel bursaries for students to help cover the costs of attendance at the MDSG Winter Meeting in Belfast. These will be £100 for eligible PhD students and £150 for eligible M level or undergraduate students. See below for eligibility details and how to apply.

Eligibility:

• Students must have registered for the conference and must attend.
• PhD students must have submitted an abstract.
• For M level and undergraduate students, priority will be given to those who have submitted an abstract. Thereafter, a set number of bursaries will be available per institution (likely 2, depending on uptake) to allow fair distribution between student bodies. Bursaries for those not submitting an abstract will be awarded with consideration of stated reason for applying.

Application:

• Students wishing to apply should forward their conference registration confirmation email to mdsgUK@gmail.com, with which bursary they are applying for (PhD or M level/Undergrad) in the subject line.
• The body of the message should be the forwarded registration confirmation email, along with student name, what level (e.g. PhD, MSc/MSci, Undergrad) and year of study they are in, what institution they are studying at, whether they have submitted an abstract, and a one sentence statement of why they are applying for the bursary (i.e. how they would benefit from receiving the bursary and attending the conference).
• Only applications containing all the information requested will be considered.
• Bursary applications must be submitted before 30^th November 2026.

Applicants will be informed if they were successful in early December. Funds will be disbursed after the conference – bank details will be collected by form during the on-site conference registration.

 

We would like to thank our generous sponsors below. If you are also interested in sponsoring the event, please get in touch with the conference organizers at mdsgUK@gmail.com