Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme (ESOP)

“I am Portuguese and I completed my bachelor degree in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. The title of my bachelor's thesis was ‘A Numerical Approach to Boudinage’ and the title of my proposal was ‘The role of structure in subduction initiation at Atlantic type margins’.

As you can see, I am passionate about numerical modelling and geodynamics. Yet I chose to major in Geology and not Geophysics so as to not forget where models come from and the role of field observation and field work in Geology. I am fascinated by numerical modelling as it allows us to observe millions of years in a few seconds and to discover possible causes for the most wide spectrum of geological phenomena, the most intriguing of all, in my point of view, corresponding to subduction initiation.

Most importantly, my passion lies with geology, and as such, back in Portugal I went to several events to promote geology, as a course and in general, and even arranged a presentation in my old high school, so as to motivate students towards geology. I also mentored younger bachelor students - and I still do, in my free time.”

“My name is Raffaele Spielmann and I am from Switzerland. This summer, I graduated from ETH Zurich with a Bachelor’s degree in Earth and Climate Sciences and I am currently enrolled in the Master’s programme in Earth Sciences witht the Major in Engineering Geology.

I developed a fascination for the field of engineering geology during my exchange semester at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, where I was attending a lecture of a very inspiring professor. During my stay at UBC, I was also writing the pre-proposal for a possible Master’s thesis, which is a requirement for the application to the ESOP. By writing a pre-proposal with the title ‘Back-calculation and runout analysis of the 2017 Pizzo Cengalo rock avalanche-debris flow event’, I decided to focus on an engineering geological topic.  

Dr. Jordan Aaron kindly offered to become my mentor as part of the ESOP. I am very grateful for having him as a mentor, especially since he already helped me with the pre-proposal and was the supervisor of my Bachelor’s thesis.

When I am not studying at ETH Zurich, I act as head of a scout group, engage in an orchestra and sports club or I go running.”