The Energy Group Awards
Each year, the Energy Group makes awards in recognition of achievements and talent of individuals within the energy geoscience industry.
Please use the forms below to nominate for the Energy Group Medal Award or the Early Career Energy Geoscientist Award.
Submit a nomination for the Energy Group Awards
Nominations for the 2025 Energy Group Awards are now CLOSED. Further information will be available in due course for the 2026 awards deadline and process.
Energy Group Medal Award
The Energy Group Medal is an annual award presented to individuals with a geoscience background who have made an outstanding contribution to the energy industry.
Early Career Energy Geoscientist Award
The Early Career Energy Geoscientist Award is an annual award presented to recognise Energy Geoscientists in the early stages of their career. Nominees must be within ten years (full time equivalent) of the award of their first degree in geoscience or a cognate subject, and either have already made a significant contribution to the understanding of Energy geoscience or be an emerging talent who is making a significant impact in the field.
Past Award Winners
2025 winner: Henk Kombrink
Henk has a PhD in the Carboniferous of the southern North Sea from Utrecht 2008. He subsequently worked as a geologist, research geologist and senior geologist at TNO, Total and Lloyds Register for a total of 11 years, broadening from oil and gas to CCS and geothermal. Whilst his professional career was in industry he has published 20 peer reviewed papers (on Scopus) with papers on the geology of the NL, North Sea cross border and Carboniferous geology being the most highly cited.
In 2018 he founded North Sea Core C.I.C. with co-founder Kirstie Wright. This charitable project, which he continues to direct, re-purposes and gives new life to oil and gas cores from the North Sea for educational purposes and helps preserve some of the immense knowledge base that would otherwise end up in landfill. The core boxes are in frequent use across the UK and are gaining traction abroad too.
More recently Henk changed career track from technical geology to more editorial and journalistic roles, becoming the Editor in Chief of the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, which is a highly respected peer-reviewed journal (formerly Geol Mijnbouw). In addition he took on editing and finally becoming the chief editor of the very popular geoscience magazine GeoExpro https://geoexpro.com/, providing timely, insightful and highly varied and readable (and much read!) articles on anything related to subsurface utilization incl geothermal, CCS, energy storage, oil and gas, etc. This is mainly aimed at geologists and requires a large amount of travel and flair for networking and an impressive work ethic and rate to succeed, which he does.
Henk Kombrink is a very familiar name to subsurface geologists in the UK and Europe, many of whom will have read his scientific articles and will read his GeoExpro articles on a weekly basis. He reports comfortably from all areas of the energy transition, has co-founded and successfully runs a significant geoscience charity, edits a well reputed international journal.
Previous winners
2023 Marie Cowan
2024 Malcolm Butler
2023 Marie Cowan
2022 Stuart Haszeldine
2021 Philip Ringrose
2025 winner: Matt Sharp
A geothermal exploration specialist with a focus on greenfield projects, Matt graduated from Durham University in 2015 with a MSci in Geoscience and is accredited as a Chartered Geologist and Chartered Scientist. With extensive operational experience across Africa, Indonesia, and the UK, Matt combines his technical expertise with strong capabilities in managing health and safety (H&S), environmental and social (E&S) responsibilities, and stakeholder engagement.
Matt began his career in Ethiopia, leading field activities that identified 400 MWe of geothermal potential. Recognising the untapped potential of direct-use geothermal in East Africa, he co-founded Red Rose Resources (RRR) to bridge the gap between companies seeking to decarbonise their energy use and the technical expertise needed to secure grant funding. Through this work, Matt has played a key role in expanding geothermal adoption in the region, securing over $3 million in funding for projects in Tanzania and Kenya.
A strong advocate for greater professional development opportunities for early career geoscientists in the UK and beyond, Matt was a founding member and first elected Chair of the Early Career Network of the GSL, serving for over six years. He sat on Professional Committee between 2021 – 2024 and continues to contribute as a Chartership assessor.
Previous winners
2024 Chantelle Roelofse
2023 Natalie Farrell
2022 Munira Raji
2021 Lucy Cotton
2018 Jen Brzozowska
2017 Tony Doré
2014 Richard Hardman
2019 Kitty Hall
2018 Richard Swarbrick
2017 Jonathan Craig
2016 Gro Haatvedt
2015 Alastair Fraser
2014 Mike Daly
2013 Peter Rose
2012 John Underhill
2011 Malcolm Brown
2010 Joe Cartwright
2009 Bruce Levell
2008 Tony Hayward
2007 Tony Dore
2006 Roy Franklin OBE
2005 Mike Watts
2004 Alan Booth
2003 Dick Selley
2002 Richard Hardman
2001 Harold Reading
2000 Ken Glennie
1999 David Roberts
1998 John Martin
1997 Robert Stoneley
1996 Malcolm Pattinson
1995 John Brooks
1994 Nigel Anstey
1993 Ian Maycock
1992 Myles Bowen
1991 Victor Colter
2019 Scott Liebnitz
2018 Camille Burgess
2017 David Riley
2016 Benjamin Taylor
2015 Ceri Griffith-Swain
2014 Mehdi Yusifov
2013 Fiona Fairhurst
2011 David Fisher
2010 David Jones
2009 Barnaby Roome
2008 Jeremy Lynch
2007 Kristan Reimann
2006 Bryan Ritchie
2005 John Smallwood
2004 Mark Dalrymple
2003 Simon Stewart