Short Courses

Continuing professional development training for professionals in oil and gas, water, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, geothermal, and environmental management. 

On the job, petroleum engineering with a pink and blue sky.

Training in Australia by world-leaders in GeoEnergy

‘GeoEnergy Resources’ is a term used to describe any energy resource or technology that interacts with the subsurface of the Earth. This encompasses established industries such as oil and gas, as well as developing areas like geothermal energy and the storage of carbon, hydrogen, compressed air and radioactive waste. Water and environmental management sectors are also seeing the benefits of understanding how subsurface structures influence above-surface systems. 

At the School of Chemical Engineering, we leverage our knowledge and experience in Australia’s hydrocarbon systems and apply it to new energy industries, like carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen storage. This is our contribution to the clean energy future.  

To complement our knowledge in subsurface geology and engineering, we bring in legal, environmental, business, organisational psychology, and physical sciences specialists from other parts of The University of Adelaide:  

  • Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Resources (ISER), which leads sustainability research to advance Australia towards Net Zero 
  • Stretton Institute, which conducts research on public policy issues including bringing industry and government together on climate change policy 
  • Adelaide Business School (ABS), which produces business leaders across a range of disciplines, including Accounting, Finance and Banking, Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship. It is also home to ThincLab which supports creative thinkers, rule-breakers and challengers 
  • Environment Institute, which addresses complex environmental problems and exports innovation to the world. 
  • Why complete professional development training with us?

    • Wide range of industry-led courses available.   
    • 1st in Australia and 10th in the world in Petroleum Engineering (QS World University Rankings 2022) and 5/5 rating – ‘above world standard’ – in the research fields of ‘Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy’ and ‘Geology’ (Australian Government’s Excellence in Research Australia assessment). 
    • Presented by award-winning subsurface engineers and geoscientists with demonstrated excellence in teaching and training. 
    • Interactive, thought-provoking courses – our lessons are run as workshops, with questions and discussions about real-life workplaces encouraged. 
    • Hybrid modules* available – choose from basic to advanced levels with options to tailor the content to your specific needs, online or face-to-face, at your site or ours, some staff can do only the first day of the course for introductory-level content, others stay for the rest of the week for a ‘deep dive’.  
    • No need to travel overseas – the best training on Australian subsurface geoscience and engineering is right here with in-person training delivered in Adelaide, one of the world’s most liveable cities. 

    * We offer flexible course content for most subjects.  

  • GeoEnergy courses


Our team

  • Energy transition team

    Professor Pavel Bedrikovetski  

    A hugely respected figure in the world of reservoir engineering and enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Professor Bedrikovetski has applied his mathematical modelling expertise in fluid flow and porous media to carbon sequestration and hydrogen storage. He was named Society of Petroleum Engineers’ ‘Distinguished Lecturer’ in 2008-2009 and 2016-2017, and ‘Distinguished Member’ in 2020-21. He has 40 years’ industrial experience in Russia, Europe, Brazil and Australia.   


    Dr Ulrike Schacht   

    Dr Schacht’s research and teaching expertise spans across carbon storage site selection and characterisation, natural analogue studies for carbon storage as well as monitoring and verification for carbon storage sites. She applies her skills to hydrogen storage and environmental monitoring too.   


    Dr Alireza Salmachi   

    As a specialist lecturer in the fundamentals of drilling engineering, well completion and stimulation, Dr Salmachi also applies his expertise to underground hydrogen storage, carbon sequestration in underground coal formations, and environmentally friendly drilling fluids.   


    Dr Sara Borazjani   

    Dr Borazjani is a leading researcher in the mathematical modelling of two-phase flow in porous media, a complex research area with applications in petroleum, carbon and hydrogen storage, and environmental management. Recently she has been modelling the sequestration of CO2 in rocks deep underground.   


    Dr Abbas ZeiniJahromi   

    As discipline lead for Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Dr ZeiniJahromi ensures that our people focus on top quality, industry-focused research. His expertise is subsurface engineering with a focus on reactive multi-phase flow in porous media. Applications for his knowledge include EOR, carbon storage, and reservoir modelling.  

  • Professional and compliance team

    Dr Matthew Welsh   

    Dr Welsh has worked with the School of Chemical Engineering for 20 years, researching and consulting on human decision making in the mining and petroleum industry. He has worked with multi-national oil companies, medical research groups, defence, and police. He is a 2020-21 Society of Petroleum Engineers’ ‘Distinguished Lecturer’ on how cognitive science can help industry decision making, and author of ‘Bias in Science and Communication: A Field Guide’.   


    Maria Gonzalez Perdomo   

    Mrs Gonzalez Perdomo joined the University of Adelaide in 2009 after working for several years in the oil and gas industry in subsurface and production engineering. Her specialties are hydraulic fracturing, data analytics including deep learning, and production optimisation.  

  • Sedimentary basin team

    Dr Rachelle Kernen   

    Dr Kernen is a geoscientist with an industry background in both petroleum and mining exploration, including deepwater seismic interpretation and copper exploration in sedimentary deposits. She has expertise in salt-sediment interaction, intrasalt stratigraphy, deformation, and caprocks, with a growing focus on the subsurface storage of CO2 and hydrogen.   


    Dr Khalid Amrouch   

    Dr Amrouch integrates geomechanical, petrophysical and structural techniques to better understand the evolution of the upper crust deformation and related mechanics, the geo-fluids migration, and their mechanical effect on rocks through time and space. He is an expert in brittle deformation and 4D stress analysis and applies this expertise to understand the subsurface from microscopic to whole-ofbasin scales.   


    Dr Mark Bunch   

    With skills in digital rendering of past landscapes and features preserved in the subsurface, Dr Bunch brings sedimentary basins to life in engaging and informative ways. He teaches about interpreting seismic data, reservoir modelling and locating potential gas storage sites.  

  • Specialisation team

    Dr Mohammad Sayyafzadeh   

    With qualifications in chemical, reservoir and petroleum engineering, Dr Sayyafzadeh has unique, multidisciplinary specialist expertise. He is also a skilled computational mathematician and applies machine learning and uncertainty quantification to optimise field development.   


    Associate Professor Manouchehr Haghighi   

    Associate Professor Haghighi has more than 30 years’ experience working in integrated reservoir simulation, unconventional resources, CO2 sequestration and machine learning. Prior to the University of Adelaide, ‘Manny’ spent 15 years in industry including directing integrated reservoir simulation studies.   


    Dr Thomas Russell   

    Dr Russell performs novel research on fluid flow and formation damage in porous media, using mathematical modelling and laboratory experimentation to assist enhanced oil and gas recovery and the injection and storage of CO2. 


Registration and fees

To discuss which course may be suit your circumstances, contact us: 

Tel: +61 8 8313 1474 
Email: chemeng@adelaide.edu.au 

For full details of upcoming courses in subsurface geoscience and engineering, please visit our course outlines listing.