Geoscience Frontiers - Shaping the Future of Geoenergy

Mag. Erika Faigen, MSc PhD

Erika Faigen is an economic geographer and currently postdoctoral university assistent in the Department of Geography and Regional Research. She was a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellow in the Department until May 2025, and prior to that, she conducted postdoctoral research with Durham University (UK), Monash University (Australia), and the Centre for Minerals and Materials (Denmark). She holds a PhD from the University of Copenhagen. Her research interests are resource-making/world-making practices and processes, R&D on mineral-based materials, global (re)production networks, and the geopolitical economy of energy transitions, which she pursues with qualitative methods.

Her sub-discipline is Economic Geography which is focused on spatial changes from economic activities, specifically in the context of energy, resources and renewable energy technologies.

Mag. Dr. Peter Krois

Peter Krois earned both his MSc and PhD in geology with a specialization in sedimentology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He began his career at OMV in 1990 as a geologist in Austria and has gained international experience working in the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Norway. Over time, his responsibilities expanded into leadership and management roles. In 2023, he was appointed Managing Director of deeep Tiefengeothermie GmbH, the geothermal joint venture between OMV and Wien Energie. Beyond his professional commitments, Peter remains deeply engaged with geology. From 2019 to 2022 he served as President of the Austrian Geological Society (ÖGG).

Holger Paulick, PhD

Holger Paulick earned his PhD in Australia (1995–2000), working on volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization at the Centre for Ore Deposit Research (CODES). From 2000 to 2002, he worked as a research associate at the Freiberg Mining Academy, focusing on deep-sea mineral resources (“black smokers”). He continued his research from 2002 to 2008 at the University of Bonn, where he investigated the hydrothermal alteration of oceanic crust. Between 2008 and 2014, he served as a Senior Project Geologist at Boliden Mineral AB in northern Sweden, concentrating on copper and gold exploration. From 2014 to 2015, he worked as a Senior Researcher at GEUS, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. He then held a Professorship in Economic Geology at the Oulu Mining School, University of Oulu in Finland from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, he joined the Geological Survey of Austria as head of the Raw Materials Geology division, becoming deputy head of the Applied Geosciences directorate in 2020. Since 2023, he has led the Department of Raw Materials Geology and Geoenergy at GeoSphere Austria.

Mag. Dr. Ute Sattler

[coming soon]

Gabor Tari, PhD

Gabor C. Tari is the Group Chief Geologist at OMV Energy currently working in the Global Opportunities department. Previously he was Vice President of Geosciences at Vanco Energy, an independent oil and gas exploration company in Houston, Texas. He studied geophysics at Eötvös University in Budapest at the MSc level. After graduating, he spent two years as an academic researcher there and then moved to the Rice University, Houston, Texas, to obtain his PhD in geology and geophysics. Since 1994, he works as an explorer around the world, but mostly on African, European and Middle Eastern projects. Since he has degrees in both geophysics and geology, he worked early on as a geophysicist with Amoco in Houston, mostly as a reflection seismic data interpreter. Later, with Vanco and now with OMV, he worked mostly as a geologist specializing in regional and structural geology, sequence stratigraphy and basin evolution.