On March 7, 2023, CMU and the Department of Mineral Resources signed an MoU to extend their academic collaboration in geology.
CMU President, Professor Dr. Pongruk Sribunditmongkol, has offered his congratulations and expressed that building partnerships, both domestically and internationally, is crucial to the university’s research output that creates knowledge and innovation that contributes to development on all scales, from local to global. The long-standing collaboration between the department of Mineral Resources and CMU has resulted in a great number of outcomes with positive impacts, including joint fossil research in several areas, taxonomic studies, geophysical and geological engineering exploration, and organisation of events such as GEOTHAI conferences, seminars, meetings and field trips, as well as producing graduates in geology.
In 2021, the two organisations conducted a joint study project, funded by the Fossil Management Fund, on petrified wood in diatomite sources in Lampang to interpret palaeoclimatology data and study the palaeocene climate. Both parties agreed to improve the capacity to execute mission-specific operations, particularly in the northern region.
Dr. Oranut Loapaensri, Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources, has asserted that the department is set to collaborate with CMU to enhance both parties’ academic strength and improve the capacity to execute mission-specific operations, particularly in the northern region. This would result in great benefits for the staff of both parties and the country as a whole. The key idea is that there will be support for joint research integrating knowledge in mineral and geological resources, fossil, geopark, environmental geology, geohazard and geotechnology. It will also improve laboratory and equipment support, operational standard development, and information exchange for research, evaluation and implementation, as well as organising training programmes, seminars, conferences and academic service activities. This collaboration will offer great opportunities for both parties to use their expertise and resources to promote academic work and enrich the country’s intellectual repository, leading to sustainable development. This continuous effort by the Department of Mineral Resources and CMU is going to help promote academic strength and personnel development, contributing to the national development goals of security, prosperity, and sustainability.