On January 24, 2024, at the age of 76, the eminent Slovak geomorphologist Miloš Stankoviansky passed away.

He was born on July 14, 1947, in Myjava. His interest about environment and history of his birth place drove him to the study of geography at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava (1965 to 1970).
In years 1970 to 2001 he worked at the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava (IG SAS), where he finished his PhD study by defending a thesis entitled “Geomorphological conditions of the Hrabutnica River basin and the adjacent area with special regard to recent relief-forming processes” in 1977. Then he continued to work at the IG SAS as a researcher, and long-time scientific secretary. His research activities were mainly focused on dynamic geomorphology. He was significantly influenced by his collaboration with prof. Asher P. Schick of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the 1990s, he led a sub-team of IG SAS in a trilateral project coordinated by this internationally renowned fluvial geomorphologist. The evaluation of the response of various watersheds to the human activity was the aim of the project. The project directed his research activities towards the impact of human activities on recent slope processes and gully erosion. Gullies then became his companions until the end of his scientific research career. In 2001, he moved from the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to the Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava, where he had been lecturing externally since the late 1980s. Here he completed the work on his profile monograph “Geomorphological response of environmental changes in the territory of the Myjavská pahorkatina Upland“, for which he was awarded the Literary Fund Prize in 2003 and which he defended as his habilitation thesis in the same year. In 2003 he became the head of this Department and served in this position until 2011. In 2015 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Faculty.

In the course of his professional career, Miloš Stankoviansky was involved in various aspects of geomorphological research – from general geomorphology and basic geomorphological mapping, through (morpho)structural, dynamic and historical geomorphology, to anthropogenic, engineering and environmental geomorphology. However, he gained the most significant recognition in the field of the geomorphological response of environmental (climatic and anthropogenic) changes in the present and historical landscape, due to the influence of runoff and ploughing processes. He was a pioneer of such research in Slovakia and built his scientific school based on that topic. The results of his research in the Myjavská pahorkatina Upland, through presentations at conferences, publications in renowned journals, conducting of excursions and accompanying numerous guests, have made it so visible that foreign colleagues have ranked it among the most important European research sites in this field.
He has achieved these results thanks to intensive contacts with the international scientific community. He has participated in exchange study and lecture stays in Florence (1993), Tokyo, Kyoto and Tsukuba (1996), Thessaloniki (2004), Belfast (2005), Kraków (2006 and 2009), Ljubljana (2007), Pilsen (2010) and has actively participated in dozens of international conferences. At several congresses of the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG/AIG) he was the official representative of the Association of Slovak Geomorphologists, which he co-founded in 1996 and became the first chairman of its executive committee. He was also one of the protagonists of the activation of the Carpatho-Balkan Geomorphological Commission (KBGK) and from 2003 to 2007 he was the President of this regional geomorphological group. As President of the KBGK, he took the initiative to raise the visibility of this organization by obtaining the endorsement of the International Association of Geomorphologists, which was achieved by the adoption of the Carpatho-Balkan-Dinaric Regional Working Group (IAG/AIG CBDR-WG) at the IAG/AIG Congress in Zaragoza (2005). He has been its Chair throughout the whole period of its functioning from 2005 to 2013. He initiated and co-edited the monograph Recent Landform Evolution: the Carpathian-Balkan-Dinaric Region (Springer, 2012), which was co-edited by geomorphologists from all eleven member countries. He also served as the national representative of the Steering Committee of the projects on soil erosion within the European COST Programme: Action 623 Soil Erosion and Global Change (2001 to 2003), Action 634 On- and Off-site Environmental Impact of Runoff and Erosion (2004 to 2008).

The high international scientific reputation of Miloš Stankoviansky is illustrated by the organization of several very successful international conferences (International Symposium Time, Frequency and Dating in Geomorphology, 1992, COMTAG, IGU; International Symposium Geomorphic Response to Land Use Changes, 2000, GERTEC, IGU; Carpatho-Balkan Conference on Geomorphology, 2003), scientific field trips, invited lectures at the Universities of Leuven (1998), Kraków (2004), Louvain-la-Neuve (2006) and Brno (2011), and co-editorship of several special issues of international peer-reviewed journals. He was also a long-standing member of the editorial boards of several journals (Geomorphologia Slovaca et Bohemica, Studia Geomorphologica Carpatho-Balcanica, Folia Geographica and Landform Analysis).

Miloš Stankoviansky was a scientific and pedagogical personality of both Slovak and international geography and geomorphology, an extremely motivated and enthusiastic scientist, a tenacious field researcher, an excellent collaborator, a meticulous administrator and organizer, a friendly, helpful and competent teacher and, above all, a very honest, hard-working and beloved fellow, husband, father and grandfather.

Zora Machová, Jozef Minár, Ján Novotný

Dear colleagues,

We learnt with great sadness that our colleague and friend Morgan De Dapper passed away. He was a full honorary member of the Classe des Sciences Naturelles et Médicales (Class of Natural and Medical Sciences) from the Belgium Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences), geographer, geomorphologist, former Secretary General of the International Association of Geomorphologists and founder of the IAG Working Group ‘Geoarchaeology’.

Born in Deinze (Belgium) on the 17th of July 1947, he passed away there on the 17th of November 2023.
He began his scientific journey in Greece when he was still a student, with the Pharos scientific expedition; but his PhD study field was in the Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaïre, Africa). He spent his entire career in the Rijksuniversiteit Gent (Gand University) to which, as a Flamand and lecturer, he was deeply attached. He started working on his thesis there as an intern, in the Laboratorium voor Fysische Aardrijkskunde en Regionale Bodemkunde (Laboratory of Physical Geography and Regional Pedology). He then became Assistant, First Assistant and Project Officer in the same laboratory. Morgan De Dapper obtained his PhD in Geography in 1978, and became a lecturer on the 1st of October 1991 in the Laboratoire de Géographie Physique (Laboratory of Physical Geography, which name changed for ‘Geography Department’ in 1993). He was appointed Professor in 2002, Full Professor in 2008, and Professor Emeritus in 2012.

Morgan De Dapper was elected Associated Member of the Belgium Section des Sciences Naturelles et Médicales from the Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer on the 4th of September 1989, promoted Full Member on the 30th of April 1993, and finally reached the status of Honorary Member in 2012. He was the head of his Section from 2005 to 2013, and the head of the whole Académie in 2005.

His research mainly focused on regional geomorphology and geoarchaeology in tropical and Mediterranean regions – with particular attention drawn to less-favoured countries. He worked in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Türkiye (Anatolia), Syria, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Bahrein, Iran, Egypt (Nil delta and Upper Egypt), Soudan (Nubia), Yemen (Socotra Island), Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Chile (Easter Island). He founded the IAG Working Group ‘Geoarchaeology’ in 1995, of which he has been President and Vice-President. He was also President of the Association Belge des Géomorphologues (Belgian Association of Geomorphologists), Vice-President of the Société Belge de Géographie (Belgian Society for Geography Studies), member of the editorial board of BELGEO (the Belgian geography journal), member of the National Committee for Quaternary Studies from the Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique. Morgan De Dapper was also member and former President (2005) of the Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, where he was also President of the Commission sur le Développement et l’Environnement (Commission for Development and Environment).

He had strong convictions, was highly committed to the collective, and was a man of great scientific and human generosity. He was a driving force for the IAG, which he helped to found in 1989. For his commitment in the IAG, rare in terms of continuity and strength, and also for his international reputation and scientific influence, I had the great pleasure to award him the title of IAG Honorary Fellowship in Delhi in 2017 – the highest distinction of the Association.
With unwavering support for less-developed countries, he did his best to help the emergence and visibility of young African and Eastern European researchers. When I was the President of the Groupe Français de Géomorphologie (French Geomorphology Group), I remember of his support for Belgium to join Italy and France in developing a scientific network with young Romanian researchers.
Beyond our scientific collaborations, we developed strong ties of friendship. His overflowing activity would not have been possible without the support of his loving family. We lost a friend and colleague. Our thoughts are with his beloved wife and family.

Eric Fouache
Professor – UFR de Géographie et Aménagement
Sorbonne Université
UR Médiations Sciences des Lieux, Sciences des Liens
Senior Honorary Member of the IUF
Former IAG President (2013-2017)

IN MEMORIAM. Prof. Mateo Gutiérrez-Elorza

Prof. Mateo Gutiérrez-Elorza died last September 9, in Zaragoza, Spain. A sad and curious coincidence, just the day after the closure of the 16th National Meeting on Geomorphology, held in that same city. During the opening ceremony of the meeting, the President of the Sociedad Española de Geomorfología, Dr. Gloria Desir, mentioned Mateo’s crucial and leading role in the development of Geomorphology in Spain, and his significant international contributions, and so did the speakers of the opening and closing lectures. Mateo’s scientific category and friendly character made him a generally respected and loved colleague, both in Spain and internationally. Not surprisingly, because of the above-mentioned coincidence, his family, colleagues and friends have already received numerous expressions of condolence, from different corners of Spain and the world.

Born in Burgos, N Spain, in 1941, Mateo got his BSc (1963) and PhD (1969) in Geology at the Universidad Complutense, Madrid. Between 1970 and 1977, he lectured at the Universidad Complutense and the Colegio Universitario de Teruel. He became Lecturer at the Universidad de Zaragoza in 1977 and Full Professor in 1980.

He was an enthusiastic researcher, interested in a wide spectrum of geomorphological topics, and made significant contributions in several of them, often of an innovative character.  To mention a few: Periglacial environments (Gutiérrez and Peña, 1976, 1981; Gutiérrez and Gutiérrez, 2014b). Geoarchaeology, with contributions (Burillo et al., 1981, 1984, 1985) that were pioneer in Spain. Karst, especially his work on poljes (Gutiérrez et al., 1983; Gracia et al., 1996, 2001, 2002) and doline fields in gypsum and limestone terrains (Gutiérrez and Peña, 1979 a, 1979 b; Gutiérrez et al., 1985, 2007; Benito and Gutiérrez, 1988; Gutiérrez and Gutiérrez, 1998; Galve et al., 2009). Netectonics (Capote et al., 1981; Gutiérrez et al., 2008). Analysis of the geomorphic effects of extreme hydrological events (Gutiérrez et al., 1998b, 2003). Geomorphological cycles related to climate oscillations (Gutiérrez and Peña, 1998; Harvey and Gutiérrez-Elorza, 2005). Talus flatirons (Gutiérrez Elorza and Sesé Martínez, 2001; Gutiérrez et al., 1998a, 2006, 2010), yardangs (Gutiérrez et al., 2005; Gutiérrez and Gutiérrez, 2014a). Quantification of erosion in badlands and other arid environments in the Ebro valley, using different field techniques (Gutiérrez et al., 1988, 1997; Sancho et al., 1991; Desir et al., 1995; Sirvent et al., 1997). He presented an excellent synthesis on this topic during his entry lecture at the Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas, Químicas y Naturales de Zaragoza (Gutiérrez-Elorza, 1998).

He also made important contributions of a more general, theoretical character. Worthy of mention are those on the history of Geomorphology in Spain (Gutiérrez-Elorza, 1990) and the world (Gutiérrez-Elorza and Pérez-González, 1992), as well as his books (Spanish and English versions) Climatic Geomorphology (2001 and 2005) and Geomorphology (2008 and 2012). Also, the two volumes edited on Landscapes and landforms of Spain (Gutiérrez and Gutiérrez, Eds., 2014) and Landforms of the world. An illustrated guide (Gutiérrez and Gutiérrez, 2016). The latter work contains an excellent compendium of photographs, a thematic catalogue of landforms. They all are examples of Mateo’s wide knowledge and interest on all aspects of Geomorphology. Reflection of this interest are his numerous PhD students, working in different research institutions of Spain, a number of which are internationally recognised scientists.

He was an active participant in several international events (organised by the International Geographical Union and the International Association of Geomorphologists) leading to the important transformation experienced by Geomorphology, both internationally and in Spain during the nineteen eighties. His impulse was behind the considerable expansion of geomorphological research in Spain in the later part of last century. Following the International Conferences on Geomorphology of Manchester (1985) and Frankfurt (1989), he was the leading force for the organisation of the I Reunión Nacional de Geomorfología (Teruel, Spain, 1990), during which he was elected first President of the Sociedad Española de Geomorfología (SEG). Over 30 years later, the SEG is active and strong, showing the success of Mateo’s original idea of harmoniously integrating geographers and geologists into the common task of fostering this field of the Earth Sciences.

Special mention must be made to the organization of the 6th International Conference on Geomorphology, held in Zaragoza in 2005. It was a very successful event, with 861 participants from 61 countries. Twenty field trips were organised, all of them with very complete field guides, and a congress for young geomorphologists, including an excursion, took place as well. The great effort this complex event required, and its success, was possible thanks to the work of a handful of people, mostly young geomorphologists, inspired and enthusiastically led by Mateo.

Many of us remember him at his office, surrounded by books and offprints trying to understand the processes and factors that determine the evolution of landforms. He was a passionate scientist, a tireless reader full of questions for which he sought answers. We will always remember his relentless interest to communicate his passion and knowledge about landforms.

Last, but surely not least, he was a lovable person. He had a friendly, amusing character, especially when he was in the field. He enjoyed being with friends, be it in the field or at the office, discussing different (scientific and other) topics, and generously sharing data, knowledge and questions. In the last few years, deterioration of his health forced him to retire from the front geomorphological line, but he has left behind a notable scientific heritage and a large number of friends who will miss his presence, closeness and good humour. We owe him very much and will always remember him as a great scientist, decisive for the development of Geomorphology in Spain.

October 2023
Antonio Cendrero, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander
José María García-Ruiz, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, CSIC, Zaragoza