Koen Verbruggen is the Director of Geological Survey Ireland (GSI), which is the Irish geoscience agency and knowledge centre, and part of the Government Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

He has been with GSI since 2000, working in Minerals and then Information Management where he developed GSI’s free digital data on-line policy. From 2006-13 he managed INFOMAR (Integrated Mapping for Sustainable Development of Irelands Marine Resource), the Irish national marine mapping programme run in conjunction with the Marine Institute, which is acknowledged as a global exemplar programme. In 2013 he became Director of GSI and for 2015 & 2016 he was elected President of EuroGeoSurveys, the organisation which represents all European Geological Surveys.

Prior to GSI, Koen worked for 15 years in the international exploration industry, principally in the minerals sector in Ireland, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Africa. He holds a BSc in Geology and MSc in Petroleum Geology from University College Dublin, he is a long term Professional Member of the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (P.Geo) and the European Federation of Geologists (EFG). In 2018 Koen was admitted as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA).