Are you going to the EGU General Assembly in Vienna next week? If so, read on for a quick guide to navigating the week: Where to start, what to see and how to meet people and enjoy yourself! After all, the meeting is as much about the opportunities meet scientists from all over the world as it is about the science itself.
How on Earth do I know what is going on?!
The EGU General Assembly is a massive meeting with many parallel session, short courses, medal lectures and much more. So how do you know what is going on and when, and how can you effectively keep track of it all? 
The simplest way is to use the online EGU program – it has options to browse sessions of interest chronologically or by discipline. You can simply click on a session or an individual presentation to add it to your personal programme. You can then view your personal program online, print it as a PDF or if you have a smartphone you can also use the EGU2017 mobile app to keep track of your personal program on the go – scan the QR code to download it or click here from your smartphone.
Don’t forget to keep track of the twitter hastag #EGU17 to see what is happening on a second by second basis and also the #CryoEGU17 hashtag for up-to-date cryosphere news.
Short courses
Short courses at EGU are designed to give you an insight into a certain area or topic and cover all sorts of subjects and skills. There are many courses running at EGU this year – we have highlighted a few below, but be sure to check out the full list in the online program. Short courses provide a great chance to learn about a topic, skill or piece of software that has been on your to do list, so why not drop by and meet the experts who have kindly agreed to participate and share their knowledge?
How to navigate EGU: tips & tricks
When and Where: Mon, 24 Apr, 08:30–10:00, Room -2.31
Held first thing on Monday morning, this could be just the session you need to get your week off to a productive start!
Quantarctica
When and Where: Mon, 24 Apr, 13:30–15:00, Room -2.31
Are you working on Antarctica data and getting to grips with GIS? Then this course is for you! The User Workshop is aimed at beginning and intermediate GIS users and Antarctic researchers interested in learning how to integrate, analyze, and present their own research data with the free, open-source, cross-platform QGIS software. Participants should install and test the latest version of the Quantarctica package on their laptops prior to arriving at the workshop.
Crashing the Cryosphere
When and Where: Mon, 24 Apr, 15:30–17:00, Room -2.16
This is one to tell your cryo-curious friends from other divisions about! We are inviting scientists from all areas to join us in “gate-crashing” the Cryosphere Division and learn about how topics in cryospheric science are relevant to their research. During the short course, four cryosphere experts will introduce their research, giving you the background to venture further into cryospheric topics during the rest of the meeting.
- Keynote Intro: Olaf Eisen (The AWI, DE and head of EGU Cryosphere Division)
- Ice-Ocean interaction: Inga Koszalka (GEOMAR, Kiel, DE)
- The Arctic Atmosphere : John Prytherch (MISU, Stockholm, SE)
- Avalanches: Thierry Faug (Irstea, FR)
- GIA/Solid Earth: Valentina Barletta (DTU, DK)
Communicating Climate Change – blogging as a group
When and Where: Wed, 26 Apr, 13:30–15:00, Room -2.85
Blogs are a great way to communicate your science, but where do you start? This interactive short course will begin with an introduction from Mathew Reeve, founder of ClimateSnack. It will then be over to you to get some practice experience at editing a blog post – turning an awful draft into a pleasant and clear blog post. Please bring a pen and paper.
Successful strategies to design, develop and write a scientific paper
When and Where: Wed, 26 Apr, 17:30–19:00, Room N2
An essential part of a career in research is publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals. This means responding to reviews of your own work and reviewing the work of other scientists. In this short course you will get the chance to learn how to navigate the review process. The course will start with some advice, tip and tricks from Benjamin Rabe (Researcher, AWI, Germany), Julienne Stroeve (Senior Research Scientist, NSIDC, USA), Tom Coulthard (Professor of Physical Geography, University of Hull, UK) and Paul Cumine (Publisher, Geophysics and Oil & Gas Journals, Elsevier Ltd., UK) before a panel discussion to allow you to get answers to those burning questions you may have!
Polar Science Career Panel (EGU Cryosphere and APECS)
When and Where: Thu, 27 Apr, 15:30–17:00, Room -2.16
Many early career scientists come to EGU looking for inspiration to take the next step in their careers. There are so many opportunities both academic and elsewhere that it can be daunting to know where to start looking and what the options are. Join us for a panel discussion about everything to do with life post-polar-PhD and expand your ideas about where you might go next. Our panelists are:
- Felicity Liggins (Climate Scientist and Outreach Program Manager, Met Office, UK)
- Robert McSweeney (Science Writer, Carbon Brief)
- Lindsey Nicholson (PostDoc, Uni. Innsbruck, Austria)
- Kerim Nisancioglu (Prof. Of Earth Sciences, Uni. Bergen, Norway)
- Wiebke Schubotz (Project Coordinator of HD(CP)², Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Germany)
Social event for Early Career Cryosphere Scientists!
So you have an idea of what scientific stuff is going on, but there is, of course, another important aspect to any conference…. they are a great place to socialise! However, it can be very daunting to know how and where to meet people at such a large meeting. This year the EGU Cryosphere team are organising two social events joint with APECS as well as a lunch for anyone who is interested in joining our blog team – also don’t forget the March for Science taking place on Saturday the 22nd April.
Pre-Icebreaker Meet Up
The conference icebreaker can be a daunting experience to attend alone but it is a great event to go along to. We are organising a friendly pre-icebreaker meet up for cryospheric ECSs on Sunday 23rd from 16:00. We will meet at a yet-to-be-determined cafe in Vienna, have a chat, do some networking, have a cake and then head to the EGU conference centre together in time for the icebreaker. Keep your eyes on the Facebook event for more details!
Cryo Night Out!
On Thursday evening (27th), after the Polar Science Career Panel there will be a joint APECS and EGU Cryosphere division night out. We will be leaving from the conference centre after the panel session (Room -2.16) and heading for Wieden Braü for food and drinks, you can walk down with us as a group or meet there at 19:30. If you would like to eat please fill out the Facebook poll to give us an idea of numbers! Hopefully see plenty of faces old and new there 😀
EGU Cryosphere Bloggers Lunch
An informal lunch meeting for anyone interested in getting involved in the EGU Cryosphere blog on Tuesday 25th. Meet in front of the main entrance at 12:15 and we will decide on where to go depending on the weather. Please email the editors Emma (emma.smith@awi.de) or Sophie (sberger@ulb.ac.be) if you want to come along but aren’t sure who to look for. As an extra incentive Sophie will be bringing some Belgian chocolate!!
Ice Core Young Scientist (ICYS) social
Early-career scientists with an interest in ice cores are invited to join the Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS) for a get-together with drinks and/or dinner on Tuesday 25th, from 18:30 (more details on facebook).
The get-together will take place at Café Einstein, Rathausplatz 4, Vienna . For those going directly from the conference venue, we will be leaving from there at 17:45, and you can find us (Mai Winstrup & Emma Kahle) by the main entrance.
March for Science
The day before the official start of the EGU GA (Saturday 22nd April) is Earth Day. On this day scientists and science enthusiasts across the globe will be marching to celebrate science and to call for the safeguarding of its future. A satellite march organised by local researchers is taking place in Vienna. If you are going to be in Vienna on the Saturday then it is a great chance to get involved – find out more details, including where and when to meet, on the EGU blog.
Am I an ECS?
The EGU officially defines an Early Career Scientist (ECS) as:
an undergraduate or postgraduate (Masters/PhD) student or a scientist who has received his or her highest degree (BSc, MSc, or PhD) within the past seven years (where appropriate, up to one year of parental leave time may be added per child).
However, everyone is of course more than welcome to come along and attend the short courses and social events organised by your ECS team, the more the merrier!
General Advice….
The General Assembly can be an overwhelming experience. Here are some tips from the EGU Cryosphere’s esteemed ECS representative Nanna Karlsson:
- Take advantage of the lunch breaks and go for a walk! When you exit the main conference building turn left and head for the river, or turn right and you will find that behind the concrete buildings there is a very nice park.
- Go to a session outside your field or area of interest. Even in completely different research topics, I often find similarities in methods or applications that inspire me to think differently about my own research.
- Explore Vienna and treat yourself to a bit of time off to recover during the week. If your programme is completely packed, then hurry to the U-Bahn in a lunch break (the ticket is after all included in the registration fee) and go to the centre of town. Half an hour’s stroll will give you at least an impression of the city and you will not leave Vienna with the feeling that you have really only seen the conference centre.
Edited by Nanna Karlsson
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