Energy, Resources and the Environment

Student reporter for ERE at the 2016 GA

loveless March 29, 2016

This year we will have our own student reporter, Lindsey Higgins, from Stockholm University, at the EGU GA. Lindsey will be reporting on research presented in the ERE sessions on this blog and social media. Please let us know if you think you have a suitable session for Lindsey to attend and report on. Here is some more about Lindsey and her motivations!

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Blog by Lindsey Higgins

As far back as I can remember, I have always felt drawn to the sciences. Fortunately, I had encouraging teachers when I was young and strong mentors throughout my university years. When choosing my degree program as an undergraduate, Physical Geography seemed like a perfect fit. It provided me with the opportunity to study a variety of topics and to really refine my research interests. At Buffalo State College in New York I chose a concentration of meteorology and climatology while also studying for a minor in Anthropology. This combination was the start of my interest in the intersection of human activity and environmental variability.

After taking part in any research project I could get myself into as an undergraduate, I felt the experience and drive necessary to further my academic career. At The Ohio State University I had the privilege of a research assistantship at the Byrd Polar Research Center in the Ice Core Climatology group. After working with a strictly climatological project for my Master’s degree, I was ready to move back into research that brought in the aspect of human involvement in the environment.

Currently, I am a PhD student at Stockholm University working with a crater lake in northern Tanzania. In my dissertation research, I use lake sediment to reconstruct past variability and remote sensing to look at modern fluctuations in the size of this lake. As this lake is an important freshwater resource for the people living around it, I became very interested in how it is affected by activities in the surrounding area and began collaborating with social scientists. If you are interested in this work, I will be presenting on Tuesday at 13.45 in room -2.47 during the session “Narrowing the gap: palaeoenvironment and human interaction during Late Quaternary” (CL1.06/GM6.9).

Aside from my research interests, I also find myself drawn to science communication and outreach. This is what led me to apply for a student reporter position at EGU. I often find myself asking how as researchers, we can translate our work to make it more understandable for the general public as well as people in positions to impact environmental policy development. It is my hope that after I complete my doctoral program, I can continue to be involved with this bridge between scientific research and public outreach.

I am grateful for this opportunity to report for the Energy, Resources and the Environment division and looking forward to sharing my experience at this year’s General Assembly!

Navigating the EGU General Assembly, short course for Early Career Scientists

loveless March 10, 2016

If you are an Early Career Scientist (ECS) your first experience at the EGU General Assembly can be a bit bewildering with the sheer numbers of sessions and people milling around.

You might find it worthwhile attending a short course on: “How to navigate the EGU, Tips & Tricks” (SC36): http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/session/22155.”

Monday 18th of April; 12.15 – 13.15; Room -2.85

Although aimed at ECS it is open to everyone, with special focus for those who are attending the EGU for the first time. The aim is to help these first-time-EGU-ers to find their way at the conference and help them to make the most out of it

Posted on behalf of the short course coordinators, Anouk Beniest and João Duarte

Communicating Contested Geoscience at EGU 2016

loveless January 11, 2016

Communicating with the public is increasingly an issue for geoscientists both in research and in industry, but how do we deal with communicating those aspects of our work that are controversial? Many scientists shy away from those issues that are likely to draw the attention of an angry public, because, quite reasonably, they don’t want to be attacked for just doing their job. But these controversial or contested aspects of geoscience are becoming more and more visible in our society, from fracking for shale gas, to the new plans to consult on deep geological storage of radioactive waste http://www.nda.gov.uk/rwm/national-geological-screening/consultation/ and the withdrawal of the UK government’s support for Carbon Capture and Storage funding http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/uk-cancels-pioneering-1bn-carbon-capture-and-storage-competition and as such we have a responsibility to address them. More and more researchers are turning their attention to how the public understand these issues and therefore, how to communicate them, but in order to embrace this issue fully we need to appreciate the experiences of those people who are already communicating these subjects – what are the successes and failures?

In a step towards drawing these groups closer together, we have convened a session at the upcoming European Geoscience Union General Assembly in Vienna in April, focussing on the Communication of Contested Geoscience [http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/session/20173]. This session will explore the challenges of communicating the controversial and high-profile geoscience topics that are increasingly discussed in Europe, critique current practice and propose new strategies for public engagement in contested geoscience. We invite participants from across all sectors, including industry and government, to submit abstracts on the communication of new and controversial geological topics (geothermal power, carbon capture and storage or CCS, oil and gas extraction, radioactive waste disposal, etc) within the informal, non-formal and adult engagement sectors, including issues of risk perception, trust, the role of experts and public understanding of science.

We would like to invite you submit an abstract to this innovative PICO session by the deadline for abstracts, which is Wednesday 13^th January at 13.00 CET. If you are unfamiliar with a PICO session it combines the best parts of a poster and oral presentation, by having a short oral to present the highlights of your findings, with a poster style interactive session using your whole digital presentation on touch screens beside the posters. This allows you to capture your audience’s attention quickly, but then go into as much or as little detail than is possible on a poster.

For more information on submitting an abstract, please see here: [http://egu2016.eu/abstract_management/how_to_submit_an_abstract.html].

Opportunity for Early Career Scientists

loveless January 4, 2016

The Energy Resources and Environment Division of the EGU are looking to appoint an Early Career Scientist (ECS) representative in 2016. ECS make up a significant proportion of the EGU membership and it’s important to us that their voices are heard. ECS representatives are the link between the Union and its ECS membership. They give a voice to early career researchers and ensure their needs are met at the Assembly, and throughout the year.

The exact role and tasks of the ECS representative is not fixed but might include running the ERE Division blog, representing the ERE ECS within the ECS group and working with the ERE Committee. The appointment will be made at the EGU General Assembly, 17-22^nd April, 2016 and will be for two years. A shadowing opportunity is available at the GA 2016.

If you would like to apply please send your CV and a cover letter with your reasons for wishing to represent ECS in the ERE Division to the Division President, Professor Christopher Juhlin (Christopher.Juhlin@geo.uu.se) by 1st April 2016. If you would like further information please contact the current ECS representative Sian Loveless (sian@bgs.ac.uk). Please forward this opportunity to anyone you think might be interested.