Last year, I attended the EGU General Assembly as a mentee in the mentoring programme. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my academic journey.
As a master’s student, I felt both eager and worried about the mentor-mentee relationship.However, Marius made the process seamless. We connected via email and had an online meeting before the conference, which helped me feel prepared.
Meeting Marius at the icebreaker event was a game-changer. His guidance was invaluable in navigating the conference and networking. As we moved between sessions, we engaged in meaningful discussions during relaxed coffee breaks, enhancing my conference experience and building a lasting professional relationship.
Reflecting on my journey, I realize the mentoring program helped me grow professionally and form a lasting bond with my mentor. I am grateful for the positive impact Marius and the mentoring programme has had on my career. Thank you, Marius, for being an exceptional mentor and a continuous source of inspiration.
I appreciate the mentoring program even more. It provided a sense of belonging and boosted my confidence in networking. I highly recommend the EGU mentoring program to both new and experienced attendees. It offers newcomers a fantastic introduction to the community and gives seasoned attendees a chance to make a meaningful impact.

Mentor perspective: Marius Schlaak

During my first EGU in 2022, I met people whose guidance turned the conference into an inspiring experience. Therefore, I know the mentoring programme is a great opportunity. But still, when I signed up as a mentor, just in the middle of my PhD, I had doubts: Am I experienced enough? Can I handle the additional stress? But it turned out to be a success: I could help someone with my experiences, learned a lot myself, and it was no extra work.
My mentoring experience with Çağatay was amazing and rewarding. He contacted me via email and we met online before the conference to share our expectations of the mentoring programme. Sharing my past experiences motivated me for the upcoming conference.
During the GA, we met spontaneously at the icebreaker event on Sunday evening. Especially as Geodesy is a small division, I could actually help Çağatay to start his networking and form a sort of safety net to make him feel more comfortable. With that, I suddenly realized that I became more comfortable with my own networking skills, the more I shared my experience with him. While the week was flying by, we didn’t meet for the sake of meeting, instead, we met for coffee and refreshing discussions. The connection has stayed relevant also outside EGU and up to today because we meet at other conferences from time to time.
Overall, it was a great experience that I want to repeat for upcoming GAs. I recommend all experienced EGU attendees to sign up no matter if they have two or 20 years of EGU experience. It is rewarding, and you can help integrate a new person into our community.

The email with the matching results offered a funny and positive surprise: Kristin had been one of my master thesis supervisors. Being matched with someone who had just finished their PhD and to whom I had a prior connection proved to be extremely helpful. I could easily open up to her about my difficulties to balance excitement and overload during my first GA the previous year, but we also had some honest conversations about the ups and downs of doing a PhD.
Here’s what I learned from this new mentoring relationship. Rule 1: Limit yourself to three sessions per day. This was mind-blowing, skipping a session felt impossible! But Kristin convinced me that I would gain more from fewer, well-attended sessions. Rule 2: Prioritize breaks. Set timers to remind yourself to rest, especially during noisy poster sessions. Rule 3: Write everything down, even tiny notes, to help remember names and topics. Sticking to these three rules and the regular check-ins with Kristin made my second GA experience much less overwhelming. Now, I feel confident enough to sign up again for the mentoring programme – this time as a mentor!
Looking back, I would say the most important factor for a good mentoring relationship is setting and communicating expectations. We did not just jump into it, but sat down to discuss what we would like to learn from each other, and how we would like to achieve this. My advice for conference newcomers: First, do sign up for the program, it can only have positive effects. And second, don’t skip expectation setting – it’s the basis for your mentoring relationship!

Kristin (left) and Bene (right) on a walk through the Donaupark close to the conference center, happily showing off their matching jackets.[/caption]

Mentor perspective: Kristin Vielberg

After visiting EGU almost every year during my PhD, I decided to change something: sign up as a mentor. The mentor perspective was new to me, but I knew the mentee perspective from a different context, where I learned how much benefit you can gain from conversations and guidance from fellows, who are just a bit ahead of you. So my mentor experience was about changing perspective. I wanted to share my experiences from being a PhD student and from navigating EGU as it took me quite a while to figure out how to attend the conference without needing one week of holiday afterwards 😉
Then, being matched with Bene was a really nice surprise. I was excited to meet again – this time more on a personal level than on the science side. And that’s what we did: We met online before the conference to catch up and to figure out how often we want to meet and what topics Bene wants to exchange about. As I could only come from Wednesday onwards, we arranged a check-in meeting online on Monday and decided to have a longer break (the unplanned fourth session) together on another day, where we did not only found out that we have the same sun yellow jackets but also shared similar ups and downs during our PhD. This showed me once more that peer support is extremely valuable and that we as scientists go through similar struggles often without being aware of it. After EGU, we met for a reflection meeting, and I was really glad to see how much Bene took from our conversations.
What I learned about being a mentor at EGU (except that it opens the doors into the EGU convener party): don’t wait until you have finished your PhD to become a mentor! Because from my perspective, everyone who is interested in honestly listening to their mentee and is willing to share their own experiences from previous EGUs will benefit from the good conversations, new connections and changing perspectives. So, happy mentoring 🙂