A year of Geomorphology Division behind the curtain (2020-2021)

– written by the GM ECS team: Andrea, Aayush, Annegret, Edwin, and Eric –

– edited by Jan and Sabine –

Here we are, at the beginning of #vEGU21, finalising our contributions, getting familiar with new platforms and interfaces, and preparing to make the most of this virtual conference, once again. This post is a joint communication by the GM Early Career Scientists representatives’ team and the Division President for Geomorphology to give you a glimpse of what has been going on at division level between the 2020 and 2021 general assemblies.

GM ECS Team members

The team is made of five members who share diverse responsibilities. Last year’s team leader has been Andrea Madella (who also manages our Facebook page). The current deputy representative Aayush Srivastava will take over the leadership as of next week, according to the rotation system that was established some years ago. This system calls for an election for representatives every second year, after which the elected candidate becomes leader for one year. The runner-up is integrated in the team as deputy representative and steps up after one year. All representatives are also kept onboard a year longer than their mandate, in order to always pass on valuable experience and to ensure smooth leadership transitions. Further team members are Annegret Larsen (former 2019-2020 GM ECS representative), Edwin Baynes (manager of the Twitter account) and Eric Pohl (manager of the GM ECS website).

It goes without saying, all of us do this community service on a voluntary basis, therefore we are always in search of new members to refresh the team. So, please, get in touch!

GM ECS representatives: what do we actually do?

As the name says, we are the representatives for the early career scientists community. As such, we are the first point of contact for any early career geomorphologist who would like to make their voice be heard at higher grounds. We are happy to take any constructive message, be it some feedback about EGU, a wish, an idea of how to improve the work and structure of our division and union.

Apart from this work of representation, we are engaged in a number of activities. This is what we did the past year:

1. 1. 1. Communication on Twitter, Facebook, the GM Blog
         EGU-related events, scientific highlights, job advertisements and so on. Anything you pass over to us gets forwarded to a broader audience. Given the size and popularity of geomorphology, we have a whopping 4000+ Twitter followers and 2000+ Facebook likes.
         Posting on this blog is open to anyone who’s willing to write down interesting content, and there is room to increase the frequency of blog posts, so you should not hesitate to contact the editors!
      2. Proposals for Great Debates, Short Courses and other non-scientific sessions. This year we are convening the following events:
         • GDB4 “Slow science vs Fast science”, a discussion about the current pace of academic research, where it is leading us to, what needs to change and what can realistically be changed.
           Tuesday 20 April @ 9:00-10:30 CEST
         • 11 “Meet the experts: Geomorphology”, which has become a traditional SC on career development. This year’s expert is Prof. Todd Ehlers, 2018 recipient of the Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal, active mentor to several Junior research groups in his University and well known for his interdisciplinary approach. Todd will also share his experience on topics such as non-linear career, work-life balance of employees, international mobility, and his involvement in numerous search committees.Tuesday 26 April @ 14:30-15:30 CEST
         • 13 “Application of age models in paleoclimatology and geomorphology. A joint effort led by the CL division ECS representatives. In this SC, we have gathered one expert in age modeling who will expand on applications to archives where time varies as a function of depth (Dr. Sebastian Breitenbach, University of Northumbria), and one expert who will cover applications to geomorphologic/sedimentologic archives in which time varies as a function of space (Dr. Rachel Smedley, University of Liverpool). Thursday 29 April @ 9:00-10:00 CEST
      3. Organisation of Networking events. This year, we have organised two networking events that will run on a Gather virtual space sponsored by Wiley. To access them, you’ll have to click on the related links in the pop-up event schedule (EGU login is necessary). Our Gather space will be open to any conference attendee who’d like to chat while casually moving and interacting with space and avatars like you would do in reality (explore the space and rooms, join conversations in small groups, interact with objects). Our GM Networking events are:
         1. • GM Division Networking, Thu, 22 Apr, 12:30–13:30 CEST Lunchtime networking in the hour that precedes our Division Meeting
            • GM ECS Networking Night, Wed 28 @ 18:00-21:00 CEST 3 hours time to meet, chat, discuss, catch up in the evening (bring your own drinks)
      4. Union-wide discussions with other representatives. Every couple of months, ECS reps of all divisions gather online to discuss and act in working groups that cover topics such as (i) connectivity among divisions, (ii) the role of ECS, (iii) work-life balance, (iv) our vision of EGU, (v) increasing the weight of ECS within the union, (vi) improving definitions and customs of EGU in terms of Equality-Diversity-Inclusion.
      5. Involvement in decisions at division level. Andrea and Aayush have had the occasion to join in discussions with our Division President (Prof. Daniel R. Parsons) and the rest of the GM non-ECS committee, where decisions about session mergers and outstanding ECS awards were taken.
2. We hope you will all enjoy #vEGU21 and we sincerely thank all those who have volunteered some of their time to do something for the community.
3. The GM ECS team
4. Andrea, Aayush, Annegret, Edwin, Eric
   

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   As Division President, I wish you all a fruitful #vEGU21. I wish to thank all convenors and authors as well as take the opportunity to thank the ECS team for all the hard work this year as well as the team behind the creation of our virtual seminar series Landscapes Live! ….the cohesivity of our community through the pandemic has been very hearting and I look forward to these coming two weeks of geoscience.

5. The GM Division President
6. Daniel R. Parsons

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