By Emily Bamber (PhD Student, University of Manchester)
At this year’s EGU meeting I was invited to co-convene the GMPV 5.7 session ‘Magma ascent, degassing and eruptive dynamics: linking experiments, models and observations’. At first, I felt nervous, as a PhD student who has so far only attended and presented at a few conferences. Afterwards I felt happy to be part of a session which presents cutting-edge research in the field I love, and able to share this experience with the volcanology network. Although it can be daunting, to stand on a stage and present in front of a large and experienced audience, ultimately the audience is welcoming, and supportive, and just as excited as I was to learn about new and interesting ideas in volcanology.
Practically, this experience gave me invaluable knowledge in how sessions are organised and managed, and I was able to meet lots of new people in my field as a result. Later, I was able to continue the discussion during the presentation of my own research at the poster session. Convening is a great experience for a PhD student, and a valuable way to represent the early-career community. Here I share some tips which I learned along the way:
- Record the deadlines for important milestones when organising the session, as these can arrive quickly!
- Read all of the abstracts prior to the session
- Have questions ready for speakers during the oral presentation session
- Keep an eye on the time for oral presentations and communicate with EGU staff (it may be their first day too!)
- Enjoy the experience!
Emily Bamber is a 2nd year PhD student at the University of Manchester in the UK. She studies eruption dynamics at basaltic systems, through petrological studies of natural products collected in the field.
Twitter: @EmilyCBamber
