Next week the vEGU General Assembly will start gathering its members online for its annual general assembly. Who would have imagined ten or five years ago that there would be two consecutive editions of EGU online? SGO Sharing Geoscience Online EGU2020 and now vEGU21
Last year, we only had six weeks to move from a traditional GA in Vienna in April to an online alternative. We learned a lot and reflected upon the future of geosciences conferences even in non-pandemic times (check the preprints of the paper proposed here based on the EGU 2020 experience).
This year, we had more time to prepare, but we obviously also face higher expectations and the famous “Zoom fatigue” which most of us are experiencing in different ways.
How to prepare and get ready to an online scientific conference in the current context?
A general and basic advice is to do things at your own pace.
My vEGU21 badge is almost ready!
The full EGU programme is amazingly rich and huge. The Hydrological sciences (HS) division ended up with 99 sessions and almost 2,000 abstracts: see programme here.
This means a lot of scientific work to see, a lot of information to absorb and a real challenge for your fingers for the chat-based interactions with the authors in the breakout rooms and the 2-min vPICO madness by audio and video in the central rooms of the sessions.
So, the first steps for the coming weeks could be:
- start by registering to this exceptional event;
- then prepare your personal programme in advance: check the programme and choose what you want to see;
- enter your profile with your preferences: this is your badge in the online environment;
- add colleagues to your online network: you can then chat with colleagues and friends in 1:1 relation or smaller groups during the 2 weeks and also afterwards.
Next, just engage, discover and inspire!
Starting from next week, Mon 19 April, you can:
Engage with the hydrological sciences community, i.e. with all the people behind the programme
You can certainly start by adding the following meetings to your programme:
- Plenary EGU meeting on Mon, 19 Apr, 13:30–14:30 (CEST) (register here)
- Division meeting for Hydrological Sciences (HS), Thu, 22 Apr, 11:30–12:30 (CEST)
- ECS networking event: Mon, 26 Apr, 12:30– 13:30 (CEST)
Check also the meetings of the HS sub-divisions (contact the sub-division chairs for more info, connection link or feedback) (CEST):
- HS2 (Catchment hydrology): 20 April from 13:30 to 14:30
- HS3 (Hydroinformatics): 26 April from 17:15 to 18:00
- HS4 (Hydrological forecasting): 26 April from 18:00 to 19:00
- HS5 (Water policy, management and control): 30 April from 17:15 to 18:00
- HS6 (Remote sensing and data assimilation): 22 April from 10:45 to 11:15
- HS7 (Precipitation and climate): 13 April from 16:00 to 18:00
- HS9 (Erosion, sedimentation and river processes): 26 April from 17:30 to 18:15
- HS10 (Estuaries, wetlands & ecohydrology): 29 April from 18:00 to 18:45
The HS Division medal and award lectures, which have always been “the place to be” in Vienna, are scheduled for next week:
- 2020/2021 Henry Darcy Medal lectures & 2020 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding ECS Lecture: Presentations, Tue, 20 Apr, 15:00–17:00 (CEST)
- 2020/2021 John Dalton Medal Lectures & 2021 Division Outstanding ECS Award Lecture: Presentations, Thu, 22 Apr, 15:00–17:00 (CEST)
Finally, the 5 Union Symposia and 5 Great Debates offer other ways to engage with the EGU community as a whole. They will mostly happen during the first week. There is a lot to choose from. My personal programme already includes these, for instance:
- US3 – A Climate and Ecological Emergency: Can a pandemic help save us…?, Tue 20 Apr, 15:00–17:00 (CEST)
- US1 – Integrating geoscience into the European Green Deal, Fri, 23 Apr, 09:00–11:00 (CEST)
- GDB1 – Challenging discrimination in the geosciences: amplifying unheard voices, Mon, 26 Apr, 15:00–16:30 (CEST)
Discover novel scientific insights from hydrological research
Here, you should definitely start early on Monday: SC1.1 – How to navigate the EGU: tips and tricks, Mon, 19 Apr, 09:00–10:00 (CEST) (here)
The 10 sub-divisions of the HS Division propose a large range of topics, and there is “food for thought” for everyone. Here is the programme at a glance (click on the image to get it larger):
Inspire hydrology and get inspired for your research and also personally
First of all, do not miss the Four artists to be (not!) in residence at vEGU21!
Then, relax and enjoy the networking events, and the EOS and ITS sessions, which are perfect to see “out of the box”.
My favorites, which I hope I will not miss this year, are:
- Promoting and supporting equality, diversity and inclusion in the geosciences, Mon, 26 Apr, 11:00–12:30 (CEST), 13:30–14:15 (CEST)
- Role of hydrology in policy, society and interdisciplinary collaborations: across disciplines and beyond scientists, Mon, 26 Apr, 13:30–15:00 (CEST)
- Science for Policy Meet and Greet, Mon, 26 Apr, 16:00–17:00 (CEST)
- Nature-Based Solutions for Global Environmental Challenges and SDG nexus research, Tue, 27 Apr, 09:00–12:30 (CEST)
- Science to Action: Communication of Science and strategies to fight misinformation – Practice, Research and Reflection? Tue, 27 Apr, 13:30–15:00 (CEST)
- Exploring the Art-Science Interface, Wed, 28 Apr, 09:00–12:30 (CEST)
- Practice pitching your policy ask to a policymaker, Wed, 28 Apr, 17:00–18:00 (CEST)
- Geoscience Games Night, Wed, 28 Apr, 17:30–19:00 (CEST)
- Rhyme Your Research, Thu, 29 Apr, 17:30–19:00 (CEST)
- Bridging between Earth Science disciplines: Participatory Citizen Science and Open Science as a way to go, Fri, 30 Apr, 11:00–12:30 (CEST)
Also, take some time and check the ‘Picture A Scientist’ film screening. Bettina Schaefli talked about this film in her recent blog post. It is an amazing movie. It inspires and fills us with force and energy. Surely worth seeing with all the family.
- For all those who have not yet seen the movie, it will be screened as part of the #vEGU21 programme. You will have the opportunity to see the movie from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 April (see here for more information).
- Also note that 2 Great Debates will address these issues during #vEGU21: GDB1 “Challenging discrimination in the geosciences: amplifying unheard voices” on Monday 26 April, with the participation of Jane Willenbring and the ECS-led GDB5 “Bullying in Academia: towards creating a healthy and safe working environment” on Thursday 22 April.
As you can see my personal programme is just growing and growing! But it is still open to a last entry: EGU Closing Party, Fri, 30 Apr, 17:30–19:00 (CEST).
