Along with our conference organisers, Copernicus, we aim to improve the experience of General Assembly attendees with each passing year. Over the last few months we’ve introduced some changes that we hope will make the 2019 edition of our meeting even better! This post highlights the new rules for submitting an abstract and some changes that returning participants will notice at next year’s conference.
Abstract submission rules
An ever-growing number of participants means making sure that all participants at the EGU annual General Assembly are able to present their work in a comfortable manner in the years to come. One of the measures adopted to ensure all presentations (orals, posters and PICOs) find a place is the introduction of the one-abstract rule.
Authors are allowed as first author to submit either one regular abstract plus one abstract solicited by a convener, or two solicited abstracts. A second regular abstract can be submitted to the Educational and Outreach Sessions (EOS) programme group (maximum number of abstracts, including solicited abstracts, remains two). Possible submissions for first authors are: 1 regular + 1 solicited abstract; or 2 solicited abstracts; or 1 regular or solicited abstract + 1 EOSabstract (regular or solicited). Note that authors will need to provide a transaction number (TAN) when submitting their additional solicited abstract. This TAN has to be provided by the convener. Participants can be co-authors on additional abstracts in which they are not first author.
Another change for the EGU General Assembly 2019 is that only 2019 EGU members will be able to submit an abstract as first authors (co-authors are not required to have a membership). You can become a member or renew your membership online on the EGU website (www.egu.eu/membership/) or while registering for the General Assembly. Students receive a 50% discount in their EGU membership rates, and all EGU members benefit from substantially reduced registration rates to the meeting, amongst other benefits. More information on these new abstract submission rules are available on EGU’s call-for-abstracts announcement.
The new changes to the conference programme schedule will provide a more comfortable meeting experience for all! (Credit: EGU/Keri McNamara)
Conference programme schedule
The scheduling of the conference programme will also see some changes at the upcoming General Assembly. The new schedule features posters, orals and PICOs throughout the day, uses time blocks of 105 minutes, and includes a dedicated networking slot. Note that posters and orals of the same session will not be scheduled at the same time. This schedule change will allow us to fit more oral presentations in the meeting, give more viewing time for posters and PICOs, and provide a more comfortable meeting experience for all. A dedicated networking slot will give attendees additional time to discuss and interact with colleagues, to view posters and to visit the exhibition.
As in the past, each day of the EGU General Assembly in 2019 will begin at 08:30 and end at 20:00, will be organised in time blocks (TBs), and have a number of breaks. However, most TBs will now be 15 minutes longer and will feature all presentations types, as follows:
- 08:30–10:15 TB1: Posters, orals, PICOs
- 10:15–10:45 Coffee break
- 10:45–12:30 TB2: Posters, orals, PICOs
- 12:30–14:00 Lunch break
- 14:00–15:45 TB3: Posters, orals, PICOs
- 15:45–16:15 Coffee break
- 16:15–18:00 TB4: Posters, orals, PICOs
- 18:00–19:00 TB5: Networking, meet EGU, exhibition, and extra poster viewing
- 19:00–20:00 TB6: Townhalls, some medal lectures, some short courses, special events
More information and a detailed time schedule are in the EGU news item.
Offset your travel carbon footprint when registering
Finally, we are taking steps to make the General Assembly greener. Last year we implemented a number of initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of the meeting, including giving participants the opportunity to offset the CO2 emissions resulting from their travel to and from Vienna. People who used this option while registering contributed to a project to reduce deforestation in Brazil. As a result of this initiative we raised nearly €17,000 for the carbon offsetting scheme!
In 2019, conference registrants will be able to donate to one of three different carbon-offset projects by choosing the carbon-offsetting option when registering to the meeting. The money collected from you will then be forwarded to carbonfootprint.com to be invested in your selected project:
1) Wayang Windu Phase 2 Geothermal Power Project
Type: Geothermal
Location: Indonesia, Asia
2) Borehole Rehabilitation Project in Uganda
Type: Clean Drinking Water
Location: Uganda, Africa
3) Efficient Cookstove Programme
Type: Household Cookstoves
Location: Kenya, Africa
We’re striving to add further measures for 2019, so stay tuned to the EGU blog and website for further details on new green initiatives. We look forward to seeing you in Vienna!
EGU 2019 will take place from 07 to 12 April 2019 in Vienna, Austria. For more information on the General Assembly, see the EGU 2019 website and follow us on Twitter (#EGU19 is the official conference hashtag) and Facebook.
