This year for vEGU21, the Union’s working group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) was very interested in how to increase the visibility of our wonderful and diverse community of researchers – now that we won’t be walking the halls of the Austria Centre Vienna together. Using an online initiative started in 2017 with a hashtag created by Mary Roblyer, they have created a gallery of images called ActualLivingScientist on our image repository imaggeo to allow us to see what the huge range of scientists and researchers who will be presenting and attending vEGU21 actually look like!
Meet Lisa Wingate, shown here in Potsdam, where scientists have developed laser techniques to cut microscopic cells in wood to study the chemical signals that can reveal changes in past climate within trees! Precision cutting of tree ring cells using laser scissors (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)
During the two weeks of vEGU21, one of the galleries in the EGUart Room, next to the EGU Photo Competition voting gallery and our wonderful Artists (not) in Residence, will have a rotating slide show of images submitted by scientists of themselves at work or having fun – being Actual Living Scientists! The great benefit of this gallery is that not only is it a brilliant way to introduce our community to each other, but also to inspire other people who may never before have seen a scientist that looks like them before and this may help them to feel able to aspire to work in a science field.
We encourage all our vEGU21 attendees to head over to the gallery, take a look at all the different scientists, and maybe add a photo of yourself! Help us share the incredible range of ways that science can be done as well as who can do it (spoiler: it’s everyone).
