Early Career Scientists (ECS) – defined as a student, a PhD candidate, or a practising scientist who received their highest certificate (e.g. BSc, MSc or PhD) within the past seven years – compose about half of EGU’s members.
Many of the sessions and events throughout the Assembly are built with our ECS attendees in mind, from introducing you to the Assembly and the Union as a whole or the numerous ECS-orientated networking events and short courses, tor providing opportunities to meet the early career scientist representative of your Division.
This article is a guide to particular events we think are of note to the ECS community, however it does not cover everything: many of the scientific sessions are convened by and feature ECS, so be sure to refer back to the programme for a fuller picture. Remember that to keep track of events by building your personal programme and downloading the EGU24 app!
How to find your Early Career Scientist Representative
Early career scientist representatives ensures that ECS voices are given a platform during the Assembly and throughout the year. Each scientific division has an ECS representative, so as a member of one or more divisions contacting your rep is a sure way to get informed of opportunities and events, or provide feedback and shape the Union’s decision-making.
To find the ECS representatives, visit the ECS Stand at the EGU Booth, Hall X2, where you can ask them more about what EGU does for its ECS community and how you can get involved. The ECS Stand will be present at the EGU Booth every day of the Assembly.
If you want to meet the ECS Rep for your scientific division check out the Meet EGU sub programme which lists opportunities to meet ECS reps and other members of the division teams, alongside meetings with community members like journal editors and the EGU executive office. On Thursday 18 April (15:00–15:45 CEST) you can also meet the current and incoming ECS union representative; elected by the community, the Union ECS Rep gives a voice to the ECS on EGU’s decision-making council.
You can also meet ECS reps at the many the division pop-up networking events, which the reps often organise and run. Many of these events are for ECS to grow their network through icebreakers, lunches and evening events.
The General Assembly for first time attendees
Those attending the Assembly for the first time should stop by the short courses and networking events built to ease you in.
Monday hosts two short courses to help first-time attendees and those unsure about how to approach the Assembly: How to navigate EGU: tips and tricks (Monday 15 April, 10:45–12:30 CEST) is your first stop to learn how to get around the Assembly, what to look out for, or learn about what the European Geosciences Union is. Discover how to join the community – from writing blogs and running events to getting involved in the Union’s decision-making at How to get involved with EGU (Monday 15 April, 14:00–15:45 CEST).
Attendees looking to build their network should drop by First-time Attendee Networking on Monday 15 (18:00 – 19:30 CEST), to meet others fresh to the Assembly and from across the Union. If you’re taking part in the EGU mentoring programme, then meet other mentees and mentors over lunch at the Mentor-Mentee Meet Up on Tuesday 16 (12:45-13:45).
More advice on how to approach the Assembly before the event, take a look at our “First time at an EGU General Assembly” blog and the “How to prepare for the EGU General Assembly” webinar on YouTube.
Union-wide highlights
Celebrate the start of the Assembly at the official Opening Reception on Sunday 14 April (18:30 – 21:00 CEST). Here you can meet other members of your Division – including ECS representatives – to find out more about what’s on and grow your networks ahead of the Assembly proper.
From Monday to Thursday during the afternoon coffee break, the ECS Coffee Catch-Up (15:45 – 16:45) is an informal space to meet and check in with your network . Grab a coffee from one the stalls and then make your way to the EGU Booth to meet with other ECS in attendance!
The ECS Networking Reception Tuesday 16 April (18.00 – 19.30) brings together ECS from across the Union’s scientific divisions: this is your opportunity to make interdisciplinary connections and to meet with community members including award-winning scientists, journal editors, and representatives from other geoscience societies. Table signs will indicate where to meet with members of a division or find people interested in a cross-cutting themes such as policy, publications or science communication. No is registration required, just turn up! Note that the event has a maximum capacity and attendees will not be able to join if full.
What would you like to see at the General Assembly? How can EGU improve what it offers to the community? If you want to provide feedback or learn what the ECS community does beyond the General Assembly throughout the year, then attend the ECS Forum on Thursday 18 (12:45-13:45 CEST).
For more on this year’s networking events check out our blog: “Find your scientists: how to network at EGU24“.
Sessions for discussion and growth
The General Assembly gives Early Career Scientists the opportunity to join discussions which span disciplines and define the geoscience community. Sessions relevant to ECS navigating academia should attend the Great Debate on what needs to change in academic mobility and how ECS can help bridge the divide between scientific research and evidence-based policy-making. Whilst attendees interested in improving how science is shared or curious about open access publishing should meet with the EGU Publications Committee and Copernicus Publications – EGU’s publications partner – to discuss how scientific publications can improve.
Finally, a number of short courses are available to provide support and training for ECS:
Attendees worried about presenting should look into the short course “Scared of giving presentations to a (geo-)scientific audience?” on Monday 15 April (14:00–15:45 CEST), and pick up tips from “Elevate your Pitch: Developing Engaging Short Scientific Presentations” on Thursday 18 April ( 14:00–15:45 CEST).
Learn how to build bridges in How to establish and grow your scientific network (Monday 15 April, 08:30 – 10:15 CEST) and to utilise your connections in Transdisciplinary research: how to learn from each other while fostering specific expertise (Tuesday 16 April, 14:00 – 15:145 CEST).
Short courses also offer career advice including how to navigate starting a new job in “satisfaction, salary and value: how and when to negotiate your employment conditions” (Thursday 18 April, 10:45–12:30 CEST), which direction to take your career in the “careers inside and outside of academia: panel discussion”(Thursday 18 April, 19:00–20:00 CEST), and how to strengthen your job applications in “transferable skills: what are they and do I have them?” (Friday 19 April, 08:30–10:15 CEST).
Finally, discover how to make papers publishable in Meet the editors (1): how to write and revise your manuscript (Monday 15 April,19:00–20:00 CEST) – the first of a two-part series – and enhance your scientific graphics in “DataViz: Visualise your data effectively and avoid common pitfalls” on Friday 19 April (14:00–15:45 CEST).
Keep an eye on GeoLog – the official blog of EGU – ahead and during the Assembly to keep informed on what’s coming up at EGU24. If you have any questions about ECS sessions and events get in contact with your representative. We look forward to welcoming you to Vienna, either in-person or online!
