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Asmae Ourkiya

Asmae Ourkiya (They/Them) is the Media and Engagement Manager at EGU. They manage press releases, coordinate press participation and the press centre at the EGU General Assembly, and write and manage the EGU blogs. Asmae holds a Ph.D. in queer intersectional ecofeminism from MIC, University of Limerick in Ireland. Their research revolves around climate justice, and promotes inclusion and equality in climate governance.

The prize that failed forward: How a 100,000-franc quest for aliens funded a century of astronomy

December 17, 2025
The prize that failed forward: How a 100,000-franc quest for aliens funded a century of astronomy

Today, 17 December, marks 125 years since the formal announcement of one of the most eccentric, ambitious, and ultimately consequential prizes in the history of science: the Prix Pierre Guzman. Announced by the French Académie des Sciences in December 1900, the award promised 100,000 francs, which is the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars today, to the first person who could successful ...[Read More]

Why we need to put plants back in the soil carbon picture

December 5, 2025
Why we need to put plants back in the soil carbon picture

Happy International Soil Day (5 December)! Today, we’re celebrating the incredible capacity of soil organic carbon (SOC) to fight climate change. But hold the celebratory cake! A paper in the journal SOIL by Raza et al. (2025) has exposed an unexpected scientific blind spot, and it’s a bit surprising! The paper, titled “Missing the input: the underrepresentation of plant physiology in ...[Read More]

Your visa guide for the EGU General Assembly 2026: Navigating the Schengen process

December 1, 2025
Your visa guide for the EGU General Assembly 2026: Navigating the Schengen process

Attending the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna is an invaluable experience, where scientists, researchers, and professionals come together from all over the world to share knowledge, expand networks, and strengthen the geosciences community. However, if you’re coming from a non-EU country and require a visa, preparing for your trip may feel overwhelming. As a former visa ...[Read More]

The living skin of our planet: Why a world soil health index is our next great global scorecard

November 28, 2025
The living skin of our planet: Why a world soil health index is our next great global scorecard

Next time you’re outdoors, in a park or anywhere where there is no pavement, look down at the patch of earth beneath your feet. To many people, it’s just mud, dirt, or maybe soil, something passive that things grow in. But to a soil scientist, that handful of soil represents a dynamic ecosystem that supports an incredible 95% of all the food we eat, filters every drop of our drinking water, ...[Read More]

GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during November!

November 28, 2025
GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during November!

Each month we feature specific Divisions of EGU and during the monthly GeoRoundup we put the journals that publish science from those Divisions at the top of the Highlights section. During this month, we are featuring Natural Hazards (NH), Biogeosciences (BG), and Soil System Science (SSS). They are represented by the journals Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), SOIL, Natural Hazards and Earth ...[Read More]

From Coimbra to Mação: The multi-audience impact of EGU’s Geoscience Day in Portugal

and November 4, 2025
From Coimbra to Mação: The multi-audience impact of EGU’s Geoscience Day in Portugal

Today I am thrilled to be chatting with Mafalda Miranda and her team about the 2025 EGU Geoscience Day. Mafalda is a Geothermal Geoscientist whose expertise spans from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) to her PhD research at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (Canada). As a co-founder of the geoenergy consulting company GRAnalytics Lda, Mafalda understands the importance of appl ...[Read More]

GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during October!

October 31, 2025
GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during October!

Each month we feature specific Divisions of EGU and during the monthly GeoRoundup we put the journals that publish science from those Divisions at the top of the Highlights section. During this month, we are featuring Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) and Hydrological Sciences (HS). They are represented by the journals Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), Solid Earth (SE), Earth System ...[Read More]

The spectral shadow of Samalas: When climate models conjure the Earth’s forgotten fury

October 24, 2025
The spectral shadow of Samalas: When climate models conjure the Earth’s forgotten fury

This Halloween, we turn our gaze from fictional haunts to the chilling, rigorous world of paleoclimatology. The paper by Hartmann et al. (2025), published on Climate of the Past, focuses on the implementation of external forcings in a regional climate model around the 1257 CE Samalas volcanic eruption. This paper can be quite the unsettling investigation, since it treats the Earth itself as a time ...[Read More]

Letting in instead of coming out? Reflections on shifting from disclosure to self-compassion

and October 13, 2025
Letting in instead of coming out? Reflections on shifting from disclosure to self-compassion

Saturday, October 11, 2025, marked World Coming Out Day. In this blog post, my colleague, Simon Clark, and I want to take a moment to share our experiences with you. We believe in the power of relatability and how it can help others feel less alienated in their own experiences. So keep reading, because today, we’re letting you in. Asmae speaking here: Coming out has always been a complicated ...[Read More]

GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during September!

September 30, 2025
GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during September!

Each month we feature specific Divisions of EGU and during the monthly GeoRoundup we put the journals that publish science from those Divisions at the top of the Highlights section. During this month, we are featuring Seismology (SM) and Climate: Past, Present & Future (CL). They are represented by the journals Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), Solid Earth (SE), Climate of the Past (CP), ...[Read More]