The foundation of Sharing Geoscience Online, as the name of course suggests, is interacting with other scientists, whether via the presentation materials you upload, comments you exchange with colleagues, and/or the live text chats scheduled for each session. In addition to the text-based interactions, all week you’ll also be able to participate in a series of Union-wide sessions, short courses an ...[Read More]
EGU statement of support for the European Research Council
The European Research Council (ERC) is the sole European science funding agency that is designed and governed by scientists. As such, it has become one of the world’s leading and most respected funders of frontier research, with more than 70% of completed projects leading to discoveries or major advances. The ERC’s investigator-driven approach and allocation of grants based solely on scientific ex ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Interview with the former President of the European Research Council – Jean-Pierre Bourguignon
I recently had the honour of interviewing Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, who completed his six-year term as the President of the European Research Council (ERC) at the end of 2019. As an award-winning mathematician, he has been a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for most of his career. Bourguignon held a Professor position at École Polytechnique (1986-2012) and served ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: How to become a Seconded National Expert for the European Commission
The European Seconded National Expert programme is a fantastic opportunity for scientists who are currently working in a national, regional or local public administration of an EU member state or an intergovernmental organisation to gain experience working within a European policy institution. In most cases, secondments are between six months and four years during which time the Seconded National ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Shaping EU Missions – bridging the gap between geoscience and policy
This month’s GeoPolicy blog post is a Q&A about the EGU’s second annual science-policy event, Shaping EU Missions: bridging the gap between geoscience and policy which was hosted in Brussels on October 17 2019. The EGU has an annual event outside of the General Assembly?? Yes! Except this one is much smaller with about 70 participants and relatively new (only starting in 2018). Th ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: What really drives political decision-making?
On July 17 2019, the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report highlighting how thinking is challenged by today’s information environment and the role of evidence-informed policymaking in a well-functioning democracy. Titled Understanding our political nature, the report was produced with the assistance of 60 international experts in the humanities, behavioural and socia ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Preventing mercury leakage from a WWII submarine
I recently had the opportunity to interview Matthias Kaiser, a professor at Bergen University and, at the time of the interview, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities. He is part of an expert team that has given scientific advice to Norwegian policymakers, highlighting the issues that should be considered when dealing with the U-864 submarine wreckage and its carg ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Fake news and populism – a threat to science in Europe
The 2019 EGU General Assembly was a great success. Not only was it the largest in EGU history (with over 16,000 participants, 5,531 oral, 9,432 poster and 1,287 PICO presentations) but it also allowed scientists to connect geoscience and their research with global challenges and potential solutions. One of the highlights of this year’s General Assembly was the high-level session on Science, Politi ...[Read More]
Imaggeo Photo Competition finalists 2019 – who will you vote for?
This year’s Photo Competition judging panel received more than 600 photo submissions, covering fields across the geosciences. The fantastic finalist photos are below and they are being exhibited in Hall X2 (basement, Brown Level) of the Austria Center Vienna – see for yourself! Do you have a favourite? Vote for it! There is a voting terminal (also in Hall X2), just next to the exhibit. Votin ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Science for Policy at the 2019 General Assembly!
The EGU General Assembly is the largest geoscience meeting in Europe. Not only does it have a diverse array of sessions that you can attend within your own area of expertise but there are also thousands of sessions that will be outside of your research field, as well as sessions on topics that can be applied to a wide range of scientific divisions, jobs and industries – such as science for p ...[Read More]