GeoLog | The official blog of the European Geosciences Union

EGU Members: have your say on the direction of the Union

Olivia Trani November 5, 2019

As EGU’s representatives and staff members, we work hard throughout the year to ensure the Union is serving its members, and we need your input to continue to do so,

The EGU is a member-led organisation with around 20,000 members from all over the world. To promote the Earth, planetary and space sciences, the EGU conducts many activities ranging from publishing open access journals and hosting geoscientific meetings to organising education and outreach initiatives.

EGU / Keri McNamara

As EGU’s representatives and staff members, we work hard throughout the year to ensure the Union is serving its members, and we need your input to continue to do so. That’s why we’ve designed a short EGU member survey to give you the chance to voice what you value about the EGU and what you would like the Union to accomplish in the future.

If you are an EGU member, we ask that you take 5-10 minutes to give feedback on the EGU and its activities. The deadline to complete this survey is 15 November 2019. We are grateful for the nearly 2,000 members who have already responded with their views.

How to provide your input

You can find our survey online through this link: https://survey.zohopublic.eu/zs/LTBB60

EGU/Foto Pfluegl

The survey first aims to get a better picture of who you are. We’d like to know who comprises the EGU membership, which scientific disciplines and career stages are represented, and where our members are based.

The second part of the survey aims to learn more about what EGU initiatives you are already aware of, what resources you value the most, and what activities you think should be improved or expanded.

Through this survey we also want to know more about why you’re an EGU member, how a Union membership supports your professional career, and what’s the one thing EGU can do to most benefit you—and the geosciences.

This survey is the biggest and best opportunity for you and the greater EGU community to help steer the Union’s course, and the results will help ensure that we remain responsive to what you want. Thank you in advance for helping shape EGU’s future! Please share this survey widely within your own professional network.

Imaggeo on Mondays: Rocks weather, soil takes form

Alwyn Biju November 4, 2019

Weathering of Rock - Soil Formation. Credit: Alwyn Biju (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

This image depicts the soil formation, that is weathering of rock. Soil is actually formed by weathering of rock by physical, chemical and biological methods. This image depicts physical and biological weathering. Physical weathering by the action of temperature and biological weathering by the growth of some species of grass through the cracks. Image clicked from Trivandrum district of Kerala, India.

Description by Alwyn Biju, as it first appeared on imaggeo.egu.eu

Imaggeo is the EGU’s online open access geosciences image repository. All geoscientists (and others) can submit their photographs and videos to this repository and, since it is open access, these images can be used for free by scientists for their presentations or publications, by educators and the general public, and some images can even be used freely for commercial purposes. Photographers also retain full rights of use, as Imaggeo images are licensed and distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence. Submit your photos at http://imaggeo.egu.eu/upload/.

EGU 2020: Financial support to attend the General Assembly

Olivia Trani October 31, 2019

Applying for financial support to attend the 2020 General Assembly is easier than ever! Credit: Kai Boggild /EGU

The EGU is committed to promoting the participation of both early career scientists and established researchers from low and middle-income countries who wish to present their work at the EGU General Assembly. In order to encourage participation of scientists from both these groups, a part of the overall budget of the EGU General Assembly is reserved to provide financial support to those who wish to attend the meeting.

EGU’s Roland Schlich travel support scheme is named in honour of Roland Schlich, a geoscientist who was instrumental in the formation of EGU. Roland was one of the founders of the Union, as well as served as executive secretary (2002–2004) and treasurer (2005–2015).

From 2005 to 2019, the total amount of financial support awarded through the scheme grew from about €50,000 to €120,000, with 310 awards being allocated in 2019 to support attendance to the 2019 General Assembly, representing a 32% application success rate. For the 2020 General Assembly, the EGU has allocated €130,000 for financial support. About 80-90% of the funds are reserved to assist early career scientists in attending the conference. The remaining funds will be allocated to established scientists.

Financial support includes a waiver of the registration fee and a refund of the Abstract Processing Charge (relating to the abstract for which support was requested). Additionally, the grant may include support for travel expenditures, at the discretion of the support selection committee, to a maximum of €300.

Eligibility

The EGU currently runs two different Roland Schlich travel support schemes: Early Career Scientist’s Travel Support (ECSTS) and Established Scientist’s Travel Support (ESTS); you will be able to find more details about each of these awards on the About & Support section on the EGU 2020 website. You will also find details on who is eligible for the awards on the website.

Scientists who wish to apply for financial support should submit an abstract, on which they are the contact author, as well as the first and presenting author, by 1 December 2019. Late applications, or applications where the scientist is not the main author, will not be considered.

The EGU support selection committee will make its decision to support individual contributions by 20 December 2019. All applicants will be informed after the decision via email in late December or January. Only the granted amount mentioned in the financial support email will be paid out to the supported contact author.

Please note that, as of 2017, a participant can receive a maximum of two ECSTS and two ESTS during their career. In other words, applicants who have received two travel supports in a category in the past are not eligible to apply for that category again.

How to apply

The abstract submission page (click for larger). If you wish to apply for financial support, please select the relevant support box.

You start your application for the travel support scheme, by first submitting the abstract of your oral, poster or PICO presentation. To do so, please enter the call-for-abstracts page on the EGU 2020 website, select the part of the programme you would like to submit an abstract to, and study the respective session list. Each session shows the link to Abstract Submission that you should use. More information on how to submit an abstract is available from the EGU 2020 website.

Applying for financial support is then easier than ever! As soon as you make your choice of session you will be prompted to select whether you wish to apply for financial support. If you do, be sure you tick the appropriate box when submitting your abstract. Bear in mind that, even if you are applying for support, you will still need to pay the Abstract Processing Charge. A screenshot of the abstract submission process is shown above.

Evaluation Criteria

As of 2015 there is an improved selection process for the allocation of the awards. Abstracts are evaluated on the basis of the criteria outlined below.

If you have any questions about applying for financial support for the 2020 General Assembly, please contact Didier Roche (programme committee officer for travel support) or Olivia Trani (EGU Communications Officer).

GeoPolicy: Shaping EU Missions – bridging the gap between geoscience and policy

Chloe Hill October 31, 2019

Shaping EU Missions. Roundtable discussions. Credit: Chloe HIll, EGU

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). The EGU hosts these science-policy events in Brussels to discuss issues and topics that are important to the geoscience community as well as to facilitate collaboration between geoscientists and policymakers. These events also aim to highlight policy-relevant outputs from EGU scientists and support evidence-based policymaking.

But what are they actually about?

The themes of EGU’s science-policy events are selected based on their significance to the geoscience community as a whole and their relevance to Europe’s current policy issues. And yes, finding a theme that fits into these criteria can be quite tricky! This year’s science-policy event was about the EU Commission’s “Missions” which are part of the EU’s next research and innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe,

What are these “Mission” things?

There are five EU Mission themes that will be part of Horizon Europe. Each Mission is directed by a board, composed of 15 experts who will identify a set of priorities within the broad theme that are ambitious, interdisciplinary, cross-sectorial and inspirational! From these priorities, the Mission Boards will create projects that focus on specific challenges with clear targets. You can read more about the Missions and Mission Boards here.

But what does all this have to do with the EGU?

Encompassing a large number of scientific disciplines, the geosciences play an important role in all of the EU Missions as well as many policy decisions, including but not limited to, those related to climate change, natural hazards, energy, agriculture and ocean health. This event is therefore an opportunity for researchers to share their expertise with policymakers and discuss the specific issues within each of the Missions, as well as to assess how greater collaboration between the two communities can be achieved to overcome societies biggest challenges.

The EGU’s Shaping EU Missions event focused on four of the five Missions that are most relevant to the geosciences:

Adapting to climate change, including societal transformation
Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters
Climate-neutral and smart cities
Soil health and food

So, scientists presented research that related to the Missions during the event?

Not exactly! The event was kicked-off by a panel of speakers who who outlined the role of the Missions, how they are likely to function and what can be done to bridge the gap between science and policy.

Shaping EU Missions panel speakers (from left to right): Constantin Ciupagea (Head of Land Resources Unit, Joint Research Centre), Gesine Meißner (Member of the Mission Board for ‘Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters’) and Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (President of the European Research Council)

The rest of the event consisted of roundtable discussions which focused on specific issues within the broad EU Mission themes and involved all of the event’s participants. Roundtable discussions give all attendees the opportunity to get involved, share their own expertise and learn from the others at their table. They also allow participants to connect with each other, hear alternative viewpoints and ask questions that they might not feel comfortable asking during a more formal setting. Each of the Shaping EU Missions’ roundtables had a moderator to help navigate the discussions and ensure that the participants stayed roughly on topic.

‘Soil health and food’ roundtable discussion, moderated by Olivia Trani. Credit: Chloe Hill, EGU

Extensive Post-It notes from the ‘Adapting to climate change, including societal transformation’ roundtable discussion! Credit: Chloe Hill, EGU

What were the outcomes of the roundtable discussions?

Good question! Despite the varied themes discussed, a couple of suggestions were outlined by multiple tables. Participants believed that scientists, institutions and other stakeholders will better understand how they can best contribute to these Missions if the boards publicly outline how the Missions will work, overcome knowledge gaps, and be transformed into policy.

It was also suggested that establishing a shared knowledge interface could enhance the exchange of ideas, progress, common themes and solutions. This would not only allow the Missions to solve individual problems but also improve the connectivity between different types of science and data, bringing all the types of knowledge generation together and making it available.

The roundtable discussions also focused on aspects relevant to the particular Mission Boards. These outcomes will be published in a report by the EGU in mid-November.

Where can I find more information?

You can read more about the event in this EGU news item which was published earlier this month. The report outlining all of the events outcomes will also be linked here once published later this month. Alternatively, you can email policy@egu.eu if you have specific questions about the event.