About a decade ago, I wrestled with a dilemma no one seemed to relate to: I loved science with all my heart, but what if I didn’t want to be a scientist all my life? Was there room in the world for me to pursue another career while still being in the scientific field? What were my options? Who would I turn to? But more importantly, who could I become? Today, I am the Media and Communications Offic ...[Read More]
Are you ready to vote for your favourite Division blog of 2022?
It’s that time of the year again! With the holiday season around the corner, many of us tend to reflect on the year gone by, with its ups and downs, and lessons and learnings. At EGU, reflection is a year-long process, but we like to end our year on a note of appreciation: for yet another year of impressive blog posts submitted and published across the EGU’s official blog, GeoLog, and our di ...[Read More]
A Pedagogical Dance: EGU’s Teacher-Scientist Pairing Scheme
An email from Giuliana Panieri, a geology professor at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT) in Tromsø, cracked my pandemic bubble late last year. She invited me to join an unconventional expedition (AKMA OceanSenses) to the Arctic Ocean, where scientists worked hand-in-hand with other societal actors, to integrate different kinds of knowledge and create tools that help open up people’s minds to a ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: A new step to build robust science-for-policy ecosystems in Europe
On 25 October, The European Commission published a Staff Working Document that aims to help Member States build capacity to use scientific knowledge more effectively in their policymaking processes. This month’s GeoPolicy Blog post provides a summary of the Staff Working Document that outlines key science for policy challenges and the EU instruments, resources and policy frameworks that can help M ...[Read More]
Why do we keep dismissing drought?
“If you see me, then weep” Like the foreboding inscription witnessed by Dante as he passed through the gates of Hell, the inscription chiselled into the so-called “hunger stone” marks the passing of a threshold into suffering. As the hunger stone emerges from the dwindling waters of the Elbe River, Czechia, it reveals a history of desiccation. Where spiritual torment is pro ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Connect with artists to make your science accessible to policymakers and the public
Communicating with the public and policymakers enables scientists to share their passion with those outside of their field and create greater impact. Often when scientists consider engaging non-experts, they imagine public lectures or blog posts, but finding more creative ways to communicate scientific information can be both rewarding and incredibly effective. This month’s GeoPolicy Blog post is ...[Read More]
How a Spanish newspaper experiment is improving public understanding of climate change
Climate change is not a new phenomenon. Nor is global warming. So why do researchers report a poor public understanding of this subject around the world? According to a recently published study, 70% of the people surveyed said they were concerned about rising global temperatures but had little knowledge about the climate crisis. When asked how much they knew about the origin and effects of global ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: Competencies for researchers to achieve policy impact
This month’s GeoPolicy Blog post features the Competence Framework ‘Science for Policy’ for researchers developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC). This newly developed framework introduces the different competences scientists can collectively build to increase their policy impact, and how it can be used by research institutions and organisations. Throughout this post, ...[Read More]
EGU22: A scientific conference through the eyes of artist Jakub Stepanovic
I am not a scientist by profession, but some years ago, I started seeing the far-reaching impact of geosciences as I navigated some of the Earth’s fascinating locations. From wild, remote areas to urban jungles, I learned to appreciate the sciences that make sense of places, and this concept started to inspire my artistic practice. While I enjoyed my time doing illustrations to depict a few ...[Read More]
The human side to research brought to life by scientific artist Kelly Stanford
Scientific artist Kelly Stanford has sure come a long way since we last spoke to her in 2019. The Manchester, UK-based science communicator is a Physical Geography PhD candidate from the University of Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute and winner of EGU’s Artist (not) in Residence in 2021. This year, at the Union’s General Assembly EGU22, Kelly continued her series of “Sci-portraits” (portrai ...[Read More]