A couple of weeks ago we outlined the ways in which we will be participating in the EGU General Assembly taking place in Vienna next week. On our blog over the next few days we ask a few of the GfGD team who are attending to give us an outline of the sessions that caught their eye and to tell us more about their roles at the event.
Jane Robb (EGU Educational Fellow / GfGD University Groups Resourcing Officer)
“As I currently work for the EGU as their Educational Fellow, it makes sense that I will be attending their renowned GIFT (Geoscience Information for Teachers) workshop which takes place over a few days of the Assembly. Here, I hope to mingle with teachers from across the world to learn about how they teach and specifically what they teach about the geosciences and what they hope to learn from the workshop. Most of the workshop is closed to non-participants, but the poster session Science in Tomorrow’s Classroom is open to everyone so I recommend having a look. I will also be writing an article about the workshop for the EGU blog, GeoLog, so keep an eye out for this!
I am also convening a session on Geoscience Education for Sustainable Development and Widening Participation, and co-convening a workshop on Innovation in Geoscience and Engineering Education. Here we will hear about lots of different initiatives taking place in schools, universities and research institutes across the world engaging the public, communities and students with geosciences in innovative ways. In addition, I am presenting at the session on School Outreach: A practical guide. I will be discussing some of my top tips for science outreach and reporting on the initiatives I have begun here at the EGU.
For my science fill, I will be attending various sessions on soil science, particularly soil carbon sequestration and partitioning across different soil types. This subject is related to the research I will be doing as part of a PhD starting in October. Some of the sessions that interest me are: Geochemical processes and C sequestration in peatlands and organic soils, carbon sequestration in agricultural soils and processes at the weathering front and reactivity of soil minerals. I hope to come away with some exciting information from these sessions, not only for me but I have also been asked to write an article on current research for the EGU newsletter, GeoQ.
As I am on the Executive Committee of GfGD, I will also be attending the GfGD splinter meeting. Last, but not least, I will be attending several closed sessions of the EGU committees, where I will be presenting a final report on the work I have been doing here at the EGU! If I have any spare time, I will try to look into a few other sessions on topics such as Geoethics, Geohazards and Geoheritage.”
Jane will be tweeting throughout the event (@JLizRob). The conference hashtag is #EGU2014.
