GeoLog

Meet the newest member of EGU’s communications team, Sara Mynott! Sara will manage GeoLog and the EGU blog network, run our social media channels, and develop EGU’s networking activities for young scientists.

Hello from the EGU office!

I have just taken on the task of being the EGU’s new social media bod or – if we’re being official – their new Communications Officer.

Sara Mynott is the new Communications Officer at the EGU

After completing a Masters in Environmental Geoscience at the University of Bristol, and a second in Marine Ecology, from Queen Mary University of London I’ve investigated areas such as: the use of microphones to monitor volcanoes; how crustacean fisheries can be managed effectively, and how warming climates may impact the fitness of cold-blooded animals. I can’t wait to spread the wonders of new research further afield.

I also have a keen interest in informal education, having volunteered at many a science festival, school and exhibition centre. Most recently this entailed demonstrating the principles of Newtonian physics using simple toys in a festive invention workshop! Before joining the EGU, I had the pleasure of working for PLoS, which gave me a good grounding in the essentials of open access publishing and the merits of alternative ways to share and discuss research online.

Working with the EGU’s Media and Communications Manager, Bárbara Ferreira, I’ll be sharing all things Geoscience, while contributing to the EGU blog and developing communications with young scientists. With all the tools we have for sharing science, I couldn’t be more excited about the task at hand!

Feel free to contact me at mynott@egu.eu if you have any questions about the EGU or any of its publications – it would be great to hear from you!

Cheers,

Sara Mynott
@SaraMynott

The EGU is seeking to appoint a Communications Assistant to work with the EGU Media and Communications Officer in maintaining and further developing media-related and science information communications between the EGU and its membership, the working media, and the public at large. The position will be based at the EGU Executive Office in Munich, Germany.

More information about this vacancy, including main tasks, requirements, application materials, and salary and starting date, is available in PDF format or on the EGU website.

Informal enquiries about this position can be made to the Media and Communications Officer, Dr Bárbara Ferreira (media@egu.eu, +49-89-2180-6703). Applications should be submitted by e-mail in a single file to Dr Bárbara Ferreira by 15 November.

Do you know anyone who might be interested in this position? The EGU would be grateful if you shared this opportunity widely.

A Tuscan sunset to end the first day of proceedings at the 2012 EGU outreach retreat. (photo: Edvard Glücksman)

Members of the Munich-based Executive Office recently met with other members of the EGU Outreach Committee just outside Pisa, Italy, to brainstorm about the Union’s various outreach activities. The two-day meeting, led by Chairman of the EGU Outreach Committee Niels Hovius, was held primarily to establish a coherent long- and short-term outreach plan for the Union, some of which will be covered in more depth at the upcoming EGU Council Meeting on 18-19 November in Munich.  Topics discussed include the EGU’s commitment to education and the GIFT Programme, the Union’s media communications products, meetings support, and more general outreach developments that may be implemented in light of next year’s General Assembly.

Hard work in a beautiful setting!

Powering through to cover as much material as possible in two days. (Photo: Edvard Glücksman)

Members of the EGU Outreach Committee (Photo: Kostas Kourtidis)

Cake and candles to celebrate 10 years of the EGU at the Union’s Executive Office

Today, 7 September 2012, marks the 10th anniversary of the European Geosciences Union, Europe’s premier geosciences union. A decade ago, in the Hotel Platzl in Munich, Germany, the European Geophysical Society (EGS) and the European Union of Geosciences (EUG) merged to form the EGU.

At the EGU Executive Office, also in Munich, we celebrated this momentous occasion with champagne and cake. Here’s a glimpse of our festivities.

EGU Executive Office staff celebrate at the Union’s headquarters in Munich, Germany. From left to right: Edvard Glücksman (Science Communications Fellow), Karen Resenberger (Secretary), Philippe Courtial (Executive Secretary), Bárbara Ferreira (Media and Communications Officer). Absent: Robert Barsch (Web Developer and System Administrator)

Ed, Karen, Philippe, and Barbara blow out the candles on the EGU’s 10th anniversary cake

International Innovation is a global dissemination publication that provides access to interviews, content and presentations for the wider scientific, technology and research communities. The magazine has, on various occasions, interviewed EGU personalities such as Ulrich Pöschl (Publications Committee Chair), a few division presidents and, most recently, EGU’s Executive Secretary, Philippe Courtial. Some of these EGU-related interviews are now available online.

• Interview with Gert-Jan Reichard: “Biogeology has emerged over the past decade as one of the most important fields within the geosciences. Dr Gert-Jan Reichart, Division President of Biogeosciences at the European Geosciences Union offers his insight into the environmental challenges we face and how this research area is striving to address them”
• Interview with Philippe Courtial: “Executive Secretary of the EGU, Dr Philippe Courtial, details the work of the Union in assisting scientists and improving the availability of accurate scientific data”
• Interview with Michael Kühn: “Boldly trying to push science for solutions to solve the energy problems of tomorrow, Michael Kühn [EGU Division President of Energy, Resources and the Environment] is studying new approaches where renewables play a vital role”
• Interview with Ulrich Pöschl: “The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is the world leader in interactive open access publishing and public peer review. We speak exclusively to Dr Ulrich Pöschl, the EGU Chair of Publication Committee, about the important work being done in the pursuit of knowledge sharing in the geosciences”
• Interview with Denis-Didier Rousseau: “President of the European Geosciences Union, Division on Climate: Past, Present and Future, provides an insight into the ever expanding remit of this branch of the EGU”

(A few of these texts have also been reproduced with permission in GeoQ, the quarterly newsletter of the European Geosciences Union.)

With everyone at the office busy with General Assembly preparations and other activities, a typical Bavarian breakfast on Carnival day is a most welcome break. Germany loves Carnival and Munich, while lagging behind Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Mainz in Fasching parties, is no exception. At the office, we decided to celebrate the date with a Weißwurst Frühstück, accompanied by… Bavarian beer, of course! Good thing we, as other German workers, have the afternoon free to watch the Carnival parades.

EGU staff ready for a Weißwurst Frühstück. From left to right: Edvard Glücksman (Science Communications Fellow), Karen Resenberger (Secretary), Philippe Courtial (Executive Secretary), Robert Barsch (Webmaster & System Admin), and Bárbara Ferreira (Media and Communications Officer).

The EGU Executive Office is housed in one of the buildings of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. The building also hosts the Palaeontological Museum Munich, the public part of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology, which is dedicated to the history of life and the Earth, and displays fossils from all eras of the planet’s history.

Edvard Glücksman, the new EGU Science Communications Fellow, likes to access the building using the entry on Richard-Wagner-Straße, which gives direct access to the Museum. Yesterday, he decided to photograph what he sees every morning:

Dinosaurs at the Palaeontological Museum, Munich

Edvard took this picture using the Photosynth app on his iPhone, which allows you to stitch together various photos into a panorama. Check out the 3D interactive version on the app’s website!

Hello everyone!

I am a new Science Communications Fellow at the Union, where I will be working on the EGU Newsletter and assisting Bárbara Ferreira in developing media-related and science information communications.

I am currently in the final stages of my doctorate (DPhil) at the University of Oxford, where my molecular biology project explores the diversity and ecology of Apusozoa, a phylum of free-living protozoan flagellates. I also take an active interest in science policy and communications and spent three months on a NERC-funded Secondment to the UK Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology (POST), where I researched and wrote a parliamentary briefing on biodiversity offsetting market-based conservation strategies. Having also recently served as a Trans-Atlantic Junior Fellow at the Colorado-based El Pomar Foundation, I maintain a keen interest in large-scale transatlantic policy issues and have recently been chosen to participate in the Emerging Leaders in Environment and Energy Policy (ELEEP) network, a project hosted by the Atlantic Council of the United States.

My studies include an MSc degree from the University of Oxford as well as undergraduate degrees in Environmental Biology from the University of St Andrews and Sociology/Psychology from McGill University.

If you have any questions about the EGU or any of its publications, I can be reached at +49(0)892180-6717 or at glucksman@egu.eu.

All the best,
Edvard Glücksman

The EGU is seeking to appoint a Science Communications Fellow to start in January 2012. The successful candidate will work on the EGU Newsletter and assist the Media and Communications Officer in developing media-related and science information communications. The post is initially for six months and can be extended for a further six months.

Informal enquiries can be made to the Media and Communications Officer, Dr Barbara T. Ferreira (via email or on +49-89-2180-6703). Further information about EGU Fellowships can be found on the EGU website .

Applications should be submitted by email in a single file to Dr Barbara T. Ferreira.

Review of applications will begin on 15 October 2011 and will continue until the position is filled.

Bárbara Ferreira, the newest staff member of the EGU office in Munich, has recently started working as the Union’s Media and Communications Officer. She will coordinate media-related and science information communications between the EGU and its membership, the working media, and the public at large.

Before joining EGU, Bárbara worked as a science writer at the European Southern Observatory, based in Garching near Munich, and at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in London. Her studies include an undergraduate degree from the University of Porto (Portugal) and a PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK), which she completed in 2010. On her free time, Bárbara keeps a Nature Network blog, Dinner Party Science.

Bárbara can be reached at +49 (0)89 2180-6703 or media@egu.eu.