We were happy to be at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly on 12 – 17 April in Vienna, Austria. The conference takes place every year and showcases the latest developments in planetary, Earth and geosciences research. Almost 12 000 scientists gathered from across the globe for the week-long event, which provides a forum for scientists to present their work and discuss ideas.
From EJR-Quartz, Karen O’Flaherty, Emily Baldwin joined the conference to share the work that they do on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), and Nikita Marwaha assisted with the running of the Press Centre.
The conference was comprised of scientific sessions and side events such as talks and debates that encouraged collaboration and innovation across disciplines. With plenty of networking opportunities for young scientists and a strong media presence, the conference had an interesting programme and a friendly atmosphere.
Both Karen and Emily presented lessons from ESA’s Rosetta mission in the conference’s outreach session. Karen’s presentation focused on engaging the public through competitions as she discussed lessons learnt from the Rosetta mission’s public competitions. Emily spoke about spacecraft personification through social media, using the Rosetta and Philae twitter accounts run by EQ for ESA and DLR German Aerospace Center as successful examples. Both Emily and Karen also helped maintain the ESA booth, providing information on the science and outreach carried out at ESA.
Nikita worked in the Press Centre where there were a number of Press Conferences taking place – including one from EQ clients ESA and DLR. Here, Rosetta Project Scientist Matthew Taylor (ESA) and Philae Project Manager, Stephan Ulamec (DLR) shared the latest results from the mission alongside Principle Investigators Hans-Ulrich Auster and Karl-Heinz Glassmeier.
The next EGU General Assembly will be held between 17 and 22 April 2016 in Vienna, Austria.