Posted on 11 May 2020 by BaerbelW

By far the most sessions throughout Sharing Geoscience Online 2020 were held as live chats, like the one on Monday featuring many citizens science projects I already wrote about. But, the organizers also added some live-streamed and pre-recorded sessions to the schedule and this post features the ones I watched and liked.

Welcome to Sharing Geoscience Online

Monday

The Great Debate GDB3 titled Cutting carbon in the geosciences: conference participation versus online streaming and fieldwork versus remote observations had been planned well in advance of the Corona pandemic but now couldn't have been more topical!

The Short Course SC3.1 "Open and FAIR Your Science" featured a pre-recorded podcast-like discussion among Niels Drost, Tim van Emmerik, Rolf Hut, Liek Melsen (from The Netherlands) and Caitlyn Hall (from Tempe, Arizona) about practising open and FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable – research to allow scientists, decision-makers, and the broader public to better access science and engineering research and understand its broader impacts.

Tuesday

The Union Symposia US5 highlighted international space agency plans on current and future planetary exploration including Earth as seen by ESA, NASA, JAXA and other space agencies. Some flagship missions observing the Earth and other planetary bodies were highlighted and challenges of organising future missions in an international framework as well as a forward look at potential future candidate missions were discussed:

Tuesday's Short Course SC3.16 "Science blogging for beginners" contained helpful hints and suggestions for anybody interested in blogging. With 36 minutes in length - not including the time for the exercise! - it's well-worth watching or checking out the accompanying slides (and not just for scientists or newbie bloggers)!

Wednesday

Wednesday's Union Symposia US3 tackled The role and impact of fire in the Earth system across spatial and temporal scales. Recent record-breaking wildfires in the Arctic, boreal forests, the Mediterranean and, at the same time, human-driven decreases in burned area in savanna ecosystems show the need of an increased understanding of the drivers and impacts of fire regime changes under ongoing and future land management and climate changes.

The pre-recorded Short Course SC4.5 "Mind your head" had five panellists giving short presentations about various topics within the theme of managing your mental health from their own perspective and based on their own experience. They focused on coping mechanisms and provided some tips on how to deal with certain issues.

Thursday

In Thursday's Union Symposia US2 "Geosciences and UN Sustainable Development Goals: pathways for the future" were presented and discussed. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. SDGs build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals, and among other priorities include several new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice. The goals are interconnected – often the key to success on one will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another.

The Great Debate GDB5 discussed "Values versus facts: should geoscience get personal?" with Stephan Lewandowsky (Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol with research focusing on misinformation, post-truth deception and climate change) as one and Laura Smillie (Policy Analyst, Joint Research Centre, EU Commission and Project Leader of the Enlightenment 2.0 initiative) as the other panelist. The session focused on what makes people believe fake news and misinformation and the impact that this has. After two short presentations the panelists discussed how researchers can communicate their research with people who reject traditional science narratives or when scientists should tap into their audiences' emotions. Several questions from the audience were also discussed.

Friday

Friday's Union Symposia US4 asked the pointed question "Communicating A Global Climate Crisis: If our house is on fire, why haven’t we called the fire brigade…?" which the panelists tried to find answers for from three very different perspectives. Leo Hickman (Director and editor of CarbonBrief) kicked things off with his journalist's points of view. Jutta Thielen-del Pozo (Head of the Scientific Development Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) followed with advice about communicating with policy makers and society.  Michael Mann (Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State and Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center) came last and tackled the wide field of denial.

The last short course of the week was SC3.6 titled "What is science for policy and how can you get involved?". The first half of the session focused on basic science for policy and communication techniques that can be used to engage policymakers. It explained how scientists can get involved with specific science for policy processes and initiatives. The second half of the session featured three speakers who are working at the science-policy interface. They outlined how their role bridges the gap between science and policy and some of the institutionalised routes that scientists can take to connect with policymakers. 

Looking for more? Then head to EGU's Youtube channel where there's a playlist for the sessions which were live-streamed and for the pre-recorded short courses respectively.