A Week in Vienna: The European Geosciences Union General Assembly

A few weeks ago, I travelled to the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria. Vienna is one of my favourite cities so I was really happy to be there again! 

My previous blog post gave a sneak preview of what the week was all about but now I can share the experience with you, illustrated by some photos along the way.

My office for the week was the European Geosciences Union’s General Assembly (EGU15), one of the largest conferences in the world on Earth, planetary and space sciences. 

I worked as a Press Assistant in the Press Centre of the conference. It’s is the place to be for all things media-related. The Press Centre also acts as a great workspace for journalists to report on the many Press Conferences scheduled during the week.

Here, they can utilise interview rooms with scientists and gather quotes on fascinating research that’s announced during the week, before writing it up for publication that very day.

I was lucky enough to work alongside this bunch of lovely ladies. Together, we formed the Press Team and ensured that all things press, media and outreach related was going well at the conference.

Some EJR-Quartz colleagues attended as speakers, sharing insights and lessons learnt from ESA’s Rosetta Mission. Personifying spacecrafts using social media and engaging the public through competitions were discussed by them in outreach sessions. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) were also present, revealing the first large mosaic images of Mars ever at the conference! 

The highlight of the week for me was going to the ESA Rosetta Mission Press Conference. Here, scientists from DLR and ESA – such as Project Scientist Matt Taylor (pictured above mid-selfie) shared the latest results from the comet-chasing mission. I wrote an article for the EGU blog about it so take a look if you want to see what the spacecraft duo are up to right now.

I also wrote two articles about other new findings that were announced at EGU15. The first, is on the influence of climate change and the second describes interesting new findings from the NASA Dawn mission. I really enjoyed blogging about both space and environmental subjects and writing about time-sensitive topics.  

This week in Vienna was a wonderful experience, one that I shared avidly online through my Twitter account – especially when there was cake involved!

What can I say…food makes me happy 🙂

The next EGU General Assembly will be held in Vienna between 17 and 22 April 2016. I look forward to finding out what new science results are announced next year!

– Nikita

(Photo credits: EGU/Stephanie McClellan)

Introducing the European Geosciences Union – General Assembly 2015

For the rest of April, my blog will be dedicated to all things Earth, planetary and space sciences as I fly to Vienna tomorrow to work at the European Geosciences Union’s (EGU) General Assembly. I will write an in-depth post on the week-long conference when I return but for now, here’s a sneak peek of what I’ll be up to 🙂

Credit: EGU Twitter

Made up of over 12,500 members, EGU is dedicated to benefiting humanity and our understanding of the world around us. Their annual General Assembly attracts over 11,000 scientists from across the globe and includes sessions, symposia, poster and oral presentations on a plethora of topics on our planet and the Universe that we live in.

Ranging from space and ocean sciences, to paleontology and volcanology — the conference invites international scientists to present their research, as well as journalists to share these fascinating science stories with the world.

Credits: BBC

This year’s theme is ‘A voyage through scales’- contemplating Earth’s extraordinary variability in the scales of space, time and spacetime. Sounds mindboggling? It is, but in the good way! I will be working within the Press Team during the conference to ensure the smooth running of the Press Centre. I’ll have the opportunity to interview scientists on their work, attend sessions and press conferences and write for EGU’s official blog GeoLog. Hosted by the Austria Center Vienna, I’m looking forward to visiting Vienna again after my first visit last April.

Keep an eye out for blog posts written by me during the conference on EGU’s blog and follow me on Twitter here for daily updates on the conference and to join me on my trip to Vienna. 

See you there!

-Nikita

p.s  I have worked with EGU before, you might remember a blog post on an article that I wrote for them last year here.