Displays

The last decade had seen an emergence of a new more dynamic and inconsistent media ecosystem. Digital media (i.e. social media) are accused by many independent researchers and influential observers, to have played a significant role in spread of science misinformation. Wide-ranging discussions about so-called ‘post-truth’ or ‘fake news’ phenomena have significantly involved science-related topics such as vaccines, GMO’s, climate change or homeopathy.

The issue of credibility and reliability of information is therefore central for science communication and public understanding of science.

CONCISE (“Communication role on perception and beliefs of EU Citizens about Science”), an EU research project intends to understand the role of science communication in beliefs, perceptions and knowledge of science and technology issues among European citizens from five countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Slovakia.

This paper presents preliminary quantitative results from Italian public consultation analysis regarding preferred citizen´s information channels and sources of scientific information. We will explore data to understand how trust in science is built, how citizens form opinions about the science, which sources of information they use and how they think can science communication could be more effective.

How to cite: Rubin, A., Pellegrini, G., and Šottník, L.: Role of Science Communication in beliefs, perceptions and knowledge of science and technology issues among European citizens, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-2943, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-2943, 2020.

To make an impact on science policy, a relationship between scientists, community leaders, and decision-makers cannot stop at one successful event – it must grow and evolve. The Arizona Science Policy Network aims to facilitate collaboration between early career scientists and decision-makers to draft science-informed policy. Beyond providing interactive and cross-disciplinary training and curriculum to scientists, we facilitate opportunities to practice in real situations, including speaking at town halls and public hearings, organizing public science science cafes and science days, writing policy memos and briefs, and advising on bills. In 2019, we successfully brought more than 60 early career scientists to the Arizona State Capitol to discuss drafts of the complex, multi-state Drought Contingency Plan with decision-makers. Since then, the state government has invited us to help draft sustainability- and climate change-focused legislation. We consider issues like climate change, water quality and availability, heat adaptation and mitigation, science education, ecological and social impacts of mining and industry, waste management, and emerging technologies. As we worked in impacted communities, we soon realized that we were missing the voices of community leaders in the conversation between scientists and policy-makers. In order to correct this, we hosted several science forums in breweries and cafes throughout Arizona. The science cafes initiated collaboration between policy-makers, scientists and community stakeholders, including Native American tribes. These meetings gave scientists, community members, and policy-makers a platform to discuss the environmental and socio-economic  impact of mining sites specific to each forum’s location. Early career scientists contributed their scientific expertise to explain how we can address region-specific problems. Community members also shared their knowledge of each unique area and context of the impact of current business and policy. Policy-makers brought their perspective on how science is used to enact change. From these efforts, we have fostered a more equitable and inclusive environment to ensure that all perspectives and knowledge are included in new bills and policies. Our program has provided a unique experience for scientists to further understand the broader impacts of science on communities and society. This presentation will reflect on the lessons learned in drafting policy with decision-makers and community leaders.

How to cite: Hall, C., Howley, E., Morton, E., Murphy, E., Bercovici, H., Tindell, K., McCutcheon, G., Solves, J.-P., Kurtz, L., Phillips, M., Bersson, J., Bernard, M., Dirks, B., and Weller, N.: Keeping Up the Momentum: Early Career Scientists in Policy-making and Community Science, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-977, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-977, 2020.

Evaluation of drop-in engagement activities, particularly trying to demonstrate impact or change, is difficult given their transient nature and many logistical factors. Many typical evaluation techniques such as surveys are often unsuitable and current best practice recommends integrating evaluation methods into the activity itself. We present a novel implementation and analysis of an established evaluation method, which has the ability to demonstrate change even from a drop-in activity.

A space soundscapes exhibit saw young families taken on a journey experiencing the real sounds of near-Earth space recorded by satellites – normally inaudible to humans due to their weakness and extremely low pitch. Grafitti walls were placed at the start and end of this journey where participants were prompted by event staff to reflect on what they think space is like. Thematic analysis of the words and drawings from the two walls showed a change from obvious space-themed bodies and typical misconceptions of the lack of sound in space to much more reflective and reactionary results afterwards. Applying quantitative linguistics shows an evolution of the distribution of words which demonstrates a greater diversity following the experience. Similar techniques have been applied to evaluating children’s language as they age, however, we are unaware of this being applied to public engagement activities before. We therefore propose that these methods may be useful in evaluating other drop-in engagement activities and demonstrating the impact that they had.

How to cite: Archer, M.: Demonstrating change from a drop-in engagement activity through pre- and post- graffiti walls: Thematic analysis and quantitative linguistics applied to a soundscape exhibit, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-3144, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3144, 2020.

Twitter is an established social media platform valued by scholars as an open way to disseminate scientific information and to publicly discuss research results. Scientific discussions on Twitter are widely viewed by the media who can then pass on information to the public. Here, we take the example of two 2018 earthquake-related events which were widely commented on Twitter by geoscientists: the Palu Mw7.5 earthquake and tsunami in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and the long-duration (more than one year) seismo-volcanic crisis Mayotte island in the Comoros archipelago between Africa and Madagascar. We build our analysis on a content and contextual analysis of selected Twitter threads about the geophysical characteristics of these events. Most authors of this paper have participated to these Twitter threads and related discussions, and regularly explain geohazard events via this social media. From the two selected examples, we show that Twitter promotes very rapid building of knowledge – in the minutes to hours and days following an event – via an efficient exchange of information and active discussion between the scientists themselves and with the public. Combining these results with our own experience of communicating geohazard science via Twitter, we discuss the advantages and potential pitfalls of this relatively novel way to make scientific information accessible to scholarly peers and to lay people. We argue that scientific discussion on Twitter breaks down the traditional “ivory towers” of academia. It participates to the growing trends towards open science, making science accessible to any non-academics or citizen scientists who can follow and participate in the discussion. This may help people to understand how science is developed, and, in the case of natural/environmental hazards, to better understand their risks.

How to cite: Lacassin, R., Devès, M., Hicks, S. P., Ampuero, J.-P., Bossu, R., Bruhat, L., Daryono, D., Wibisono, D. F., Fallou, L., Fielding, E. J., Gabriel, A.-A., Gurney, J., Krippner, J., Lomax, A., Sudibyo, Muh. M., Pamumpuni, A., Patton, J. R., Robinson, H., Tingay, M., and Valkaniotis, S.: Rapid collaborative knowledge building via Twitter after significant geohazard events, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-5261, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5261, 2020.

Worldwide, research community has studied the benefits of green and blue spaces implementation in urban areas, generating a great amount of literature regarding this topic. Since these solutions are of interest to face climate change impacts in cities, the European Commission (EC) has funded several projects to make an extensive review of the available literature. Three of these projects were especially studied here, namely EKLIPSE, Mapping Assessment of Ecosystem and their Services- Urban Ecosystem (MAES: Urban Ecosystems), and NATure-based URban innoVATION (NATURVATION). They all aim to identify the physical and social impacts, benefits and trade-offs of Nature-Based Solutions (NbS).

To objectively compare findings presented in the deliverable reports, a text-mining approach was carried out. This methodology coupled with a data visual representation allowed to convert the EC projects reports (corpus) into a meaningful structured analysis. As a result, a graphical representation was created, making possible to recognize concepts, patterns and attributes addressed by each text, as well as stakeholders and their position with respect to the topic.

 The text mining analysis was implemented through Gargantex Blue Jasmine Version (an open source software developed by ISC-PIF). Gargantex results permitted to recover a list of key-terms from each corpus based in their co-occurrence in the whole text. These terms were used to elaborate a visual representation or network, placing the words strongly related close to each other and characterizing the obtained clusters by a similar color.

This approach underlined the specific focus of each project: the conciliation between urbanisation and urban ecosystems (MAES), or the economic valuation and monetisation of NbS (NATURVATION) for instance. Moreover, it demonstrated that despite the different literature review methodologies of each report/project, there are some common trends exhibited by the obtained graphical networks and their statistical attributes. For instance, the need to assess the NbS performance with some adapted indicators; and the important EC supporting role in the implementation of NbS. Similarly, some regulating (e.g. water quality or temperature reduction) and cultural (e.g. recreation or health benefits) services are more addressed.  

This analysis can be applied to all kind of corpus, which makes it easy to understand different and similar concepts and approaches of a set of text data. A text-mining analysis can be conducted over the direct references of NbS benefits, on a collection of publications of a research database like Scopus or Science Direct. 

How to cite: Castellanos Diaz, L. A., Versini, P. A., Tchiguirinskaia, I., and Bonin, O.: A text-mining approach to assess impacts and benefits of Nature-Based Solutions , EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-14433, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-14433, 2020.

The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is driven by the need to understand the variability and trends in the composition of the global atmosphere and the related physical parameters, and to assess the consequences thereof. GAW provides reliable scientific information for a broad spectrum of users, including policymakers, on topics related to atmospheric chemical composition. The programme supports international environmental and climate agreements and improves our understanding of climate change and long-range transboundary air pollution through its work on greenhouse gases, aerosols, reactive gases, atmospheric deposition, stratospheric ozone, and ultraviolet radiation. GAW provides information based on combinations of observations, data analysis and modelling activities, and supports a number of applications at the global, regional and urban scale. This implies a variety of target groups and communication vectors.

To sustain the credibility and increase the visibility of GAW within the WMO community and other national/international bodies, the broader scientific and policy communities, as well as the general public, communication efforts are required. Several activities during the EGU General Assembly 2019 have been carried out to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of GAW.

For instance, a Union Symposium explored the 30 year journey from fundamental Atmospheric Composition Research to Societal Services. It showcased the importance of atmospheric composition research to climate, weather forecasting, human health, agricultural productivity and food security. The session highlighted the progress made in translating research into services, but stressed that much more needs to be done. A mentimeter survey during this Union Symposium revealed that among the scientific community GAW is valued for its coordination, observations, capacity building, outreach and its global focus.

Reflections on communication of atmospheric composition and outcomes from the 30^th anniversary celebration of GAW will be presented.

How to cite: Volosciuk, C.: Reflection on communicating atmospheric composition and its impacts, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-16061, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-16061, 2020.

Algarve is one Portugal regions’ in where the tourism activities are most relevant both socially and economically. Although Algarve’s most important touristic products are beaches resorts and summer weather conditions, as well as golf and gastronomy, this region still preserve a wide variety of topographies and geographical features that could constitute the basis for Geotourism activities.

Here we present some examples of how Science Communication (SC) and a Science Museum/Centre (SCM) are the ideal intermediates between the tourists and the tourist site or scenic resource. We also disclose how SCM’s could act independently or with less obvious partners, private and public, in developing or complementing Geoutourism activities.

Geoutourism activities’ and intervention areas of the Lagos Ciência Viva Science Centre and its partners could be grouped and will detailed in:

1. a) Scientific advice and training of tour operators or visit co-guiding; b) scientific residencies programs and field trips; c) production of materials - exs. thematic guides, 3D reconstructions, and printed and mobile interpretative information; d) SCM partners participation in research projects (Citizen Science).

Finally, we present examples of how SC and SCM could adapt the informal education techniques into tourist operators training contributing this way to an increase and diversity of the tourist professionals that work in Algarve and enrich the tourist experience further than the landscape appreciation.

Here we use and adopt the following definition: “Geotourism is sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing the earth’s geological features in a way that fosters environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation, and is locally beneficial” (Dowling & Newsome, 2006).

How to cite: Azevedo Rodrigues, L., Bamberger, A., and Blum, A.: Geotourism – practices, challenges and potentialities in Algarve, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10641, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10641, 2020.

Since when together with A. Negrete we theorized the efficaciousness of using geo-myths in a classroom for Earth education purposes (Lanza&Negrete 2007) I have been experimenting the use of them in different science narratives context. In my presentation, I will retrace all the experiences done starting with science theatre, including  Open Air museum, till the more recent  done with scholars of secondary schools for re-writing myths and transforming them in fairy-tales for primary school children. Using geo-myths with students in different context has convinced me of their efficaciousness in spreading the knowledge of the planet, while educating to the respect of the Earth. In my presentation I will give also some precious hints in this sense.

How to cite: Lanza, T.: Using Geo-myths in a classroom: towards creative science writing for scholars, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10985, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10985, 2020.

As researchers we attempt to engage the public with our work in many different spaces yet we hardly ever seriously consider how we might manipulate, or control, that space in order to enhance that engagement. The theatrical research discipline of Scenography concerns itself with understanding how space can be used, through mediums such as stage design and performer/audience interaction, to control engagements and help maximize the impact of the activities within that space.

The Earth Arcade is a series of public engagement activities within an exhibit space that can be tailored for different events, depending on scale and audience. It uses games and game-like activities to share environmental research and inspire people to take actions to address environmental issues. The Forest project was established to explore how scenographic techniques could transform the spaces in which Earth Arcade exhibits are deployed.

Inspiration for The Forest was drawn from a visit to the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019, where several of the exhibits were themselves inspired by environmental concerns. The space was debuted as a distinct part of an Earth Arcade exhibit at the 2019 Freedom Festival in Hull, UK, an annual arts and culture festival with over 130,000 visitors, and included elements like mindfulness, conversation circles, craftivism, and interactive soundscapes. These elements have subsequently been incorporated into further Earth Arcade exhibits.

The Forest demonstrates a successful, inter-disciplinary approach, where environmental researchers and theatrical researchers combine their work for mutual benefit and engage the public with vital environmental issues.

How to cite: Skinner, C., Skinner, A., and Fergusson Baugh, C.: Earth Arcade’s The Forest: Scenographic engagement spaces, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-13264, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-13264, 2020.

With geoscience student numbers dwindling, there is a strong need for Earth scientists to enthuse a new generation of prospective students. We created several hands-on activities to introduce members of the general public of all ages to the fundamentals of, and current research in paleomagnetism. We developed these activities at different outreach events in the UK, such as a family science fair (at the Ness Gardens) and a holiday workshop (at the Victoria Gallery & Museum). In the first week of July, 2019, we contributed to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, a science exhibition in London with almost 14,000 visitors of the general public, including many school groups. Visitors came from all educational backgrounds. We had a stand that consisted of 4 hands-on experiments, and an informative backdrop. The four activities allowed visitors to explore the range of tasks that a paleomagnetist does, from the collection and measurement of samples to understanding the behaviour of the Earth’s magnetic field. Visitors could measure real lavas from Iceland on a custom-built magnetometer that was designed specifically for outreach, and determine the magnetic polarity of the samples. We also created an information booklet with ’10 things you might not know about Earth’s magnetic field’, which is openly available under a CC-license. To measure the impact of our stand on visitors’ knowledge of paleomagnetism, we designed a quiz. Our results show that especially for school kids, our stand had a significant impact on their knowledge of the Earth’s magnetic field. In this contribution we share lessons learned through designing the ‘Magnetic to the Core’ stand, hands-on activities and evaluations.

How to cite: van der Boon, A., Paterson, G., Kavanagh, J., and Biggin, A.: Magnetic to the Core - Communicating paleomagnetism with hands-on activities, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-7269, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7269, 2020.

Shattering Stereotypes is a projecting that tackles and raises awareness of gender stereotyping in schools and how it can affect subject choice at GCSE and beyond.

In the last few years research by the Institute of Physics (IOP) and many others has shown that the lack of girls taking physics at A-Level is part of a wider problem; gender stereotyping in schools. The report Closing Doors concluded that schools which had low numbers of girls doing physics also had a small number of boys doing subjects which were stereotypically seen as girl subjects. Following this the IOP ran the Opening Doors project which generated a best practice guide for schools looking to tackle gender stereotyping.

Shattering Stereotypes builds on the best practice outlined in Opening Doors. The project is being piloted by the South East Physics network (SEPnet) in schools across the South East of England. The huge lack of diversity in physics is a problem that SEPnet partners are passionate about and are piloting this project as they want to tackle this problem.

Shattering Stereotypes is a set of three workshops for Year 8 students which aim to raise awareness of what gender stereotypes are, in particular:

• Gender Stereotypes in the context of a student’s everyday life.
• Gender Stereotypes and a student’s possible career path.

The project also aims to empower students so they can identify and challenge situations where they are presented with these stereotypes.

How to cite: Campbell, H.: Shattering Stereotypes, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10081, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10081, 2020.

EUGEN (European Geoscience Student Network) is an association that provides a platform for the international exchange between geoscience students in Europe. The network organizes annual meetings which take place during the first week of August. From the first EUGEN meeting in 1996 which was organized in Germany the network looks back on a history of annual meetings held in 13 different countries in Europe.

During an EUGEN meeting participants are offered to join a scientific program consisting of field trips and evening lectures. Excursions cover a broad range of geoscientific topics and give an introduction to the geology of the host country. Evening lectures give a deeper insight into topics conveyed during excursions and are organized in cooperation with local universities and supporting organizations. Moreover, participants can use this platform to present their Bachelor or Master thesis. In addition to that, activities like the ‘geolympics’ – a geological-sportive team competition – and one cultural daytrip complete the program. To sum up, EUGEN aims to enhance the scientific exchange across all geoscientific disciplines between both geoscience students and graduates. By combining the accompanying program of a scientific conference with the fun atmosphere of a geological field camp, an EUGEN meeting provides the ideal atmosphere for students to acquire international connections and lay the foundations of future professional collaborations. Participation in such a network is especially advantageous for those who are intending to study abroad and to internationalize their professional network.

EUGEN is a non-profit association which is funded by donations, membership- and participation fees. As such, the network depends on the active participation of committed members in the association. Future challenges comprise finding more and new ways to connect with students from all over Europe in order to increase the diversity of participating counties. Moreover, the association intends to internationalize its organization structure which is at the moment strongly focused on Germany. For the 25^th anniversary meeting the network goes back to its roots in the Black forest region in Germany. We invite students from all over the world to save the date (3^rd – 9^th of August 2020) and join us for an unforgettable experience!

How to cite: Hollinetz, M. S. and the EUGEN e.V. - European Geoscience Student Network: 25 years of EUGEN – a history of connecting geoscience students in Europe, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-16430, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-16430, 2020.

Planets in a room (PIAR) is a DIY kit to build a small, lowcost spherical planet simulator and planetarium projector. Teachers, science communicators that run a small museum or planetarium, planetary scientists, geologists and other individuals can easily build it and use it on their own, to show and teach the Earth and other planets and to develop and share material with a growing online community. (http://www.planetsinaroom.net/)

The project is being developed by the italian non-profit association Speak Science, with the collaboration of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the Roma Tre University, Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica. 
It was funded by the Europlanet Outreach Funding Scheme  and  was presented to the scientific community at EPSC (European Planetary Science Congress) in 2017 and 2018. Today it is being distributed to an increasing number of schools, science museum and research institutions from all over Europe. PIAR is also one of the projects selected by the new-born Europlanet Society for education and public outreach of planetary science.

At EGU2020, we will present an improved, new version of the project. Having started with 3d-printed technology,  PIAR is today going green,  with a new wooden, plastic-free version of the kit that will be presented for the first time. 
To help you engage a larger audience, we will also present a selection of educational material and projects that have been developed for PIAR by scientists, teachers and communicators  and that are focused on Earth and on planetary habitability inside and outside the Solar System.

How to cite: Giacomini, L., Aloisi, F., De Angelis, I., and Capretti, S.: (Green) Planets in a Room, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-22153, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-22153, 2020.

The scientific discovery process in geosciences inevitably involves the analysis of many heterogeneous datasets collected from various sources, e.g., field sampling, laboratories, historical data, that are often presented from different perspectives. Data interoperability, standardised data ingest and classification are critical factors in enabling comprehensive and interdisciplinary data analysis. The AuScope initiative that has been run for over a decade in Australia has produced an open-standards technology stack that has had a profound impact allowing open access to vast data holdings previously hardly accessible to researchers. The developed data delivery technology erased project boundaries, allowed sharing data with international community initiatives (e.g., INSPIRE, OneGeology), and equipped researchers with tools allowing the application of new numerical methods to a broader range of available data sets. It should be noted that in mineral exploration projects data interoperability challenges are not always of a technical nature, social aspects must be also considered to facilitate greater uptake.

This year, AuScope has introduced the Engage activity that is specifically designed to increase collaboration with and between research institutions, developing new pilot scientific applications, enabling access and up-scaling existing applications through intensive collaboration sprints of three months. A steering committee was formed to collect, assess and prioritise mini-project proposals from a range of institutions in research and academic sectors. Each project was equipped with a dedicated team of researchers and engineers to tackle a specific carefully scoped scientific problem with a measurable impact. The first iteration of the program has seen a diverse spectrum of projects including the establishment of a data catalogue for a University laboratory as part of a larger laboratory network development effort, web-enabling numerical legacy codes, containerisation of virtual research environments for educational purposes and a web application User Experience improvement project.

This case study will walk through the social aspects of our experience in cross-institutional collaboration, showcase our learnings, highlight our wins and challenges, and outline the vision for future work.

How to cite: Golodoniuc, P. and Fraser, R.: Bridging gaps between engineering capability and science applications across educational and science organisations, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-22279, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-22279, 2020.

Every month, millions of people read about climate change on Wikipedia. However, the information is often outdated and written by non-experts with strong opinions, such as climate activists and climate contrarians. Based on my six years of experience of writing on Wikipedia, I’ve come to the conclusion Wikipedia that is an undervalued piece of the science communication landscape.

Wikipedia as a medium enjoys high levels of trust compared to traditional news media, at least in the UK. It is built by a game of consensus building and negotiation between people with differing views. I will distill the experiences I have had on effective collaboration with non-experts who expose complexity in my explanations, dealing with those in denial of climate change and more recent examples of the presence of climate activism.

For me editing has also been useful for my research, and I believe the same will be true for other experts,. As writing for Wikipedia is very similar to carrying out a literature review, it is especially worthwhile for early career scientists or others venturing into new topic. It has often helped me to better put my own research into context. Rewording scientific literature for a broad public allows for a better appreciation of the material as well. A further validation can be obtained by submitting your Wikipedia article as a scientific paper to various WikiJournals.

How to cite: Nijsse, F. J. M. M.: Contributing to world's largest encylopedia: my experiences as a Wikipedia science communicator, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-19777, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19777, 2020.

Based on my 15 years of experience as a professional atmospheric scientist and amateur science communicator, I can confidently state that science communication usually goes really well. However, I will focus this presentation on the minority of times when it goes badly wrong.

I will give an example of a time when I was misquoted by a national newspaper: my suitably nuanced statement in the interview that "Reducing uncertainties in weather forecasts is a key research priority for the next ten years" ended up being printed as "Within ten years, I think we'll see a model that predicts the weather and climate change exactly". I will also give an example of a time when, at an organized event in Barcelona, I participated in a debate with a former MIT professor who is arguably the world's most famous disputer of climate change science. I will discuss how I handled both these difficult events, and I will give some advice on how to cope when science communication doesn't go according to plan.

I will finish with a plea not to over-simplify the scientific content when communicating with the public. There is evidence that doing so inclines people to under-value experts, which I believe may be a factor in public cynicism regarding climate change. The fact that I was recently quoted in The Times discussing the geekiest of topics in atmospheric science — the Coriolis force — demonstrates that there is a genuine public appetite for appropriate technical content in the mainstream media. I believe we must make the most of that appetite, in order to enthuse and inspire the next generation of geoscientists.

How to cite: Williams, P.: When Science Communication Becomes Difficult: Advice From The Battlefields, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-12207, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12207, 2020.

We took science to the streets of Helsinki using urban art in order to foster communication between scientists and the general public.

Researchers from the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) and Finnish Meteorological Institute, together with artists from Helsinki Urban Art co-designed a public mural that joined climate research, art and literary characters of Alice in Wonderland. The Climate Wall illustrates the 1.5°C and 4°C pathways and highlights the need for a transition from a greenhouse-gas spewing caterpillar into a sustainable butterfly. The wall includes the hashtag #ScienceInHelsinki and INAR’s twitter handle inviting passers-by to ask scientists questions anytime.

The design of the mural was a joint effort, from posing the starting question, “what is the key message we want to deliver?”, to the final imagery used on the wall (and some actual painting!). Methods used for the co-design process included in-person workshops, a facebook group, and online virtual ‘whiteboards’, which resulted in a collateral result of this project: how scientists and artists can work together effectively.

The Climate Wall was inaugurated in a public event at Helsinki Central Library Oodi auditorium in December 2019 with a short presentation, a panel discussion with some of the scientists and artists, and a children’s workshop (“The Art of Asking Questions”).

The project took place from May 2019 until the mural’s completion on October 2019, and was funded by the Finnish Arts Promotion Center (Taike).

How to cite: Buenrostro Mazon, S., Lauri, A., Duplissy, E. M., Lampilahti, J., Makkonen, R., Mielonen, T., Pulkkinen, M., Rantala, M., Riuttanen, L., and Ruuskanen, T.: Painting Science in Helsinki , EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-16140, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-16140, 2020.

Teaching, researching, knowledge transfer and innovation are important drivers of the development of any Country, provided by higher education in humanities, e.g. social and political sciences or clinical medicine, as well as in science and technology. In Europe these items correspond to the heart of a strategy, which aims to enforce a more inclusive, cohesive and competitive continent. Sometimes, science teaching fails because educational programs do not satisfactorily meet social needs, or research does not achieve innovation targets since it is not enough social-impacting. Scientific reductionism favours the individual point of view rather than shared perspectives, which integrate different disciplines and better answer to real problems. Many researchers, highly specialized in their knowledge fields, often transfer clear scientific concepts but unrelated to life or social and ethical values. Moreover, teaching today uses increasingly advanced tools to improve active learning, placing great trust in technology and forgetting the basics of good communication, which lies in the skills of communicator, his authenticity, his sincere interest in the listener’s growth. Following teaching experiences gained with a scientific communication course realised in the last two years at the Polytechnic and Basic Sciences School (Federico II University of Naples, Naples, Italy), we propose a distinction between science popularization and science communication, which establishes interesting guidelines for dealing with the complex interaction between higher education and society's needs. We have recovered the basic of communication skills, highlighting the importance of the sender-receiver relationship and strengthening the idea that effective communication occurs when receiver and sender simultaneously grow: the former improves his knowledge and his ability to choose, and the second one changes himself as an effect of the receiver’s reaction. Achieving effective communication in education is primarily a matter of taking care of the interpersonal relationship. Finally, we demonstrate that there is not only one way to communicate, but there are many approaches, depending on the peculiar relationship between sender and receiver.

How to cite: Vitagliano, E., Di Maio, R., and Calcaterra, D.: Which communication for higher education in scientific disciplines?, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-2727, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-2727, 2020.

EGU General Assembly is one of the world’s biggest conferences dedicated to geosciences. It gathers experts from all science fields connected to the study of past, present and future climates. Many of them have an historic perspective on their area of expertise: such knowledge is useful to develop an integrated view of the history of climate sciences.

We propose EGU2020 attendees to help building a collective timeline of the history of climate science. Everyone is invited to come to our poster to add to the printed timeline a scientific breakthrough in her/his field of expertise. This will be an opportunity to come to chat on climate science history and to construct together a wider picture of climate sciences.

The final cut of the timeline produced during EGU2020 will be available on our web page EarthBreath (https://www.sophia.mines-paristech.fr/earthbreath/), and our Twitter english (@eb_climate_data) and french (@eb_climat_fr) accounts.

EarthBreath is a non-profit initiative that we develop for promoting climate and Earth sciences to diverse publics.

How to cite: Tournadre, B. and Trolliet, M.: Your collective timeline of climate science history, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-3526, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3526, 2020.

INGV carries out, among other activities, seismic and volcanic monitoring of the Italian territory.

One of the main focus of the Institute is to widely disseminate information on research in these subject fields, with the aim of raising public awareness of issues that affect everyone's life.Despite the use of a simplified scientific language, the transmission of this kind of information has often proved difficult even for the specialized public of press operators who, if not experts in the subjects treated by INGV, tend not to consider the information transmitted and, consequently, not to convey it on their press organs.Therefore, in order to improve information for the press and the public, the INGV has developed a constant communication system through the use of social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp represent a reality in which INGV is a constant actor of scientific information in geosciences.Different languages ​​have been developed for the different communication channels: the Twitter limit of 280 characters, for example, forces the use of simple but exhaustive verbal forms for the scientific concepts.In addition to the thematic channels that strictly refer to the subjects of the "Earthquakes", "Volcanoes" and "Environment" Departments, the INGV has developed institutional channels that concern the body's activities as a whole. These channels are managed by the Press Office which, among other things, performs the functions of the Public Relations Office, a real institutional "front office" of Italian public institutions.Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp are the social networks used for the institutional communication and are mainly managed by the Institute's Press Office (with the precision that the Twitter channel refers to the President of the INGV and identifies itself as @ingv_president ).The constant information produced on social networks has created an await for our "news" and a feeling of esteem from the public: this has given rise to a spontaneous "defense curb" towards the sporadic phenomenon of the "haters" and / or of fake scientists who have tried to use the comments tool on the social networks of INGV to get their own visibility. The purpose of the document we want to present is to illustrate how the smart communication flows towards the press and general public, through the constant use of social media, have produced a numerically increased and increasingly positive diffusion of the INGV brand in the press and in user re-posts. This has led to the spread of accredited scientific news in geoscience subjects, in contrast to fake authors and fake news.This type of communication is very useful in the context of particularly sensitive issues (such as in highly seismic or volcanic territories) where false authors easily spread alarmist news.

How to cite: De Paola, V., Pezzella, F., Cirilli, M., Felli, C., Piccione, C., Vecchi, S., and Stopponi, S.: The new information / communication system of the INGV towards the press as a tool for correct scientific dissemination and against fake news, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-7398, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7398, 2020.

Climate change and decreasing biodiversity are currently hot topics in the media. Freshwaters in the alpine region are good indicators of climate change and, hence, perfect examples for illustrating these threats. Here, we want to share our idea for a Geocaching path (similar to the popular treasure hunt game) that is used to educate the public about the biology of freshwaters. We want to educate the visitors about the natural environment and the consequences of climate change and decreasing biodiversity for our aquatic ecosystems and livelihoods. In particular, we want to show the approaches of scientists to understand and predict these threats and, furthermore, how our society can find solutions to protect aquatic ecosystems.

Lake Lunz is a very popular place for tourists. Visitors enjoy walks around the lake as well as swimming. Close by is also one of the oldest lake research stations (WasserCluster Lunz – Biologische Station), where scientists from all over the world are currently conducting on aquatic ecosystems. The project received funding from the EGU Public Engagement Grant in 2019. The GPS coordinates for the Geocache (a small treasure box) will be hidden in the answers to several questions about freshwater biology that will lead the participants around the lake, a search we termed “Biogeocaching”. The answers can be found on different informational signs that will be set up around the lake and at the experimental sites and research facilities of WasserCluster Lunz. After finishing the path, the participants will have learned about ecology of alpine lakes and the research activities at WasserCluster Lunz.

We think that geocaching as a treasure hunt is a playful way for people of all ages to discover nature. The combination of an outdoor recreational activity with information about freshwaters, climate change, and decreasing biodiversity –Biogeocaching - will sensitize the public to and raise awareness of these hot topics in the field of Earth Sciences. We hope to encourage other researchers and research institutes to develop something similar on their topic and research.

How to cite: Hödl, R., Attermeyer, K., Coulson, L., and Harjung, A.: Biogeocaching – a scavenger hunt for the treasures of biology around Lake Lunz, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-7420, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7420, 2020.

In an era where communicating your science goes hand in hand with doing your science, many scientists devote time to develop tools and learn new skills and strategies for Science Communication. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has put in place one of those tools: the Divisions’ Blog. Most of the current EGU Divisions has an active blog run mainly by one or more volunteer early-career scientists. 
Regularly, both editors, and regular and guest authors write about research in their field, talk about relevant topics discussed within the scientific community, and highlight interesting facts for scientists and the general public. The goal is to provide a platform for enhancing communication among geoscientists in ways that go beyond the means of peer-reviewed publication or scientific conferences. At the same time, we aim at engaging with the general public, by writing in a technically sound, but more accessible form. Each Division’s blog has its character, like the teams behind it, making the blogs a diversified and exciting digital environment.

Here we show the main numbers, statistics, and feedback from each Division Blog, thus providing a measure of the efforts put in and the impact made so far by the broad Geoscience community. We discuss best practices, blog styles and topics which do work well or not, based on readership statistics. We also show the channels chosen for advertising the blogs, such as social media, and the impact of the choices made. Finally, we show that even though EGU has its base in Europe, we reach an audience beyond Europe thanks to active members based outside Europe and to topics addressing particular geographical areas.

We conclude that, within the increasingly essential role played by Science Communication in every research field, the EGU Divisions’ Blogs are successful at sharing research related to their fields with the broad geoscientific and non-scientific community. This success mainly relies on the time, effort, motivation, and creativity of editors and guest authors.

How to cite: Cigala, V., Burgard, C., van Rijsingen, E., van Zelst, I., Trani, O., Alberti, T., Sprenger, M., Jurikova, H., Barnard, L., Amato, G., Roder, G., Rizzi, J., Lombardo, L., Fernández-Blanco, D., Gürer, D., Papeschi, S., Davies, H. S., Franzke, C., Faranda, D., von der Heydt, A., Vannitsem, S., Dal Zilio, L., Glerum, A., Gülcher, A., Lourenço, D., Meier, T., Rozel, A., Shephard, G., Coulon, V., Berger, S., and Cavitte, M.: #SciComm via the European Geoscience Union Divisions’ blogs: experiences from the editorial teams., EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10775, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10775, 2020.

The academic literature is the primary source for current developments in science. But limited access to journals as well as the widespread use of technical jargon can inhibit the dissemination of new knowledge to scientists from other fields and to non-scientists. These serve as major barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration with non-geoscientists and to efforts to further public understanding of geoscience research. Meanwhile, traditional science news focuses on topics of obvious interest to the public, such as geohazards or climate change. While engaging with non-geoscientists on these topics is important, the majority of geoscience research lacks a mechanism for generating public interest.

“Bites” sites, originally introduced in the astronomy community, are blogs dedicated to communicating new developments in science to a broad audience. Each bite is an engaging, short (400-700 word) summary that explains an exciting new scientific paper and discusses its importance in the field. Bites are typically written by graduate students and other early career scientists about recently published articles that have not been picked up by more traditional science news outlets. These sites serve three key purposes: 1) to keep the interested public – especially university students who may consider careers in geoscience – up to date with recent developments in the field, 2) to generate attention for new work that traditional science media outlets may miss, and 3) to give early career scientists practice with public-facing writing and editing, which are critical skills both within and beyond academia.

Here we present the new site Geobites, targeted at communicating new geoscience (broadly defined) research to the public. We show examples of articles on Geobites, diagram the structure of a good article, present initial site analytics, and solicit feedback from the geoscience communication community.

How to cite: Shobe, C. M., Vrouwenvelder, K. T., Moerchen, M., and Giampoala, M.: Geobites: Down-to-earth summaries of new geoscience research for a broad audience, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-11135, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11135, 2020.

‘Proof of concept’ science communication workshops were organised in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Hanoi, Vietnam focussing on capturing community perceptions on environmental issues. The aim was to help students on environmental courses learn quick and easy ways to make impactful short films so as to communicate their science to the public and their peers on social media, which is widely used in the region.  The workshops lasted a day and taught students how to find a story, film it and edit it into a 1-minute video, with the videos shown at the end of the day in a mini ‘film festival’ and then shared by the students. Our research involves looking at plastic pollution in the Mekong River. In order to publicise the problem to the general public in the region the workshops with local students allowed us to tell environmental stories on social media from their perspective and streamlined the process of communication, providing content that could be shared widely. The workshops were very successful, and we now have a tried and tested method of training scientists in regions of the world where crucial scientific research is being carried out to effectively engage with their colleagues, the general public and the media in their region.

How to cite: Hackney, C., Cumming, V., and Waldman, R.: Environmental filmmaking workshops: Engaging university students on plastic pollution in Cambodia and Vietnam, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-18731, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18731, 2020.

The pan-European SeaDataNet marine and ocean data infrastructure started in early 2000, by means of a European funded project to create a framework for the management of large and diverse sets of data deriving from in situ measurements. It has been improved thanks to different European projects, it represents the joint efforts of several marine institutes around the European and the Mediterranean seas. The current project that is improving the infrastructure is the SeaDataCloud Horizon 2020 project; it involves a network of 56 partners across 29 countries.

According to our main objectivest he project designed and implemented actions which can spur a response on an international level, creating the basis to reinforce the pan-European SeaDataCloud community.

Information Technology (IT) has an important impact on how people work together. In the SeaDataCloud project the following web communication tools are used:

• SeaDataNet website and Extranet;
• Partners’ websites;
• Mailing lists;
• Electronic newsletters;
• On line educational materials;
• Videos and video tutorials;
• Twitter;
• Articles in e-journals;

Members of the SeaDataCloud and SeaDataNet I and II, have had the opportunity of face to face meetings, the norm is to travel even for meetings of short duration. This investment in time and money allows direct contact between the partners of the projects. This creates an opportunity for people across Europe to meet each other, to work together and to speak openly.

The IMDIS (International Conference on Marine Data and Information Systems) conferences have been organized in the framework of the European funded projects that have allowed the SeaDataNet infrastructure to be developed and upgraded. The meetings started in 2005 with the first conference organised in Brest (France), to share knowledge and best practices on marine data management. IMDIS is a unique platform and has the following goals:

• Raise awareness of the SeaDataNet infrastructure, new development and standards;
• Share experiences in ocean data management;
• Enable synergies between data providers and data managers.

It has been a breeding ground for inspirational ideas, for example the project ODIP (Ocean Data Interoperability Platform) that led to its successor ODIP II project was conceived during one of the conferences. The challenges and objectives of the projects were to find common interoperability solutions to problems in ocean data sharing, in collaboration with institutions from Europe, USA and Australia. In this case the IMDIS series of conferences have represented an opportunity not only for knowledge exchange in ocean data management but they have led to significant results in terms of new synergies that made it possible to find new partners and projects.

The direct interactions during the meetings as well as the on line tools have had a positive impact on reinforcing the development of a large SeaDataNet community across Europe and beyond.

The SeaDataCloud project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 730960.

How to cite: Pecci, L., Fichaut, M., and Schaap, D.: The communication and the organization of events in a scientific multidiscipinary community: the SeaDataNet experience, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-19182, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19182, 2020.