Outreach Films from the IAGA Social Media Working Group

The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) is one of the associations under the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and acts as a non-governmental body to serve scientists and decision-makers in research establishments, government agencies, intergovernmental bodies, and private enterprises. IAGA promotes the work of Earth and space scientists studying the magnetic and electrical properties of the Earth, other planets, the Sun and their phenomena, and interplanetary bodies.

Since December 2019, IAGA has had a dedicated social media group (under the Interdivisional Commission on Education and Outreach - ICEO) to promote the work of the organisation and encourage the building of an online community. IAGA social media platforms (including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a blog) started as an alternative version of mailing lists but have expanded into creating original content. We aim to provide an easily accessible platform for news and an online community for IAGA members; to increase awareness of the varied work of IAGA, both within the community and to the general public; and to promote the work of early career researchers (ECRs) and under-represented groups in IAGA. In this talk we present the successes of our most recent undertaking, the filming of outreach materials. These have fallen into two main categories: 1) outreach films, and 2) filmed interviews with IAGA (and wider IUGG) members.

Evidence of success in the first category include the “Magnetic Mosaic” film (directed by Katia Pinhero), which was a finalist film in the “Women in GeoScience” category and finished 5^th in the Public Choice at the Earth Futures Film Festival out of 972 initial entries. In this film 10 female scientists take the viewer on a tour as they build a magnetic mosaic from the Earth’s core into the solar system. We have also won a grant to facilitate a children’s outreach project where puppet theatre is used for Bimbim the dog to learn the differences between planets in the solar system with his friends.

Secondly, we have won an outreach Grant from the IUGG where we will produce a documentary and short movies containing interviews with researchers to connect a variety of subjects under the 8 IUGG associations. The documentary will be about the structure and science of IUGG while the short movies will contain interviews of Early Career Researchers. We wish to promote this ongoing work and direct listeners to how to access these materials for their own use.