A simple Google search for the phrase “period in geosciences” will likely yield reference to geological time. However, ask any woman¹ in geosciences, in either academia or industry, and they will have experienced at least one menstrual period in the field, predicted or not. Given the composition of most undergraduate classes, at least half the class are likely to be at risk of experiencing menstruation during field training, and yet, this issue remains unspoken of at best, taboo at worst. This is a global issue, with some Institutions leading the way with innovative policy and practical guidelines².

To get a sense of the scale of this issue in the South African setting, we ran an informal survey, during the Human Evolution Research Institute’s (HERI) All Womxn Field Camp. This is a three day, two night, women’s only field training camp, which in 2022 had 19 participants from five African countries. Participants ranged from undergarduates, to PhD candidates, post docs and permenant academic staff from the University of Cape Town and Iziko South African Museum. Participants all reported experiencing menstruation at some point during their field training and all expressed issues of discomfort, pain and anxiety affecting their ability to work optimally. Many indicated the inability to openly communicate with lecturers and/or demonstrators about menstruation related issues due to the surrounding stigma.

Following this discussion and referring to best practice guidelines elsewhere², we propose including sanitary wear in packing lists provided to students. We put together an emergency period kit to accompany every field excursion, containing a range of menstrual products, pain relief, sanitizer etc. We further recommend that bathroom breaks should be planned for and made frequent throughout all field excursion^2,3. Finally, we advocate for open communication about this issue and hope that the emergency period kits can help facilitate this. The awkwardness and stigma that surrounds menstruation needs to be tackled head on, and we encourage all lecturers, demonstrators and PIs to actively participate in this endeavor to ensure that all geoscientists have a fair chance to engage optimally in field settings.

References:

1. we refer here to cisgendered women who menstruate; we could also have referred this group as people who menstruate

2. Giles, S., Greene, S., Ashey, K., Dunne, E., Edgar, K., and Hanson, E. Getting the basics right: a field-teaching primer on toilet stops in the field, EGU General Assembly 2020, EGU2020-11723, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11723, 2020

3. Pickering, R., Hasbibi, S., and Tostevin, R. Redesigning field training to provide an informative, safe, and even fun experience for first year students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa., EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-522, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-522, 2022

How to cite: Pickering, R. and Khosa, R.: The geological period no one talks about: menstruation in the field, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-167, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-167, 2023.

EGU, the European Geosciences Union, is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. Every year, the EGU awards and medals programme recognises eminent scientists for their outstanding research contribution in the Earth, planetary and space sciences. In addition, it identifies the awardees as role models for the next generation of early career scientists to foster geoscience research.

Nominations for all the medals and awards are submitted every year online by 15 June by the members of the EGU scientific community. Any person can be nominated except the EGU president, vice-president council members (not including ex- officio members) and chairs of the EGU committees. The EGU Council, the medal and award committees’ members and the Union and division officers are committed to soliciting nominations of deserving individuals by avoiding conflicts of interest. Each EGU medal or award is selected through a rigorous assessment of the candidates and their merits through the respective committee. The procedures for nomination, selection of candidates and the time schedule are described in detail on EGU websites.

It is a strict necessity when recognizing scientific excellence by any scientific association providing equal opportunities and ensuring balance. The processes and procedures that lead to the recognition of excellence has to be transparent and free of gender biases. However, establishment of clear and transparent evaluation criteria and performance metrics in order to provide equal opportunities to researchers across gender, continents and ethnic groups can be challenging since the definition of scientific excellence is often elusive.

This presentation aims to present the experience and the efforts of the European Geosciences Union to ensure equal opportunities. Data and statistics will be presented in the attempt to provide constructive indications to get to the target of giving equal opportunities to researchers across gender, continents and ethnic groups.

How to cite: Blunier, T.: Equality of opportunities in geosciences: The EGU Awards Committee experience, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-2595, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2595, 2023.

Scientific evaluation built upon numeric metrics is advantageous: It’s time effective (saving precious research time), fair (directly comparable and less biased by subjective reviewer opinions), and does not require, and cannot be altered by, individual linguistic or other skills (unlike written CVs, for example).

The ruling metric, the h-index, is currently misused widely to rank academics based upon numbers of papers (only papers) published and number of received citations: Who published the most adequately cited papers wins permanent jobs, project funding, and awards. Something that is most easily achieved by an academic, who blends in, and works in, an established research entity and along an established line of research, and does not share methodologies.

I believe that, in stark contrast, a multi-metric profile can end the academic detour past high-quantity low-quality science publication (e.g., “publish or perish”), all-dominant research camps, irreversible scientific views, and inaccessible science. If designed carefully, a numeric multi-metric profile provides a multitude of critical academic incentives. As such it offers a unique opportunity to foster academic diversity, boost disruptive science, and rebuild the bridges with the general public (i.e., academia’s stakeholder); likely the most sensible way forward for science.

Today, the quality of research can – numerically – be valued higher than its quantity; the openness of research, methodologies, and tools can be represented by a single, if also brutally honest number; pivotal academic contributions towards method and tool development, and even to some degree, teaching, and outreach can be recognised in quantified form.

Such a multi-metric professional profile characterises individual academics, instead of purely (and poorly) ranking them. Assembling complementary team or project members becomes easier; more successful research likelier. Individual strengths and weaknesses become clear and allow academics (and supervisors) to make use of them and take steps to improve.

Here, I will introduce, outline, and *make available* the first, ready-to-be-used version of the academic profile, ProAc. It is geared towards making academic evaluation fairer and more time-effective, and science the best it can be: diverse, collaborative, disruptive. ProAc is neither perfect nor complete – it never will be. This is why it is designed for continuous improvements and adjustments. ProAc is crafted with all my heart and your gain in mind, but also with the hope for your feedback and support down along its exciting roadmap.

With love, fury, and a bit of coding. 💫

How to cite: Crameri, F.: Profiling, instead of ranking, academics with the multi-metric academic profile ProAc, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6465, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6465, 2023.

Conferences have increasingly come under a spotlight for inclusion and representation of marginalized groups. Here, we retrospectively analyzed perceived binary gender within the internal structure and dynamics of scientific leadership at the Chapman conference series, spanning a period from 2007 to 2019. Chapman conferences are small, focused meetings, under the umbrella of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), in the Earth and space sciences. They follow a centralized, two-leveled scientific leadership model, starting at conference inception by the organizing conveners and their selection of an invited science program committee (SPC). Our main findings were: (1) On average, women in leadership were underrepresented in relation to the total AGU membership number of women. (2) On average, if women were among conveners, the number of women in the SPC increased, reaching equity comparable to AGU membership of women. (3) On average, the women convener ratio was less equitable than the women SPC ratio. In conclusion, targeted efforts for equity–especially at the convener level of the centralized conference model–are needed, as increased representation of women at the convener level improved representation of women at the SPC. Further equity for other marginalized groups such as non-binary gender and other identities can be improved with broader demographic data collection and analysis.

How to cite: Keiling, A. and Smith-Keiling, B.: Analysis of Women Conference Leadership Levels: Convener Impacts on the Science Program Committee, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9896, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9896, 2023.

 Equitable Letters in Space Physics (ELSP) is an organization that aims to encourage merit-based recommendations and nominations in the space physics community by providing resources and reviews. Recommendation and award nomination letters are a known source of bias that affect education and job opportunities, career progression, and recognition for scientists from underrepresented backgrounds. ELSP was founded to mitigate this bias within the current system by providing a proof-reading service that focuses on identifying phrasing and structure within letters that unintentionally undermines the purpose of the recommendation or nomination. If you are writing a recommendation letter for someone you know professionally, you can send it to us and we will send it out to our reviewers. They will provide recommendations on how you can make your letter more equitable and less biased, using a combination of the techniques and resources described on our site, with the aim to make unbiased recommendation letters more accessible to all. If you are interested in being a reviewer or having your writing reviewed, please reach out to us. We're a relatively young initiative and are keen to engage with and involve many diverse voices. Our website with more information, sample letters, and other resources can be found at https://equitableletterssp.github.io/ELSP/

How to cite: Halford, A., Burrell, A., Jones, M., Coxon, J., and Zawdie, K.: Equitable Letters for Space Physics, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11524, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11524, 2023.

How to cite: Fox, B., Davidson, A., Din, R., Patel-Nair, M., and Trowler, V.: Geoscience Access, Inclusion and… Belonging? Making Geoscience Degrees a Place of Belonging for All, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11761, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11761, 2023.

In an effort to assess the representation of women across all Copernicus journals, we assigned the apparent gender to each person serving on Copernicus editorial boards (1089 editors in total). Some people are present in more than one journal and can have different roles within one journal, however, we counted them only once per journal in our analysis. We identified the sex of a person by the typical gender association of their first name and by looking at pictures. We are aware that this approach to identifying biological sex can be limited and that gender identity cannot be inferred from this kind of analysis. Our assessment shows that the proportion of apparent female editors across all journals is between 10% and 57% with lower proportions among larger editorial boards. On average, we identified 27% of all editors to be female. We compare these numbers to the average representation of female scientists during EGU General Assemblies (GAs), which serves as a reference for the general gender distribution within the European geosciences community. Based on the self-reported gender of EGU GA participants, senior women constitute about one-third of the EGU participants, while 40% of the ECS participants identify as female. However, commonly more senior scientists are invited to join editorial boards. Thus, our initial assessment indicates that the estimated number of female scientists on editorial boards of Copernic journals nearly reflects the representation of senior female scientists attending EGU GAs. 

How to cite: Popp, A., Stadmark, J., and Timar-Gabor, A.: Female representation across Copernicus journals, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12652, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12652, 2023.

In early 2020, a group of geoscientists and other experts came together, within the framework of the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geoscience (iCRAG), to learn about the challenges experienced by researchers in iCRAG, and to identify ways to work together to create a more inclusive environment. However, it was swiftly realised that these issues were manifest across the geosciences, and that any meaningful changes would need to be structural and widespread. This led to the formation of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Geoscience (EDIG) project: a volunteer-led, virtual initiative, aiming to make geoscience more inclusive, accessible, and equitable. The EDIG project strives to improve awareness of the impact of prejudice, bias, exclusion, discrimination and other experiences within the larger geoscience community and to create strategies and networks to tackle inequities within geoscience.

To help us better understand the challenges faced across the geoscience community, we ran an anonymous survey asking people about their experiences (or lack of) with equality, diversity, and inclusion related topics. The results of the survey helped to structure an online, free conference run over three days in December 2020. This inaugural event aimed to amplify the voices and experiences of underrepresented groups in geoscience in regard to equity, diversity and inclusion, drawing on the knowledge of 17 speakers from geoscience communities around the world.

From the conversations at the 2020 event, we decided to expand outwards, opening our committee up to new volunteers and developing new projects to address barriers and challenges holistically. Many of these projects have involved collaborations with other initiatives and groups, including focused workshops (e.g., early career researcher barriers in Ireland) and are leading to new resources to help reach a wider network. In November 2022, we ran our second virtual conference, which sought to shift the conversation beyond increasing awareness toward strategies for action, and along with our original focus on improving awareness included sessions on data (collection, use, challenges) and how we might influence the future of equity, diversity and inclusion in geoscience.

Going forward, our focus is to grow our network by building greater international links with other like-minded organisations (we’ve discovered that many people want to be involved, which is great!). We want to create a platform for us all to come together to work towards a more equitable and just geoscientific community. We also aim to raise awareness of the vital contributions of minoritized groups to geoscientific knowledge and the damaging consequences of their marginalisation and oppression in the history of our science. Only by creating a global network of supporters and activists can we hope to improve the diversity and inclusivity of our science. Let’s all come together to listen, learn and move forward together.

How to cite: Watson, R. A., Doran, A. L., Bidgood, A., Desmau, M., Hantsche, A., Benaim, A., Tiddy, C., Burton, E., Roberts, L., Rieger, P., and Gaieck, W. ".: The EDIG project: a grassroots initiative working to address systemic inequities in geoscience on a global scale, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-13202, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13202, 2023.

The study by Agnini et al. (2020) has described the scenario over the last two decades about the presence of women working in geosciences in the Italian University system. Data show a slightly positive trend in the female percentages of both full (from 9.0% to 18.5%) and associate professors (23.6% to 28.9%). Conversely, the same positive trend is not seen among research fellows/assistant professors, although the PhD population (i.e., the career starting point) shows near gender balance. The under representation of women among permanent researchers is around 35% and 32% for non-permanent researchers. In Italy, the Glass Ceiling Index is alarmingly high, 3.02, and never approached the value of 1 that indicates no difference between women and men in terms of their chances of being promoted. It is clear that more efforts are needed to promote work-life balance policies and a firm discouragement of the prevailing patriarchal mentality would eventually help in reconciling family and work to give equal opportunities to men and women.

On this topic, in 2021, the Italian Geological Society (SGI) created a new Division dedicated to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, “PanGEA, Geoscienze Senza Frontiere”. This new SGI Division aims to coordinate and promote activities to overcome differences in gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, disability, language and age and support inclusiveness in Italian geology. The Division is also conceived as an open environment, intended to create opportunities for communication, mutual support and professional development. To do so, the Division organizes – at least once a year – a national workshop to connect academic geoscientists to professionals from the public and private sectors and teachers. We believe in the need to build supporting and mentoring actions at different levels because geology is a discipline that must evolve to embrace all kinds of diversity. 

Agnini, C., Pamato, M. G., Salviulo, G., Barchi, K. A., and Nestola, F.: Women in geosciences within the Italian University system in the last 20 years, Adv. Geosci., 53, 155–167, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-155-2020, 2020.

How to cite: Amadori, C. and of the Italian Geological Society, E. D.: A new EDI Division of the Italian Geological Society, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16091, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16091, 2023.

Although the Geosciences remain one of the least diverse scientific communities, we need more quantitative data to capture how homogeneous or diverse the community actually is. It is also unclear how this non-diverseness translates into workplace safety. Unsafe working conditions are frequently reported in mainstream media, but it remains difficult to develop targeted and effective solutions without knowing who is affected. To obtain data on how different members of the geoscience community experience workplace environments, we released an anonymous survey which can be accessed via:[https://qfreeaccountssjc1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6LLqSaXRyLZ3yZg]. The survey interrogates topics affecting workplace safety, such as sexual harassment, discrimination, (un)equal gender treatment. It also includes recommendations and strategies to improve overall workplace safety. Initial findings show that around 40-50% of respondents (n=78) have sometimes experienced a) disrespectful comments or actions, b) people questioning the respondents’ professional expertise, and c) sexist or racist language in their workplace. Such experiences predominantly caused about 40% of total respondents to consider leaving their institutions or changing careers. Our survey also showed that, only around 18% of respondents feel supported by their institutional administrations to report an incident, or trust the reporting system to be fair and unbiased. This preliminary outcome means that there is a major task at hand at the institutional level to transform current working environments into a safe space where geoscientists can thrive. The updated results and insights from this survey will be presented at the EGU General Assembly in 2023.

How to cite: Beniest, A., Popp, A., Di Chiara, A., Gürer, D., van Rijsingen, E., Li, M., and Pieber, S.: The European Geosciences Community: insights from a survey on workplace diversity and climate, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16491, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16491, 2023.

Bibliometric and survey-based data are used to evaluate and compare the productivity of Earth scientists. Work-from-home initiatives have led to disproportionate impact among different genders. An individual’s perception of their own productivity is significant in understanding how equity-deserving groups are affected by disruptions to normal routines. Additionally, peer-reviewed publications are a key metric of academic productivity, as they are a vital component of career advancement. Using sex- (female vs. male) and gender-based (women vs. men) methods, this study investigates how both the perceived and measured productivity of women and men was impacted by global COVID-19 work-from-home initiatives. Here we show that in a normal year females publish proportionally to males, and that the proportion of female first authors increased between the 2019-2020 (“pre-pandemic”) and 2020-2021 (“during pandemic”) years. This finding is contrary to the perceived productivity between women and men and indicates that our perceptions may not always match reality. Although women and men are publishing at nearly identical rates based on their proportions within our field, women are harder on themselves. Support structures should be focused on women and early-career researchers as their more negative perception of self-productivity can lead to mental health issues and a lack of confidence.  

How to cite: Hatherly, S. and Spencer, C.: Comparing measured and perceived productivity of Earth scientists during COVID-19 work-from-home initiatives, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16983, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16983, 2023.

In various fields of science and technology research in Japan, a liaison group of gender-equal academic associations was established by several academic associations around 2000. Since then, the liaison group has become fully active, and the number of participating academic associations has increased, now exceeding 100. JpGU has participated in these activities since their inception. Since the earth sciences encompass many fields, the first step was to recruit people who could cooperate with JpGU through the academic associations that are members of JpGU.  JpGU became a governing committee in charge of the activities of the Liaison Committee at 6th term. The activities of the society include a survey of the current status of female researchers through a large-scale questionnaire once every five years and make proposals and requests based on the results of these survey, and the development of the next generation through the sub-activities (summer school for junior and senior high school girls) for the development of a new generation of female researchers in particulars, etc. JpGU also has done its own activities such as career support counseling during JpGU meeting and made logos representing diversity of session conveners. In this presentation, we will list and briefly introduce the footprints of those who have cooperated in the promotion of diversity, equality, and inclusion through JpGU and liaison groups as a record at this point.

How to cite: Oguchi, C. and Hori, R.: Diversity Promotion Activities in the Earth and Planetary Sciences in Japan, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-17313, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17313, 2023.

As life on Earth faces an increasing set of challenges - natural disasters, climate and environmental injustices, and food and water insecurities - it is imperative to have more minds, more hearts, more seats at the table to solve today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Open science is required to respond to such challenges. For NASA, open science is a collaborative culture within the scientific community and the general public that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge to accelerate scientific and applications-based research and understanding. Open science creates a more nurturing, diverse, inclusive, and equitable science ecosystem. Open Science accelerates science by promoting a collaborative culture by the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public. Open science increases participation of historically underrepresented groups by providing more equitable access to data and information. Open Science empowers communities by making data more accessible, usable, and meaningful for all as a public service

NASA’s Transform to Open Science (TOPS) mission advances the principles of open science, which aims to build trust, understanding, and lead the co-production of knowledge and new discoveries. As we start the Year of Open Science (2023), the TOPS team is developing resources and activities to support and enable user communities as they move towards open science. Join us for an innovative session in which you will: (1) learn more about NASA’s TOPS mission, and (2) mind-map a mosaic in support of a more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and accessible scientific ecosystem. During the session, we want to discuss with attendees their ideas around open science, what role science and accessibility of science data has had on their life and community, and how best to foster a respectful and collaborative environment for future scientists on a global scale.

How to cite: Hall, C., Ivey, Y., and Gentemann, C.: Open Science: Creating a Nurturing, Inclusive Scientific Future, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-17006, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17006, 2023.