Tackling EDI-related financial barriers that reduce inclusivity at geoscience conferences with the EGU EDI Participation Support Scheme

For many geoscientists, participating in conferences are vital for their career as they provide access to state-of-the-art knowledge in their research field but also provide opportunities to share their own results whilst expanding their research network.

However, the opportunity to attend large geoscience conferences for many researchers often comes at a significant financial burden. In particular, researchers that have caring responsibilities, disabilities or experience temporary unemployment often find it a financial challenge to cover the extra costs incurred for conference participation from research project budgets or from their affiliated research institutions. This not only places a strain on those geoscientists already facing financial hardship, but it also leads to the exclusion of researchers from career-defining meetings.

In 2025, the EGU launched a new EDI Participation Support Scheme for EGU members with the aim of addressing this inequity. This support scheme aims to provide financial assistance to scientists in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences who encounter significant EDI-related financial barriers that prevent them from participating to the EGU General Assembly because of caregiving responsibilities, disability and special needs as well as temporary geoscience career transitions. In this presentation, we will provide valuable information about this new support scheme and encourage the community to raise awareness of these financial burdens with their colleagues, research institutions and research funders.