In this Opening Session we will address the EMS2026 programmatic focus on "Delta Climate in Europe: weather, water, and warnings - Advancing Atmospheric Science, Water Management, and Societal Preparedness in a Changing European Climate", as it was proposed by the hosts of this meeting from the Netherlands.
https://www.ems2026.eu/about/programmatic-focus.html

We have invited esteemed experts to look at the many aspects of this challenging topic.
The session is will last approximately one hour and is roughly structured as follows:
▪ Short opening of the conference, followed by an introduction of the four panellist.
▪ A round of about 20 minutes, for which with one or two questions put to each of the panellists.
▪ Opening up of discussion among the panellists.
▪ Opening of the discussion to audience questions: during the former part questions can already be submitted via an online tool, and voted up by others, so the prioritized/most relevant questions according to audience interest will be discussed.

The discussion will be chaired by the EMS President Liz Bentley.

At this event we will honour our 2026 Awardees. The following awards will be presented to the selected recipients:

▪ EMS Young Scientist Conference Awards
▪ EMS Outstanding Poster Award 2025
▪ EMS Young Scientist Award 2026
▪ Tromp Foundation Travel Awards for young scientists
▪ EMS Tromp Award for an outstanding achievement in biometeorology
▪ EMS Journalistic Award
▪ EMS Outreach & Communication Award
▪ EMS Technology Achievement Award
▪ EMS Silver Medal : the ceremony for the Silver Medallist Markus Repnik will include a laudation by Florence Rabier, and the Silver Medal Lecture "Innovating ways to support developing countries in closing their basic weather and climate data gaps".

The session will close with an announcement and news about the 2027 Harry Otten Prize for innovation in meteorology.

The Sergej Zilitinkevich Memorial Award will be handed over in session UP2.1 Cities and urban areas in the earth-atmosphere system on Monday morning, followed by the Award Lecture.

The strategic lecture will be announced at a later date.

Date: Monday, 7 September 2026 after the end of the official opening programme
Format: onsite
Registration: No registration to this event is required!

The EMS & partners are inviting all conveners and early career scientists to this reception.
A relaxed occasion for meeting with fellow Early Career Scientists, exchange experience with and between convenors and for chatting about career possibilities with people who have chosen different career paths - and just enjoy.

With ECS we mean PhD students and early PostDocs - generally, all who think of themselves as an early career scientist.

At this event we will honour our 2026 Awardees. The following awards will be presented to the selected recipients:

▪ EMS Young Scientist Conference Awards
▪ EMS Outstanding Poster Award 2025
▪ EMS Young Scientist Award 2026
▪ Tromp Foundation Travel Awards for young scientists
▪ EMS Tromp Award for an outstanding achievement in biometeorology
▪ EMS Journalistic Award
▪ EMS Outreach & Communication Award
▪ EMS Technology Achievement Award
▪ EMS Silver Medal : the ceremony for the Silver Medallist Markus Repnik will include a laudation by Florence Rabier, and the Silver Medal Lecture "Innovating ways to support developing countries in closing their basic weather and climate data gaps".

The session will close with an announcement and news about the 2027 Harry Otten Prize for innovation in meteorology.

The Sergej Zilitinkevich Memorial Award will be handed over in session UP2.1 Cities and urban areas in the earth-atmosphere system on Monday morning, followed by the Award Lecture.

This Keynote will be given by Friederike Otto.

Friederike Otto is Professor in Climate Science at the Centre for Environmental Policy. She leads World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international effort to analyse and communicate the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events.

Through rapid attribution studies, which provide timely scientific evidence showing the extent to which climate change influenced a given event, WWA has helped to change the global conversation around climate change, influencing adaptation strategies and climate policy more broadly.