This lecture by Nader Haghighipour, organised by the Europlanet Diversity Committee, will be an opportunity to hear the speaker's story about his life in planetary science, his personal and professional challenges, highlights and top tips for a successful career.

Keeping work and leisure time in a healthy balance can be difficult, during PhD as well as afterwards. Alan Percy, head of counselling services at Oxford University, will talk about the importance of mental health, and give hands-on tips and advices how to manage work mania and recovery times.

The social event is taking place at La Brasserie des Halles de l'île on Geneva island (on the Rhône) on Wednesday, 18 September 2019, 19:00.

The brasserie is only a 30 minutes walk (or 15 min by public transport – bus 20) from the conference venue.

Attendance to this event is only possible for conference participants with a separate, paid social event registration.

We will be holding an open mic show on Wednesday, 18 Septempber starting at 22:00 at La Brasserie des Halles de l'île (same venue as the social event). Any registered EPSC/DPS attendee is welcome to sign up to perform. The format is whatever you want: music, spoken word, skits, whatever. There will be a stage and microphones, and we hope to have some other musical instruments available (guitars, drums, keyboards). We will also reserve time for last-minute walk-ons if you are not sure you want to commit to a time slot.

Note that the event is free and social event attendance is not required!

If you would like to sign up for a time slot, please email with the following information before 12 September:

Name of act
Names of participants
Type of act
Contact email address
Requested duration
Required equipment
Providing equipment?

Please note that we will not be able to let you know how much time we can actually give you until after the sign-ups close. If you need specialized equipment, do not hesitate to ask, but it may not be feasible. If you bring an instrument and are willing to share it, please let us know. You should not feel obliged to share your instrument.

Asteroid impacts and Spacepod

An asteroid impact is the only natural disaster we have the technology to prevent. But prevention takes time, so we need to discover and track near‐Earth asteroids now. The first part of my talk will cover notable asteroid impacts and ongoing efforts to discover near-Earth asteroids.

The second part of the talk will discuss my outreach work. I love talking with other scientists and engineers that explore space for a living. I started recording and sharing these conversations as a podcast, Spacepod.

Spacepod now reaches listeners from every continent and all walks of life. I'll share stories about how Spacepod has changed listeners' lives. Some write to say they decided to study physics or astronomy because of the show. Others say hearing about the cosmos helps them get through tough personal times. And some listeners have shared that Spacepod broadened their view of who can be a scientist. I love these stories, and they motivate me to continue hosting and producing the show.

You can download Spacepod on almost any podcast app, or find it at www.listentospacepod.com

Jakob Deller from the Max-Planck institute for solar system research, Göttingen, will talk about the progression of the initial idea to the proposal submission and mission selection. He will share his experiences of being involved in an ESA F(fast)-class mission proposal.

ESA science editor Emily Baldwin talks about changing career pathways from science to science communications. She will talk about her experience moving from a PhD in Planetary Science to writing for ESA's Space Science Portal, and everything in between! She will describe a typical day in the life of a science communicator, including reflections on working on some of ESA's big communications campaigns like the Rosetta mission, along with a look at what's coming next.