According to data collected anonymously in STEM scientific hubs by Lecturers Without Borders, more than 40% of researchers employed in High Income countries realize between 2-5 work-related travels yearly. This presents a largely untapped potential of in-person scientific dissemination towards the local communities that surround those destinations. Secondary education institutes, private and public schools as well as youth associations, consist welcoming hosts for conference and workshop participants who travel to their location. The program "EPSC Goes Live for Schools" materializes this opportunity for the past 5 years, helping local societies to benefit from the mobility of the scientists and the capital of scientific knowledge that is concentrated for a short time near them during an EPSC conference. The program has been replicated for other STEM conferences with success. Contrary to the occasional nature of the conferences, the interaction between the scientists and the young audience can foster long-term channels of communication and mentorship between them. We present the scheme for exporting this model to more astronomy and planetary science conferences, the best practices and lessons learnt so far as well as future directions. The project's main organizer and the activity of the Lecturers Without Borders NGO have been awarded with the ESA Champion in Education 2nd place in 2021 for their contribution in space education.

How to cite: Nikolaou, A. and Bauer, L.: "The traveling scientist": an agent for STEM knowledge sharing and youth mentorship in local communities., EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1745, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1745, 2025.

The ExoClock project is part of the ephemerides working group of ESA's Ariel space mission and its main scope is to maximise the mission’s efficiency by providing a consistent and homogenous catalogue with all exoplanet ephemerides. The project is open and interactive,  counting six years in operation. In this effort, our team has been actively collaborating with professional and amateur astronomers coming from various countries around the world as well as university and school students. Participants contribute with observations of exoplanets by using a wide range of telescopes, from backyard ones to large facilities own by organisations and universities. Apart from the main scientific goal, the project activities foster public engagement with science. Dedicated educational and user friendly tools support completely inexperienced people such as citizen scientists and school students. Moreover, the open and integrated platform of the project support performance of further scientific projects. The main exoclock database is also open for use by the wider community for planning of exoplanet observations with larger instruments.

This presentation will describe how collaborative and open science can be used to advance exoplanet research though projects such as ExoClock. More specifically, I will talk about the organisation of the ExoClock project and the main tools that are used to achieve an effective pro-am collaboration. I will also present the status of the project and the results of the publications we have produced so far. The ExoClock network currently consists of more than 2000 participants, including professionals, amateur astronomers (75%), university students but also some citizen scientists. The talk will end with lessons learned from 6 years of operation and future ideas.

How to cite: Kokori, A. and Tsiaras, A.: Open science in all stages through the ExoClock project, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1754, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1754, 2025.

How to cite: Olayiwola, J. and Freour, L.: Astronomers for Planet Earth: tackling the climate crisis from the unique perspective of astronomy, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-2020, 2025.

Astronomy has always had a unique way of capturing the imagination of everyone who gazes at the night sky. Leveraging this unique position, we can be seen as ambassadors of science, and our professional training enables us to process large datasets to convey complex ideas. Our goal was to move away from pure climate variables usually presented in the context of climate change, such as temperature, and derive an index that quantifies the change in people’s quality of life. The PLEES index is based on Maslow’s pyramid of needs and captures the impact of climate change on various aspects of life, from poverty to satisfaction with life. We will present the motivation and science behind our index and graphically show how the index (and our quality of life) will be impacted under different climate change scenarios. In this talk, we will also touch on the difficulties we faced in these interdisciplinary projects and discuss our advantages and unique position that our formal astrophysics education afforded us.

Introduction and Motivation
The latest intergovernmental panel on climate change report (IPCC, 2023) calls for urgent climate action. The findings state that the target warming of 1.5 degrees by 2100 with respect to pre-industrial level is increasingly out of reach, while keeping warming below 2 degrees is still possible with the right actions. Global action is lagging and raising awareness that conveys to the public the urgency of curbing greenhouse gas emission is crucial to reach the tipping point that would trigger necessary action.
According to Malcolm Gladwell, three factors can influence a social tipping point: the people involved in it, in particular those with the ability to spread this social trend, the content of the idea, and the power of the moment. Otto et al. (2020) suggested that achieving such kind of social dynamics could enable the decarbonization of our societies by 2050. Given the facts listed above, we reflected on novel ways to spread awareness on climate change, to engage more people and try to reach this social tipping point as fast as possible.
In this talk, we will introduce the PLEES project led by astrophysicists and geologists  to show how interdisciplinary collaboration can lead to new results and bring us closer to the tipping point. The PLEES index reflects the Poverty rate, Life Expectancy, Employment rate, and life Satisfaction of the countries in the world and can be projected under different climate change scenarios (RCP, Representative Concentration Pathways).

Method
Maslow (1943) argued that human motivation is driven by needs and identified five levels of human needs, arranged hierarchically.With the lowest level corresponding to physiological needs (food, water), followed by safety needs (shelter, health, job), social belonging needs (family, friendships), esteem needs (respect, achievements) and finally self-fulfilment need (personal fulfilment). Once the basic needs are satisfied a person develops higher level needs. Building on the pyramid representation of the hierarchy, we associated each level with a specific indicator. This conceptual mapping is illustrated in Fig.1, showing Maslow’s hierarchy of needson the left with the corresponding pyramid that reflects the quantifiable and measurable elements used to construct the PLEES index on the right. For instance, poverty is positioned at the base of the PLEES pyramid, mirroring the role of physiological needs in Maslow’s structure. Each selected indicator is then linked to one or more climate-related phenomena through detailed correlation analysis. The PLEES index itself is composed of the P, L E, E, and S sub-indices, each varying between 0 and 1, yielding a score from 0 to 4. It is calculated for all countries with available data and projected under various RCPs.

Figure 1: The pyramid on the left shows the hierarchy of needs (Maslow,1943). The pyramid on
the right shows the structure of the PLEES index, which uses quantifiable properties to measure the achievement of each level in the pyramid. The top two levels of the left pyramid are merged together in the right one, for simplicity.

Results
Using historical and current data, we computed the PLEES index in 1975 and 2020. We then projected the index under two RCPs scenarios, to demonstrate how different countries will be impacted in their life quality in the future. The first panel of Fig.2 shows this change of the PLEES index from 1975 to 2020. Red shades show a decrease in the PLEES index of a country, whilst blue shades show an improvement. This comparison to the recent past provides comprehensive information for what such a change actually entails. The second and third panels of Fig.2 show that the PLEES index will change from 2020 to 2050, under the intermediate RCP 4.5 scenario and the “business-as-usual” scenario RCP 8.5, respectively. These panels demonstrate that the changes to the index are much more significant than the changes the world has experienced in the past. While many countries in Africa and South America saw an increase in their life quality, as probed by the PLEES index, between 1975 and 2020, most countries will experience losses in life comfort in the future, regardless of the RCP scenario. European countries and the US will not be spared, as attested by the dark red color in the bottom panel of Fig.2.

Figure 2: The change of PLEES index over time per country. Top panel: difference between 1975 and 2020. Middle panel: difference between 2020 and 2050 under the RCP 4.5 scenario. Bottom panel: difference between 2020 and 2050 under the RCP 8.5 scenario.

How to cite: Freour, L., Van Looveren, G., and Veršič, T.: The PLEES Index: Climate Change Changes Needs, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-2016, 2025.

ExoClock Unlocked is an astronomy program designed to engage the public in exoplanet research. It is part of the ExoClock Project, which supports the upcoming Ariel space mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) - a mission focused on studying exoplanet atmospheres. The program has been running for 3 years, and offers participants the chance to contribute directly to a real space mission. Open to all —from amateur astronomers and students to citizen scientists— without access to observational equipment, the program welcomes participants of all backgrounds and experience levels. In collaboration with the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), we use remote telescopes to observe exoplanet transits. Participants join monthly online training sessions where they learn how to conduct remote observations and analyze data using accessible, user-friendly tools. Educational materials and step-by-step guidance from the ExoClock team, made up of scientists and public engagement experts, ensure that everyone can take part, regardless of experience level, and learn at their own pace. This presentation will outline the key procedures and strategies that have contributed to the project’s success. We’ll share the challenges we’ve faced, how we addressed them, and the meaningful impact of this inclusive scientific initiative.

How to cite: Pantelidou, G., Kokori, A., and Tsiaras, A.: ExoClock Unlocked: Fostering Public Engagement in Exoplanet Research, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1641, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1641, 2025.