IUGG ECSNet Project

The IUGG ECSNet (Early Career Scientists Network) project awarded to Katia Pinheiro aims to bring together the 8 associations under IUGG through early career involvement. The project has an ECS representative from each association and organises a 'How to get involved' Day which can provide more information. The first event was held on 3rd February 2025 and the next event will be on 3rd March. We hope you take this chance to know more about the associations and participate in it! Below is the 'How to get involved' pamphlet for IAGA.

Publish your Geoscience Outreach

Do you work on outreach in Geosciences and are interested in publishing your work?

Frontiers is accepting submissions for their research topic 'Bridging Geoscience and Society: Enhancing Community Awareness and Involvement' and the manuscript summary deadline is April 30th 2025! The topic aims to explore critical themes that bridge scientific knowledge with community impact and emphasise the significance of natural hazards. The role of science outreach in promoting public awareness and engagement is vital and this initiative hopes to showcase that.

This approach seeks to enhance understanding and appreciation of Earth sciences, facilitating meaningful dialogue between researchers and the public. It aims to foster interest in geosciences by linking scientific research with the general public, ultimately contributing to a more informed society. 

Several article formats are accepted and the fees can be covered by the institutions that have partnered with Frontiers. For any questions, please feel free to visit the links or email or leave your questions in the comments below! Some of our IAGA ICEO members are involved in the project and they would be happy to clear your doubts.

Short movies: ECR

Katia Pinheiro, from IAGA, won the IAGA Grant for her project "A magnetic journey: from core to space" awarded in the year 2023.

The project features experienced scientists addressing the Geomagnetic Grand Spectrum and discussing about the time variations of the geomagnetic field. This was presented as a web series and may interest the general public and students in Earth Sciences. You can watch this first part of the project: the Grand Spectrum web series on our IAGA YouTube channel. 

In a second part, we have interviews with Early-Career Scientists (ECS) during the 6th IAGA Summer School in Niemegk about themselves and their science. You can now watch them on our channel with new videos every week. We hope these short movies will encourage young students to start careers in geosciences. 

Keep a look out at our social media channel to know when we upload new videos and subscribe to our YouTube for more. And don't forget to share!

Web series: Grand Spectrum

Katia Pinheiro, from IAGA, won the IAGA Grant for her project "A magnetic journey: from core to space" awarded in the year 2023.

The project features experienced scientists addressing the Geomagnetic Grand Spectrum and discussing about the time variations of the geomagnetic field. This will be presented as a web series and may interest the general public and students in Earth Sciences. 

In a second part of this project, we have interviews with Early-Career Scientists (ECS) during the 6th IAGA Summer School in Niemegk about themselves and their science. We hope these short movies will encourage young students to start careers in geosciences. 

You can now watch the first part of this project: the Grand Spectrum web series on the IAGA YouTube channel with videos being uploaded every week. This will be followed by the second part in the new year. Keep a look out at our social media channel to know when we upload new videos and subscribe to our YouTube for more. And don't forget to share!

IAGA YouTube

We are here to remind you that IAGA YouTube has a lot of exciting and interesting videos created for the general public, elementary school kids and early career researchers in various aspects of earth sciences as well as planetary and space sciences. Have a look!

Some series that would be of interest are-

1) Magnetic Mosaic: This documentary is not on IAGA official channel but on one of our creator's channel. It talks about the magnetic field of the earth and was one of the finalists in the UNESCO Earth's Future Festival.

2) Geoscience Connections: This documentary is an animated movie along with interviews of various early career researchers talking about everything about the earth- from its formation to its future. The project of the same name also consists of a small animated movie called 'Earth-Human Connections' that uses analogy between the earth and humans to explain about their connection. Finally, it has over 15 scientists talking about themselves and their science in short video formats. Don't forget to check out your favourite videos from the playlist here.

3) Bimbim's Team: Next, we have short animated videos about the Solar System, Earth and Mars in three languages- English, French and Portuguese- for kids. The protagonist is Bimbim, a jolly dog who wants to throw a space themed birthday party!

4) Summer School: There are handy lecture videos from the last IAGA summer school in Berlin 2023 where different science aspects of IAGA was covered by experts. The participants were phd and postdocs who received an understanding of the concepts of geomagnetism and hands on experience in dealing with the data.

5) Finally, we have many more exciting outreach science videos coming up in the following weeks in the form of documentaries, web series and short videos. Don't forget to check them out as well!

Project #askIAGA

With this project, we would like to enhance public understanding of the science covered by IAGA and to engage with the community. Social media channels provide an ideal platform for interacting with teenagers and adults worldwide. The project #askIAGA will not only distribute content tailored for the general public but also create a two-way communication channel that will allow better connections between scientists and community. The use of simple language and graphics will help convey key scientific concepts more clearly to the public.

IAGA consists of six divisions, covering topics from the Earth’s core, mantle and crust to the atmosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere, and solar wind. We plan to produce six posts tackling selected questions representative of each division. The posts can be in the form of graphical material, panels, comic strips and mini animations. They will be released through IAGA’s outreach channels. Additionally, the posts will call for the public to submit further questions using the #askIAGA. The most interesting and intriguing questions suggested by the public will be transformed into subsequent posts. This will foster interaction between the public and IAGA, engaging citizens and allowing them to contribute to scientific questions that deserve answers or might inspire new research topics.

IAGA Outreach awardee for 2024 comprising of the team:

Sanja Panovska, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam.

Sabrina Sanchez, freelance illustrator residing in France with previous experience in research.

IAGA Bites!

We have started a new page on our website called IAGA Bites (naming credit goes to IAGA and ComNet group member Fred!) that will feature short reports/abstracts of new papers that have been published in the IAGA community. 

We hope it helps authors increase visibility of their paper as well as serve as a place where everyone knows what new is happening in our science! No more constantly searching for new articles that have come out, this repository will have them all *if* you help us build it. 

If you have a paper you'd want to advertise, please reach out to us at iagasocialmedia@gmail.com or here. If you are a co-author on a paper you'd want to share, please reach out to us. If you know someone whose work you'd want to publish here for the community, yes you're right, please reach out to us!

We are looking forward to receiving news about your work from you.

A magnetic journey from core to space

Katia Pinheiro, from IAGA, won the IAGA Grant for her project "A magnetic journey: from core to space".

The project involved interviews with Early-Career Scientists (ECS) during the 6th IAGA Summer School in Niemegk and senior scientists discussing the Geomagnetic Grand Spectrum. The interviews with ECS led to fascinating testimonies about their research, career, and expectations. We hope these short movies will encourage young students to start careers in geosciences. 

In a parallel project, experienced scientists addressed the Geomagnetic Grand Spectrum, giving exciting talks about the time variations of the geomagnetic field. These movies will be presented as a web series and may interest the general public and students in Earth Sciences. 

We invite you to watch all these movies on the IAGA YouTube channel, starting next month. Keep a look out at our social media channel to know when we upload new videos and subscribe to our YouTube for more!

My Earth, a geosciences activity book

Public outreach is an important component of scientific research, with researchers increasingly expected to engage in such activities, especially with children. Younger children are a particularly engaging audience one can work with. However, creating content for children is challenging, given their shorter attention span compared to adults. Apart from engaging, the content must be age-appropriate to stimulate the children’s curiosity, encourage questioning, and foster a positive attitude toward learning. Studies indicate that the most effective approach to introducing scientific concepts to young children is through play and that their engagement with science, building reasoning abilities and conceptual knowledge begins well before school years. Moreover, targeting science activities toward children is essential given the declining number of students in STEM fields and decreasing science scores in many countries worldwide.

In the hopes of inspiring the younger generation, we created the GeoEdu4Kids, which was funded by the EGU Engagement Grant 2023. We are developing a children’s booklet titled “My Earth”, which features games, puzzles, coloring activities, and more, all inspired by and related to various geoscience topics. The booklet is designed for children aged 3 to 8 years old and covers a wide range of subjects including, geology, mineralogy, volcanology, seismology, geomagnetism, oceanography, hydrology, and atmospheric sciences. Answers to the activities are provided at the end of the booklet. We encourage adults to assist children in understanding the activities and concepts. Our aim is to spark children's curiosity about the Earth and the environment, prompting them to ask questions. A prototype of the booklet was presented at the EGU General Assembly in April 2024 and will also be presented at the Potsdam Science Day. The final version will be available online via the EGU website and their media channels, translated into multiple languages for a global audience.

Stay tuned for more updates!

The authors, Sanja Panovska (right) and Sabrina Sanchez (left), in front of their EGU poster on 'My Earth' in the outreach session.

Images: (1) The cover page of the booklet. (2) Example game (clouds).

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Sanja Panovska is a researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam, Germany. Her primary research focus is reconstructing the long-term evolution of the geomagnetic field based on paleomagnetic data through geological history. Sabrina Sanchez is a former researcher and now author and illustrator particularly interested in science outreach. Her recent work can be seen under the handle @une.sabrina on Instagram and you can contact her by e-mail here.

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Outreach sessions at EGU

The European Geosciences Union Assembly for 2024 will take place at Vienna, Austria from 14th April to 19th April. The conference will be hybrid with both in person and online participation.

While there are a lot of sessions pertaining to science, here are some interesting outreach events curated by IAGA and EGU member, Anita Di Chiara. 

Short Courses-

SC3.4 Creative collaboration: working with artists to communicate science
Wed, 17 Apr, 10:45–12:30 (CEST) | Room -2.85/86

SC7.1 Draw them in: communicating your research through illustration 

Wed, 17 Apr, 16:15–18:00 (CEST) | Room -2.33

SC7.2 Turn your documents to ART: Blacking-out scientific papers to create poetry
Thu, 18 Apr, 08:30–10:15 (CEST) | Room -2.33

Education and Outreach Session-

EOS1.3 Exploring the Art-Science Interface
Orals | Wed, 17 Apr, 08:30–12:25 (CEST) | Room 1.15/16
Posters on site | Wed, 17 Apr, 16:15–18:00 (CEST) | Wed, 17 Apr, 14:00–18:00 | Hall X1

EOS1.5 Games for Geoscience
Orals | Wed, 17 Apr, 14:00–15:45 (CEST) | Room 1.15/16
Posters on site | Thu, 18 Apr, 16:15–18:00 (CEST) | Thu, 18 Apr, 14:00–18:00 | Hall A
Posters virtual | Thu, 18 Apr, 14:00–15:45 (CEST) | Thu, 18 Apr, 08:30–18:00 | vHall A

Networking-

NET10 Geoscience Games Night
Wed, 17 Apr, 18:00–19:30 (CEST) | Room -2.31

For more details, you can visit the official website here. 

Outreach Grant Calls

If you are a scientist interested in outreach work, there are two open calls you can apply for funding!

1) IUGG Grants Program 2024-2027 

Proposals will be funded for 1-2 years with topics pertaining to geosciences. You need to contact the Secretary General of the association you belong to under IUGG and have the support of another association. In addition, there must be a supporting applicant in the proposal. You can apply for a funding of maximum USD 20,000. For more information, visit the webpage here.

2) IAGA Outreach Projects

You can now also submit proposals for IAGA science outreach to the Executive body. The project can be awarded for a maximum of EUR 5,000 and can last up to 2 years. A wide variety of projects can be applied for, however, only one project will be selected each year in June. To learn more about the funding opportunity and project proposal, click here.

You can visit our older blogs under the blog series section 'Outreach Projects' to learn about previous outreach projects that were awarded by the 2 grants.

'Geoscience Connections' Documentary

While we already informed you about the 'Geoscience Connections' project where short introduction and science videos of Early Career Researchers are showcased every week on YouTube in our older blog, we have more news! The project awarded by IUGG (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics) to the joint IAGA-IASPEI proposal consists of a documentary and short videos showcasing the work done by the community of scientists that fall under the 8 associations of IUGG. And.... the documentary is out now on IAGA and IUGG Youtube channels!

Under the project, two videos are available- 'Earth Human Connections' and 'Geoscience Connections'.

'Earth Human Connections' is a short animated movie that shows the evolution of Earth through an analogy between humans and Earth. The timeline starts from the formation of our planet and across billions of years when humans became Earth’s inhabitants. On the one hand, the intelligent human brain allowed for the development of various brilliant technologies and a complex society. On the other hand, humans have participated in the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources, and are thought to have caused many problems to other living beings on our planet. This movie also won the 'Audience Award' at the Braga Science Film Festival.

'Geoscience Connections' is a documentary that leads you through a fascinating journey through the Earth’s history, explained by eight early-career researchers who represent each international association of IUGG. The geoscientists help us to better understand Earth processes, bring us hope for the problems humanity faces and solutions towards a more sustainable Earth. The early career scientists that were involved in the documentary include- 

International Association of Geodesy (IAG) - Hugo Lecomte 

International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) - Hannah Rogers 

International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI) - María Isaba 

International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) - Kyriaki Drymoni 

International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) - Malin Ödalen 

International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) - Bertil Nlend 

International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) - Jing Li 

International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) - Erik Loebel 

Narrator - Elodie Kendall

We hope to reach a wide audience through this initiative and spread scientific knowledge to the general public. We also hope it would strengthen the networking between the different IUGG associations, especially for upcoming and early career researchers. 

Please have a look and share if you learnt something new! Head over to our YouTube channel for more content for kids, public and researchers.

 

'Geoscience Connections' on YouTube!

The joint IAGA-IASPEI proposal awarded by IUGG consists of a documentary, web series and short movies about the science and the scientists of the 8 different IUGG associations and the connections between them.

While the documentary and web series will be released later on, the short movies of the scientists and early career researchers from the different associations are now being released on IUGG and IAGA YouTube channels!

Every Tuesday and Friday, a video will be published which would include an introduction about the researcher followed by a description of the science they do. The videos, less than 5 minutes in length, have been aimed at the general public and early career researchers. For some weeks, an additional video about science outreach will also be made available.

Have a look here and head over to our YouTube for more!

Keep a look out at our social media channels for upcoming videos.

IAGA Social Media meetings in IUGG

The IUGG General Assembly is finally here! The sessions for IAGA happen between 13th and 18th July in CityCube Berlin. Specifically, the social media has a lot of sessions happening in IUGG. If you are a registered candidate, you are welcome to attend any and all of them!

14th July 2023

Business meeting of IAGA Interdivisional Commission on Education and Outreach with Social Media WG - 18:00 to 19:30 CEST in Hall M5

15th July 2023

Session JH06b (morning) - Bimbim's Team: A journey to the planets - 10:30 to 10:45 CEST in Hall A3

Session JH06b (afternoon) - Geoscience Connections - 13:45 to 14:00 CEST in Hall A3

Session JH06b (afternoon) - Content Creation from the IAGA Social Media Working Group - 14:00 to 14:15 CEST in Hall A3

See you at IUGG in our sessions!

IUGG Public Days

The 28th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) taking place in Berlin, Germany is right around the corner. The conference, from 11th to 20th July 2023, has 3 public days where interested people are welcome to know more about trending research and innovations in geoscience. 

On 14th, 15th and 16th July, everyone can attend the exhibition hall B for free and interact with researchers about current geoscience inventions. Special highlights include the GFZ stand as well as the NASA exhibition. The local planetarium will also be present.

You can indicate your interest by answering three questions here.

More about other exhibitions can be found here. You can also look at the list of sponsors and exhibitors that will be present at IUGG. See you in a week at the conference!

IUGG ECR events

The 28th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) will take place from 11-20th July 2023 in Berlin, Germany. The conference has tons of scientific and outreach sessions pertaining to all the 8 associations within IUGG. But more interestingly, for Early Career Researchers (ECR), there will be events catering specifically to their role in the community.

Within the 'Big Themes' sessions of the assembly, many different events will be organised. One of them is focussed entirely on the worries and needs of ECRs. The 'Early Career Scientists: Needs, Wishes and Demands' session will be held at the conference venue on Sunday, 16th July from 12:15 to 13:15 local time. A social evening will be held on Saturday where questions will be developed that will be answered by panel members on Sunday. The events can be attended only by ECRs registered for IUGG. A registration is also required for the social, the details of which have been sent by email to all participants.

Other events in the 'Big Themes' include sessions on equality, diversity and inclusion, the changing practises in science as well as contributions to international frameworks. Even without the events, IUGG will be a great platform for people of all associations to meet and interact with each other. After the pandemic, this will be a major face-to-face event in the community. Look out for sessions beyond your field!

More details about the events can be found here. Additionally, more events within the 'Big Themes' can be found here.

A magnetic journey: from core to space

IAGA has recently decided to fund an outreach project "A magnetic journey: from core to space" which would be led by IAGA scientist Dr. Katia Pinheiro. This project would be in the form of a documentary that connects all the different divisions of the association along with short movies focussing on early career researchers (ECR).

The objective is to transmit scientific knowledge to the general public about the Earth's magnetic field. The story will unfold the various sources of the geomagnetic field, how they change over time and how these affect us all. In addition, the academic life in this field will also be showcased. The ECR short movies will feature them talking about their career and their professional life routine.  

The project would prove to be helpful in building scientific connections across the divisions and attract more students to take up a career in magnetism of the earth and other planetary bodies. The shooting starts during the 6th IAGA Summer School in Niemegk from 7th to 11th July 2023 which would be followed by the IUGG General Assembly. 

The movies would be free for viewing and distributing (CC-BY license) on our social media channels by the end of the year, so keep a look out! For more such outreach projects, check out our YouTube channel or the 'Outreach Projects' blog series.

If you are interested in joining or volunteering for the cast or the crew, contact us!

Bimbim's Team

The Europlanet Society's funding 2022 for outreach projects was awarded to Katia Pinheiro and her team for the creative project 'Bimbim's Team: A Journey to the Planets'. Bimbim's team consists of Bimbim and his various friends. The project was meant to introduce little kids to the interesting world of planets and the solar system. 

 

The project consists of 3 animated puppet movies dubbed in English, Portuguese and French. The first episode, in all three languages, about the Solar System is now available on the IAGA Youtube Channel. The subsequent two episodes are about Earth and Mars and would be out within days. Keep a look out for them on our channel. In the meantime, watch as Bimbim learns about the different planets of the Solar System!

IUGG Assembly 2023

The 28th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) will take place from 11-20th July 2023 in Berlin, Germany. All the 8 associations under IUGG, including IAGA, will be a part of it and have separate and joint scientific as well as outreach sessions.

The scientific program for the conference can be found on the website. In particular, the IAGA sessions are listed here, which include the joint sessions with other associations.

The abstract submission and early bid registration have already started. The deadline for the two are 14th February and 28th April respectively.

There are also travel grants available and visa information for countries which require one. Please visit the assembly website or leave your questions below in the comments in case of any query. We'd be happy to answer them.

IUGG Outreach Project

The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) has a Grants Program that gives the applicant ample funds to work towards expanding the reach of the association and encourage Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The IUGG comprises of 8 different associations, IAGA being one of them. The applicants submit their application via the Secretary General (SG) of their association.

This year one of the grants has been awarded to IAGA! The proposal was submitted by Katia Pinheiro via our SG Monika Korte. Katia is part of the IAGA social media team and directs videos about researchers. She recently was part of two other outreach projects. She submitted a movie about the geomagnetic field in the UNESCO Earth's Film Festival. Her movie 'Magnetic Mosaic' has been selected as the Top 3 in the category 'Women in Geoscience'. You can know more about it from our previous blog here. The other project is still in progress about short movies for school kids.

 

The selected IUGG project will include a documentary and short movies connecting a variety of subjects under the 8 associations. The documentary will be about the structure and science of IUGG while the short movies will contain interviews of ECRs. We are still looking for ECRs from the different IUGG associations and would welcome any recommendations or suggestions for the same. The priority will be given to women and researchers from developing countries. 

We hope to reach a wide audience through this initiative. The aim is to spread scientific knowledge to the general public. We hope it would also strengthen the networking between the different IUGG associations, especially for the upcoming researchers. The project would be interdisciplinary since the associations cover a wide range of topics like geosciences, atmospheric and hydrological sciences among many others.

The videos will be broadcasted in the next IUGG General Assembly in Berlin in July 2023 and will be made available on IAGA's social media channels. Don't forget to follow us there!