Are you unsure about how to bring order in the extensive program of the General Assembly? Are you wondering how to tackle this week of science? Are you curious about what EGU and the General Assembly have to offer? Then this is the short course for you!

During this course, we will provide you with tips and tricks on how to handle this large conference and how to make the most out of your week at this year's General Assembly. We'll explain the EGU structure, the difference between EGU and the General Assembly, we will dive into the program groups and we will introduce some key persons that help the Union function.

This is a useful short course for first-time attendees, those who have previously only joined us online, and those who haven’t been to Vienna for a while!

Participating in scientific conferences, especially in large events such as the EGU General Assembly (GA), comes with specific challenges for neurodivergent attendees. The term “neurodivergent” describes individuals who think and experience the world in ways that differ from societal norms, including, for example (but not limited to) autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, or dyspraxic individuals. Current estimates indicate that about 15-20% of the global population could be neurodivergent. This amounts to about 3000-4000 individuals among the 20,000 yearly attendees of the EGU GA. Many neurodivergent people have heightened sensory sensitivities, and executive function and communication challenges, to name a few, which come along with specific needs when attending a conference. Some have developed their own strategies to be able to participate in conferences, which often come at a high cost in energy, while others forego participating in some events entirely due to the lack of accommodations. Last year, the introduction of a lanyard that indicates a hidden disability has been a first step towards creating a safer atmosphere for neurodivergent attendees. The aim of this short course is to provide neurodivergent participants with ideas and tools to mitigate some of the challenges they can encounter during the EGU GA, through short talks from neurodivergent peers and discussions among and feedback from participants. We also aim at compiling the suggestions emerging during this short course into a guide for neurodivergent attendees and for more inclusive measures in the next EGU meetings to be shared with the EDI committee. This event is targeted at both first-time attendees and more seasoned participants, who identify as neurodivergent or would like to better support their neurodivergent peers.

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are at the forefront of scientific advancement, through pioneering novel methods, generating new insights, and developing innovative solutions. Across institutions and research projects, they contribute significantly to knowledge generation, scientific outputs and project deliverables. To grow into the scientific and project leaders of the future, ECRs require support, structural opportunities, and recognition that fosters both their personal growth and professional development.

The first edition of this session, hosted at EGU 2025, highlighted the importance of supporting ECRs, especially those not affiliated with the scope of larger projects. Building on these findings, this year’s edition of the short course will examine mechanisms for empowerment beyond individual projects, extending to broader institutional support.
The course provides an interactive platform for those at any career stage to share experiences, reflect on both opportunities and challenges, along with discussing practical strategies for enhancing ECR empowerment going into the future. Participants will explore mechanisms such as leadership, collaboration, scientific communication, result dissemination, community building, and financial support.

The co-conveners will first present best-practice examples of ECR empowerment, drawing on last year’s course outcomes and the forthcoming paper on the topic (Schlumberger et al., 2025; https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.21517.1). The session will further include break-out group discussions, allowing participants to reflect on these examples and explore new approaches to strengthen engagement and empowerment within their own context. The course welcomes ECRs, senior researchers, and senior professionals interested in fostering supportive environments for early career researchers. We especially invite those involved in large research projects, as these environments are particularly well-positioned to encourage and engage ECRs.

Postdoctoral researchers are essential contributors to scientific advancement. They drive innovation, supervise students, support teaching, and perform academic service. Despite their central role, postdocs remain in a structurally precarious stage of the academic trajectory, often characterised by short-term contracts, geographic mobility, changes of research topic, and uncertain long-term career prospects.
Although postdoctoral researchers are highly trained, having spent years building their set of competencies, the path to academic independence is highly – and increasingly – competitive, and often opaque. Many of these ‘’early-career’’ researchers ultimately leave academia altogether, not by preference, but due to structural barriers that hinder sustainable career development. These challenges, while experienced individually, are systemic in nature and have significant implications for the research community as a whole.
This short course aims to initiate a frank and constructive discussion on the conditions faced by postdoctoral researchers across geosciences. We will present recent data and findings from surveys specifically targeting the postdoctoral community, providing an evidence-based overview of the postdocs’ situation.
In addition to disseminating empirical data, the session will foster dialogue around re-envisioning the postdoctoral experience. What structural changes are necessary to improve the postdoc phase? What kinds of institutional or community support could help mitigate the existing challenges? How might funding agencies and universities contribute to a healthier and more equitable academic ecosystem?
The short course will include scene-setting presentations to initiate an interactive session with questions, comments, and collective discussion. We encourage the participation of not only postdocs, but also PhD students and senior researchers interested in improving the sustainability and inclusivity of academic careers.

Building on our successful EGU25 short course on research proposal writing, we are excited to propose another short course session focused on writing compelling research proposals for funding and research positions. With a visible gap in opportunities between researchers in the Global South and the Global North, and with a decline in research budget across the globe, the ability to secure funding is important to stand out in academia. However, securing this funding or position still hinges on the strength of a research proposal.
To address this need, we have designed a short interactive course dedicated to the art of writing strong research proposals for securing either a research position or proposal funding. This session will offer practical techniques and tips for creating compelling proposals and will include an open discussion. Additionally, we will provide insights from funding agencies based in Global South countries, highlighting the key elements they look for in proposals and opportunities. This course is valuable for researchers at all career stages, with a particular emphasis on Early Career Researchers (ECRs) looking to enhance their proposal-writing skills. Participants will benefit from:
1. Researchers' Perspective: Learn from successful grant recipients about the crucial points to consider when writing a research proposal.
2. Funding Agency Perspective: Gain insights from representatives of funding agencies in the Global South on their requirements and expectations - Lesser-known opportunities available to ECRs
3. ECRs Perspective: Hear from fellow participants about their experiences and challenges in research proposal writing.
This short course is open to everyone with an interest in improving their proposal writing skills. ECRs from the Global South are especially encouraged to participate as they will be provided with an opportunity to interact with researchers and funding agency representatives, gaining valuable insights into their expectations and experiences. For more information or inquiries, please feel free to contact the course convener.

Academic environments offer many opportunities for intellectual growth, development, and collaboration. However, like any community, conflict also appears. Disagreements may arise over co-authorship, mentoring expectations, department politics, or interpretations of research ethics. These situations are often complex and emotionally challenging. This Short Course helps scientists to recognize, understand, and navigate conflict in academic settings. We will also look at how conflict can lead to personal and professional growth when approached constructively.

The foundation of a positive work climate is professionalism. Professionalism refers to the attitudes and behaviors that affect interpersonal relations of all types in the workplace. These relations include concepts of power, trust, respect, responsibility, justice, and fairness. Social structures that have hierarchical and asymmetric power relations have the potential for colleagues in positions of power to use this power to enable and enrich or abuse and diminish individuals. This can endanger professional and personal well-being, contribute to hostile work climates, and reduce productivity, research, and education outcomes. Ultimately, issues related to hostile work climates can affect program success. This workshop will provide resources to develop a workplace code of conduct that is proactive, preventative and promotes cultural change in office, laboratory, and field settings.

Mentoring in academia is a one-to-one connection and refers to a developmentally oriented relationship between a student or a less experienced colleague (the mentee) and a more experienced student or colleague (the mentor). While mentees gain guidance and confidence, mentors often discover new perspectives, sharpen their leadership skills, and find personal fulfillment in helping someone grow.

Research shows that strong mentoring relationships play a key role in academic and career success, and contribute to a more connected, resilient scientific community. But not all mentoring experiences are positive. The quality of the relationship matters. This short course explores what effective mentoring looks like, how it can empower both parties, and how to recognize and avoid poor mentoring practices.

A research career is not only demanding, but also full of hidden challenges that can affect both success and mental well-being. This short course is designed to provide geoscientists at any stage of their career with practical, psychology-based tools to navigate these challenges. From time-management strategies to self-care practice and ugly truths, this course offers tips and insights for building resilience and balance into your research journey, may it be in or out of academia.

The course is open to all geoscientists, including those with any type of neurological or physical divergence, as well as individuals facing personal challenges. The goal of the session is to offer practical tips for protecting your mental health while navigating your journey as a researcher and bettering your former being.

Remember, it is never too late to improve the way we use our time and take care of ourselves, for it is only by treating ourselves well and with respect that we can better take care of others and foster sustainable, community-wide changes.

Academia is well known for being a competitive and challenging environment with pressure coming from many angles. While issues of job insecurity and mental health crises are more openly discussed, perpetrators of harassment still benefit from unclear policies and a culture of silence. Groups which are underrepresented in academic institutions (i.e. women, minorities, early career researchers, and the LGBTQ+ community) are especially vulnerable to the negative impacts of harassment. Although its effects on individual well-being, career development and institutional culture can be extremely damaging, it is not always easy to recognize harassment. Beyond the explicit physical and verbal abuse, there are several more subtle forms of harassment. Through interactive discussions and real-world examples, this short course equips participants with practical tools to recognize harassment in academic settings, understand their rights, and develop strategies to respond safely and effectively. Since awareness is not only essential for those who may experience harassment, but also for those who may inadvertently cross boundaries, bystanders, and authority figures, this course is designed for everyone. Building awareness and solidarity is fundamental to foster supportive and inclusive spaces that prevent harassment and empower bystanders to act.

Values clarification exercises are often used to enable people together to work through complex issues in which differing, contradictory, unexplicated or hidden values may influence beliefs, principles and behaviours, including decisions. Such exercises allow us to become more aware of the ways in which values relate to our geoethical principles and behaviours. Values include such things as truth, discipline, fairness, integrity and openness.

It is difficult to help people learn about geoethics. This is partly because it concerns such a wide range of circumstances, from specific instances, such as the effect of mining on child labour, through our personal geoscientific behaviour, to the way in which humans treat the Earth’s natural resources. It is also not easy, particularly in schools and universities, because the concepts are so wide-ranging and young people are still exploring and getting to grips with their personal values, values that underlie their principles and behaviours, especially in regard to the Earth.

Practical geoethical values clarification exercises can help people:
• to compare their values with others and thus to modify their and others’ values;
• to clarify the relationship between geoethical principles and their underlying values; and
• to understand how their values and principles influence their behaviours, in regard to fellow geoscientists and to the Earth’s natural resources.

This Short Course will be conducted in a fully participatory, workshop format:
a. starting with short overviews of geoethics and of clarification exercises;
b. followed by a series of hands-on, small-group activities; and
c. ending with a debriefing session and a discussion.

Both experts and novices in geoethics and values/principles are welcome in this Short Course; teachers, researchers and students will benefit. For novices, especially, a little preparation before the course will help.
• If possible, please read:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP508-2020-191, or
https://presentations.copernicus.org/EGU21/EGU21-604_presentation.pdf
• Think about your own personal and professional values.
• Please bring some blank paper, a pen and an internet-enabled laptop or telephone (with QR code capability).

Please note that materials will allow up to 20 participants, on a first-come basis. Additional people will be invited to do guided observation in silence during the exercise, and then contribute actively during the debriefing and discussion.

The European Research Council (ERC) is a leading funding body at European level. It aims to support excellent, frontier research across all fields of science. The ERC offers various outstanding funding opportunities for investigator-driven projects, including grant budgets for individual scientists of up to €3.5 million. ERC calls are open to researchers around the world: all nationalities of applicants are welcome for projects carried out at a host institution in European Union member states or/and associated countries. The ERC is also quickly adapting to the constantly evolving research landscape, therefore at this session, the main features of ERC funding schemes will be presented, highlighting most recent changes implemented in the work programme and their effects in the evaluation. In addition, two invited speakers, an ERC grantee and a former member of the evaluation panel, will provide their own perspectives (as applicant and as evaluator) of the ERC evaluation process.

Once you have completed your PhD a new challenge reveals itself: finding a position where you can apply your advanced skillset. This task is not always easy, and frequently a general overview of the available positions is missing.
The academic pathway is often considered as the natural next step for scientists, however, in some divisions, up to 70% of PhD graduates will go into work outside of academia. There are many different careers beyond academia which require or benefit from a research background, but often early career scientists struggle to make the transition due to reduced support and networking.

In this panel discussion, scientists with a range of backgrounds give their advice on building a career. The panel will start by discussing common career questions, such as how to transition between academia and industry, and what are the pros and cons of a career inside and outside of academia. The session will then conclude with panellists answering questions from the audience. This short course is targeted at early career scientists, but is open to anyone considering the next step in their career.

Anyone entering the job market or looking for a new job after academia will confront the phrase ‘transferable skills’. PhD candidates and scientists are advised to highlight their transferable skills when applying for non-academic jobs, but it can be hard to know what these skills are. Similarly, for those looking to change scientific research areas or take a leap into a new field for their PhD, it is important to highlight your transferable skills. Big data analysis, communicating your findings, supervising, teaching, project management and budgeting are skills you might have from your research/science career. But there are many more. In this interactive workshop, we will start your journey of identifying your transferable skills and highlighting careers where these will be necessary!

Building a successful academic career is challenging. Doing so while also raising a family can push you to your limits. Many early- and mid-career scientists grapple with balancing family life and academic responsibilities. The fear-of-missing-out dualism between family and academia causes an inner conflict and feeling of injustice and inadequateness. Families often find themselves confronted with what feels like a personal problem when, in reality, it is a shared societal issue. Modern families come in diverse forms, including dual-career parents, single parents, same-sex parents, and various shared parenting arrangements. The academic world must recognize and adapt to this reality, aligning with broader themes of inclusion, participation, and diversity. Therefore, we organise this platform to discuss the challenges and share experiences.

Finding support and confidence in moving forward as an individual is important. As a community, we need to openly discuss parenting in academia so that we can demand and develop sustainable solutions that benefit everyone, rather than repeatedly fighting private battles to follow the academic career dream. Parenthood can also shift your priorities, which may lead you to consider leaving academia altogether or to become a better researcher.

This short course provides a platform that allows an honest exchange on diverse experiences and continue the discussion from previous EGU General Assemblies on this topic. It will:
1. Provide insight into how being a parent impacts everyday academic life.
2. Highlight personal experiences made by a panel of current and previous academic parents.
3. Conclude with an open discussion addressing public discourse on equal parenting and work-life balance.
This course is intended for scientists considering starting a family, current academic parents seeking to connect, and faculty staff responsible for supporting parenting employees.

LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, plus; or LGBT for short) geoscientists likely have to face additional obstacles throughout their career than their cisgender/heterosexual colleagues. These barriers can take many forms, from lack of representation, to limited access to support networks, and exclusion from opportunities for progression. Such as, inflexible bureaucratic limits on name/gender marker, difficulty in changes on documentation, a lack of support for transgender and gender non-conforming people on field trips and research cruises, and safety and medical considerations LGBT people must account for when travelling, or when moving countries for a new position. These obstacles can be mitigated and overcome to create more collaborative environments that support diverse talents in geosciences fields; with awareness and understanding by colleagues and initiatives, LGBT academics can thrive and contribute to research.

In this short course we want to discuss the topic of finding and building queer and intersectional communities in Earth sciences.

The job market in both industry and academia can be a very challenging environment, especially for those either just completing a course of study, or looking to change sectors. Trying to get your application to stand out is a task that comes with a lot of unknowns, even after years of experience in higher or further education. Preparing for a higher level job application or interview is a useful skill that develops as you advance in your career – with new aspects being added with each new position you aim for. Once you get invited to interview, this process in itself bring a whole new set of challenges that range from: online vs in-person interviews; interview protocol; accommodations and reasonable requests; expected time-frames; anticipating questions; gauging employer culture and more.

This short course aims to bridge this gap to employment by drawing on the experience of senior career workers in both industry and academia, as well as HR professionals, to provide specific advice for anyone who is in the process of submitting a job application or preparing for interview. This short course will address questions such as: what to include or not in a cover letter and job application; what are the different kinds of CV and when you should use them; how to prepare for an online or in-person interview; what are some of the signs you can look for to identify workplace culture; and what questions you should ask in an interview.

As a practical exercise, this short course will conclude with a mock interview; a list of questions that could be asked of applicants in a limited time environment, with feedback available from the presenters. Short course participants will leave feeling more prepared and confident in their skills for navigating the job market.

In the past years, the analysis of compound events has emerged as an essential step to enhance our knowledge of and response to multi-hazard high-impact events that occur simultaneously or sequentially, causing interconnected or aggravated impacts. Compound events involve two (or more) events happening together. These can be independent events (in which the outcome of one event has no effect on the probability of the other), or dependent events (when the outcome of one event affects the probability of another). Compound weather, climate or hydrological events refer to combinations of multiple drivers or hazards that may lead to large impacts and disasters. These events can be related to extreme conditions (e.g. storms, heatwaves, floods and droughts), or to combinations of events that are not themselves extremes but lead to an extreme event or significant impact when combined.
In this Short Course, we will introduce compound events, their types (preconditioned, multivariate, temporally compounding, and spatially compounding events), and the methods used to detect and characterize them. We will highlight the advantages and limitations of statistical methods (regression, multivariate statistics, and classification), empirical approaches based on large datasets, high-dimension approaches such as copulas, and complex network-based techniques that help to identify non-trivial spatio-temporal patterns of extreme events.
The Short Course will focus on sharing experience from a wide range of applications worldwide, state-of-the-art methodological approaches, open access code and datasets, and will allow participants to discuss their own challenges in detecting, characterizing and assessing the risk of compound events in diverse contexts (climate, atmospheric, hydrologic, ocean and natural hazards sciences).

Are you curious about how environmental DNA (eDNA) would benefit your geoscience research and how to get started? This hands-on course offers a practical roadmap for designing and executing successful eDNA experiments in the geosciences.
We'll walk you through every step — from choosing the right sampling strategies, to understanding lab protocols and commercial kits, technical replication (and why they matter), and essential controls. You'll also explore the pros and cons of different sequencing platforms, helping you select the best tools for your research goals.
By the end, you'll be fully equipped to plan your own eDNA survey. Whether you're just starting out or refining your approach, this course provides the practical insights you need to succeed.

During the past 75 years, radiocarbon dating has been applied across a wide range of disciplines, including, e.g. archaeology, geology, hydrology, geophysics, atmospheric science, oceanography, and paleoclimatology, to name but a few. Radiocarbon analysis is extensively used in environmental research as a chronometer (geochronology) or as a tracer for carbon sources and natural pathways. In the last two decades, advances in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) have enabled the analysis of very small quantities, as small as tens of micrograms of carbon. This has opened new possibilities, such as dating specific compounds (biomarkers) in sediments and soils. Other innovative applications include distinguishing between old (fossil) and natural (biogenic) carbon or detecting illegal trafficking of wildlife products such as ivory, tortoiseshells, and fur skins. Despite the wide range of applications, archives, and systems studied with the help of radiocarbon dating, the method has a standard workflow, starting from sampling through the preparation and analysis, arriving at the final data that require potential reservoir corrections and calibration.

This short course will provide an overview of radiocarbon dating, highlighting the state-of-the-art methods and their potential in environmental research, particularly in paleoclimatology. After a brief introduction to the method, participants will delve into practical examples of its application in the study of past climates, focusing on the 14C method and how we arrive at the radiocarbon age.
Applications in paleoclimate research and other environmental fields
Sampling and preparation
Calibration programs
We strongly encourage discussions around radiocarbon research and will actively address problems related to sampling and calibration. This collaborative approach will enhance the understanding and application of radiocarbon dating in the respective fields.

This course explores how to integrate diverse knowledge systems, norms, and perspectives in hydrology, water management, and climate-related research through co-creation. More than a buzzword, co-creation is a collaborative process that requires time, mutual trust, and shared responsibility. When practiced meaningfully, it helps to avoid overlooking community priorities, practices, and perspectives, and power asymmetries – including gender inequalities, racism, and colonial injustices.

We will present a framework, case studies, and principles to adopt co-creation in research and practice, with a focus on hydrology, water resources management, and climate services. Together, we will discuss both challenges and achievements when diverse stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and local communities, work together.

Through shared experiences and practical examples, participants will gain strategies for facilitating inclusive, resilient, and impactful co-creation processes. By the end of the session, you will leave with new insights, strategies, and inspiration for applying co-creation in your own projects, while being more aware of both the potential and its possible hurdles of this collaborative approach.

Earth System Sciences (ESS) datasets, particularly those generated by high-resolution numerical models, are continuing to increase in terms of resolution and size. These datasets are essential for advancing ESS, supporting critical activities such as climate change policymaking, weather forecasting in the face of increasingly frequent natural disasters, and modern applications like machine learning.

The storage, usability, transfer and shareability of such datasets have become a pressing concern within the scientific community. State-of-the-art applications now produce outputs so large that even the most advanced data centres and infrastructures struggle not only to store them but also to ensure their usability and processability, including by downstream machine learning. Ongoing and upcoming community initiatives, such as digital twins and the 7th Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP7), are already pushing infrastructures to their limits. With future investment in hardware likely to remain constrained, a critical and viable way forward is to explore (lossy) data compression & reduction that balance efficiency with the needs of diverse stakeholders. Therefore, the interest in compression has grown as a means to 1) make the data volumes more manageable, 2) reduce transfer times and computational costs, while 3) preserving the quality required for downstream scientific analyses.

Nevertheless, many ESS researchers remain cautious about lossy compression, concerned that critical information or features may be lost for specific downstream applications. Identifying these use-case-specific requirements and ensuring they are preserved during compression are essential steps toward building trust so that compression can become widely adopted across the community.

This short course is designed as a practical introduction to compressing ESS datasets using various compression frameworks and to share tips on preserving important data properties throughout the compression process. After completing the hands-on exercises, using either your own or provided data, time will be set aside for debate and discussion to address questions about lossy compression and to exchange wishes and concerns regarding this family of methods. A short document summarising the discussion will be produced and made freely available afterwards.

To learn more about recent advances in data compression, please also join the ESSI2.2 oral and poster sessions.

The proposed short course will introduce researchers and academicians to the THORPEX Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE), a pioneering platform designed to advance ensemble prediction and its applications in weather and hydrology. TIGGE provides access to multi-model ensemble forecasts from leading global prediction centers—including ECMWF, NCEP, UKMO, CMA, JMA, NCMRWF, IMD, and others—archived at its dedicated data portal. The dataset includes perturbed and control forecasts with lead times of up to 15 days, at varying spatial resolutions. A wide range of atmospheric and surface parameters are available, including precipitation, temperature, wind speed, mean sea-level pressure, geopotential height, soil moisture, and radiation fluxes—critical drivers for hydrological and climate impact models.
In this course, participants at EGU 2026 will be introduced to the fundamentals of ensemble forecasting and guided through the process of downloading TIGGE datasets for selected regions and lead times. We will demonstrate how to convert these forecasts into user-friendly formats (e.g., CSV, NetCDF) for diverse applications. Case studies will highlight how TIGGE data are being applied in flood forecasting, reservoir management, and climate risk assessments, while also exploring emerging opportunities for advancing TIGGE-based research in Earth system science. The course is tailored for early-career researchers, PhD students, and practitioners seeking to apply ensemble forecast data in both scientific and applied contexts.

Data assimilation (DA) is widely used in the study of the atmosphere, the ocean, the land surface, hydrological processes, etc. The powerful technique combines prior information from numerical model simulations with observations to provide a better estimate of the state of the system than either the data or the model alone. This short course will introduce participants to the basics of data assimilation, including the theory and its applications to various disciplines of geoscience. An interactive hands-on example of building a data assimilation system based on a simple numerical model will be given. This will prepare participants to build a data assimilation system for their own numerical models at a later stage after the course.
In summary, the short course introduces the following topics:

(1) DA theory, including basic concepts and selected methodologies.
(2) Examples of DA applications in various geoscience fields.
(3) Hands-on exercise in applying data assimilation to an example numerical model using open-source software.

This short course is aimed at people who are interested in data assimilation but do not necessarily have experience in data assimilation, in particular early career scientists (BSc, MSc, PhD students and postdocs) and people who are new to data assimilation.

The study and attribution of extreme weather and climate events has increasingly moved toward process-based approaches that explicitly account for the atmospheric dynamics leading to an event. Indices issued from dynamical systems theory enable one such approach. These indices rely on identifying past atmospheric situations with similar dynamics -- so called analogues. They quantify the similarity of large-scale circulation patterns between extreme events, informing on the extremes' predictability and on how the occurrence and characteristics of the events change in time.
This short course will introduce the theory and calculation of analogue-based dynamical systems indices, and show how they can be applied to study the predictability of extreme events, and attribute their occurrence to climate change (as implemented in the ClimatMeter platform). We will further explore the potential for attribution of climate impacts impacts. The course will combine a methodological overview with real-world applications.

The Meteorological Archival and Retrieval System (MARS) is the world’s largest meteorological archive and ECMWF's main data repository. It stores operational weather analyses and forecasts, reanalyses, observations and research experiments that support a wide range of Earth system science applications.
This short course provides a practical introduction of MARS archive to the new users of the archive. Participants will learn how to explore the MARS data catalogue to identify datasets relevant to their research. The session will demonstrate how to construct and run MARS requests to download data efficiently.
Through step by step examples, attendees will gain a clear understanding of the archive’s structure and the main concepts behind exploring the data and retrieving the data they need for their research.

Software plays a pivotal role in various scientific disciplines. Research software may include source code files, algorithms, computational workflows, and executables. It refers mainly to code meant to produce data, less so, for example, plotting scripts one might create to analyze this data. An example of research software in our field are computational models of the environment. Models can aid pivotal decision-making by quantifying the outcomes of different scenarios, e.g., varying emission scenarios. How can we ensure the robustness and longevity of such research software? This short course teaches the concept of sustainable research software. Sustainable research software is easy to update and extend. It will be easier to maintain and extend that software with new ideas and stay in sync with the most recent scientific findings. This maintainability should also be possible for researchers who did not originally develop the code, which will ultimately lead to more reproducible science.

This short course will delve into sustainable research software development principles and practices. The topics include:
- Properties and metrics of sustainable research software
- Writing clear, modular, reusable code that adheres to coding standards and best practices of sustainable research software (e.g., documentation, unit testing, FAIR for research software).
- Using simple code quality metrics to develop high-quality code
- Documenting your code using platforms like Sphinx for Python
- Using GIT and Github for version control

We will apply these principles to a case study of a reprogrammed version of the global WaterGAP Hydrological Model (https://github.com/HydrologyFrankfurt/ReWaterGAP). We will showcase its current state in a GitHub environment along with example source code. The model is written in Python but is also accessible to non-python users. The principles demonstrated apply to all coding languages and platforms.

This course is intended for early-career researchers who create and use research models and software. Basic programming or software development experience is required. The course has limited seats available on a first-come-first-served basis.

The EU-funded project AquaINFRA (https://aquainfra.eu/) aims to help marine and freshwater researchers restore healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters. To achieve this goal, a large part of the work is dedicated to designing and implementing a research data infrastructure composed of the AquaINFRA Interaction Platform (AIP) and the Virtual Research Environment (VRE). This effort is part of the ongoing development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as an overarching research infrastructure, the EU flagship initiative to enable Open Science practices in Europe.

The AIP is the central gateway for scientific communities to find, access, and reuse aquatic digital resources such as FAIR multi-disciplinary data and analysis workflows. The basis for this is the Data Discovery and Access service which performs a live query to a number of data providers from the aquatic realm, for instance, Copernicus Marine and HELCOM. The data found can be used in the VRE, which is composed of a web API service hosting a number of OGC API Processes, a virtual lab based on the tool MyBinder, and the Galaxy platform as a workflow management system.

In this short course, we will start with providing an overview of the research data infrastructure. Then, we will show how the AIP and VRE can help to find data and use it in the Galaxy platform to create reproducible and readily-shareable analysis workflows. We will use a hydrological demonstrator in the form of a Data-to-Knowledge Package (D2K-Package) for this purpose [1]. The D2K-Package is a collection of links to digital research assets, including data, containerized code enriched by the computational environment, virtual labs, OGC API Processes, and computational workflows.

Although we will use a hydrological demonstrator, the course is not limited to hydrologists but open to everyone interested in making computational research more reusable. To follow this course, the attendees will need to register on Galaxy (https://usegalaxy.eu/login/start). We kindly ask the attendees to do so in advance to avoid delay. No prior knowledge in Hydrology or Galaxy is required to follow this course. Some understanding of scripting languages (e.g., R) can be helpful but the basic concepts do not depend on a particular technology.

Konkol, M. et al. (2025). Encouraging reusability of computational research through Data-to-Knowledge Packages - A hydrological use case https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.20221.2.

Better software leads to better research, and code is read far more often than it is written.
Writing code that is clear, maintainable, and easy to adapt not only improves long-term (re-)usability, but also reduces cognitive load and bugs, leaving more time for scientific research.

Many researchers want to write better software, but don't know where to get started learning the tools or skills to do so. This short course introduces essential software engineering practices, covering aspects like:

Code structure
- Naming
- Smaller units/functions

Environments and dependency management

Code styling and standards
- Coding standards and best practices (through Python PEPs)
- Formatting and static analysis tools
- IDE Tooling and integration

Unit testing

Documentation
- Comments
- Docstrings
- READMEs

Through real-life examples and demonstrations, we will explore how to transform code from convoluted to comprehensible.

The session will combine lecture, demonstration and discussion, giving participants the opportunity to share their own challenges and exchange insights with fellow researchers.

The session will be led by computer scientists and research software engineers experienced in software development, who work principally with and for research projects. We welcome engaged participants of all backgrounds and abilities who want to improve their software skills in research and discuss with others how to apply them in their work.

Scientists commonly need to write code but often lack formal training in software engineering.
One key element of professional software engineering is proper version control of code, allowing one to: develop and manage code effectively, backup the code online and go back to previous stages, detect introduced bugs faster, and collaborate on a shared codebase.

The undisputed standard tool of version control is git and ideally, all code should be put under version control.

So if your code is not yet managed with git, this course is for you!

This short course requires no prior knowledge of git and will introduce the fundamentals of working with git from the command line:
- clone a git repository
- make changes and check for them
- create commits
- back up our code online on Github
- switch between branches
- merge branches

We will show you how to do these steps, and then help you follow along.
Finally, you will have the possibility to put one of your own coding projects into version control.


Looking forward to seeing you at the workshop!

Konstantin, Ben, Philipp


You can find the workshop material here: https://github.com/k-gregor/git-workshop
Further reading: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1733

In this training, we will show how to design, develop, and deploy API’s using Django Rest Framework (DRF). The approach will be practical; attendees will learn how to manage their classes (models) and build callable functions through URLs. At the end of the course, the attendees will be able to deploy their own functions in a local server for access through HTTP requests. Python expertise is required.

Short Course syllabus:
- Introduction to Django
- Setting up a Django project
- Introduction to Django Rest Framework
- Basic authentication
- API testing
- API documentation
- Hands-on Exercise

Participant requirements:
- Laptop with Python 3.9+ installed
- Basic Python knowledge
- IDE (VSC is preferable)
- Management of environments (Conda or virtualenv)

Material provided:
- Slides deck
- Step-by-step tutorial
- Environment requirements
- Code example. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own research code.

The course seeks to introduce attendants to the use of the SCENFIRE R package (https://github.com/rmmarcos/SCENFIRE_package). SCENFIRE is a post-processing algorithm that allows the user to combine wildfire simulated perimeters into burn probability based estimates of exposure to wildfires.

This short course aims to provide Early Career Scientists with the knowledge and skills on the state-of-the-art methodology for analysing multi-hazard disasters: (Enhanced) Impact Chains. Master students, PhD students, and Postdoctoral researchers with backgrounds in Natural Hazards (NH), Climate (CL), Geodynamic systems (GD), Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences (NP), Geomorphology (GM), and Hydrological Sciences (HS) are welcome to join us to advance their disaster analysis skills.
The increasingly frequent and impactful hazard events that occur simultaneously or in cascade have created a new set of challenges for communities worldwide, requiring a leap forward in both research and science communication. Therefore, the need to develop conceptual and operational frameworks capable of untangling the complex interactions among multiple hazards, their (compounded) impacts, evolving vulnerabilities, exposed elements, and mitigation measures becomes more pressing. This session addresses these needs, providing ECS training in conventional and Enhanced Impact Chains.
Impact Chains are models that were initially developed by UNDRR (2022) to analyse climate-related risks and grew to be applied for multi-hazard, cross-sectoral analyses or flood risk management. Taking the capability of these models a step further, we developed Enhanced Impact Chains as the first tools capable of tracking vulnerability dynamics across time and space in multi-hazard settings.
Leveraging the organisational, visualisation, and analytical prowess of conventional and Enhanced Impact Chains is a game changer for disaster analysis. Such tools equip scientists and practitioners with a clear framework to cut through complexity by identifying key disaster elements (hazards, impacts, vulnerabilities, exposed elements, and adaptation options) and, most importantly, mapping the connections established among them. Combining short theoretical presentations with interactive exercises and discussions, this workshop will guide participants in unlocking the full analytical potential of these essential tools.

Landslide mapping is a crucial activity for many studies in the field of geomorphology. The purpose of this Short Course is to share criteria for the interpretation of remote sensing images such as stereoscopic aerial photographs and LiDAR derived images. The interpretation criteria will be defined and applied in specific hands-on practical examples in a collaborative environment using StereoPhotoMaker, a free and simple yet powerful 3D vision system that can be easily installed on any computer. Cyan-magenta anaglyph glasses will be provided to all participants. Line drawing will be done in QGIS. Simple landslide mapping tasks, increasing in complexity, will allow discussing and sharing ideas and opinions, as well as getting a visual idea of the expected variability behind different types of landslide inventories. This Short Course does not require any specific training or experience, so it is open to early-career researchers, students, and curious geoscientists.

Disclaimer: please note that not everyone can perceive stereoscopic 3D. Check this by simply searching for cyan-magenta stereoscopic anaglyphs online. Cyan-magenta anaglyph 3D glasses are necessary.

Why this short course
Earth and environmental sciences thrive on data diversity: from ocean temperatures to biodiversity records, from climate indicators to geological observations. Yet, this very diversity can also be a barrier: different datasets are described with different standards, stored in different formats, and are difficult to connect across research infrastructures. The ENVRI-Hub provides a set of tools to overcome these challenges. It offers researchers a unified framework to discover, access, and reuse complex and multidisciplinary data.

This short course will give researchers a practical introduction to how ENVRI-Hub workflows can directly support their own projects, to build more reproducible and impactful science.

What researchers will learn
By joining this short course, researchers will:
- Get a clear picture of why Essential Variables matter in Earth and environmental sciences and how variable harmonisation improves scientific collaboration;
- Explore datasets through different pathways, including LLM-based search;
- Draft a mini workflow using curated Jupyter notebooks to map and query essential variables and visualise results;
- Share ideas with peers on how ENVRI-Hub workflows could advance their own research projects.

Interactive format
This 1h45min researcher-focused applied training session will blend live demonstrations, guided practice with curated tools, and participation discussions.

The interactive outline will engage participants by offering them an opportunity to:
- Navigate the ENVRI-Hub services and datasets: knowing what’s available and what fits their needs;
- Understand how to integrate ENVRI-Hub analytical tools into their research workflows: from data discovery and annotation to analysis and sharing;
- Present research use cases by reflecting on common challenges and benefits across domains

Who should join
This short course is tailored for:
- Researchers in Earth and environmental sciences, project coordinators, and data scientists looking to improve their data workflows;
- Anyone interested in applying interoperable approaches to interdisciplinary research;
- Anyone with basic familiarity with Python/Jupyter.

Join our tutorial on discovering, sharing, and learning with Earth System Sciences data: 1) How to find high-quality datasets for your data-driven projects, including scientific and governmental sources, 2) Tips for selecting the right (disciplinary) repository for sharing your data - according to your needs and particularly addressing the FAIRness and Openness principles, and 3) How to find and use open online courses and educational materials (OER) to leverage discovered data.
We will demonstrate tips, tricks, and how-tos using the NFDI4Earth services OneStop4All (https://onestop4all.nfdi4earth.de/) and the Knowledge Hub (https://knowledgehub.nfdi4earth.de/).
You are invited to share your experiences, best practices, or favorite repositories with the community, and take away practical skills and knowledge to enhance your research.

The course is designed for Master’s and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and professionals who want to explore open-source models for snow-dominated catchments. It combines theory and practice, introducing participants to hydrological processes in mountain environments and guiding them through hands-on model applications.
Outline:
Introduction: Overview of hydrology in snow-dominated mountain catchments.
GEOframe Modelling System: Introduction to GEOframe’s modular architecture, installation, and a case study demonstration on snow and hydrological modelling in mountain catchments.
Snow Hydrology with GEOtop: Presentation of the GEOtop model, its structure and capabilities, followed by installation and an interactive case study on snow modelling in the Alps.
Discussion: Open exchange, feedback, and wrap-up, with extra resources provided for those interested in further learning.
Learning Goals:
By the end of the session, participants will:
- Understand the key hydrological processes shaping snow-dominated catchments.
- Be able to install, set up, and run basic simulations using GEOtop and GEOframe.
- Join a community of open-source hydrological modelling.
Format & Venue:
Location: EGU 2026, Vienna, Austria
Dates: May 3-8, 2025
Mode: Onsite and virtual, with interactive and hands-on participation.
This short course offers a practical entry point into two widely used open-source hydrological models and a chance to network with peers in the snow hydrology community.
More information and resources about the models:
1. GEOtop (https://github.com/geotopmodel/geotop)
2. GEOframe Modelling System (https://geoframe.blogspot.com), (https://github.com/GEOframeOMSProjects)

In April 2023, EPOS, the European Plate Observing System launched the EPOS Data Portal (https://www.ics-c.epos-eu.org/), which provides access to multidisciplinary data, data products, services and software from solid Earth science domain. Currently, ten thematic communities provide input to the EPOS Data Portal through services (APIs): Anthropogenic Hazards, Geological Information and Modelling, Geomagnetic Observations, GNSS Data and Products, Multi-Scale Laboratories, Near Fault Observatories, Satellite Data, Seismology, Tsunami and Volcano Observations.
The EPOS Data Portal enables search and discovery of assets thanks to metadata and visualisation in map, table or graph views, including download of the assets, with the objective to enable multi-, inter- transdisciplinary research by following FAIR principles.
This short course will introduce the EPOS ecosystem and demonstration of integrated virtual research environment where users can stage their data and run Jupyter Notebooks, either from existing examples or their own. We see this interactive coding and development environment as a gate towards faster scientific progress and enabling open science.
It is expected that participants have scientific background in one or more scientific domains listed above. The training especially targets young researchers and all those who need to combine multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary data in their research. The use of the EPOS Platform will simplify data search for Early Career Scientists and potentially help them in accelerating their career development. Feedback from participants will be collected and used for further improvements of the EPOS system.

EUMETView is EUMETSAT’s (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) online data visualization service, offering easy and open access to a wide range of meteorological satellite products in near-real time. It provides an entry point for users who wish to explore environmental data without the need for complex processing or infrastructure, making it a valuable tool for both beginners and more experienced users. In addition to data from EUMETSAT’s own missions, EUMETView also provides access to products from Copernicus Sentinel satellites operated by EUMETSAT, such as Sentinel-3 ocean and atmosphere data.

This short course will provide a beginner-level introduction to EUMETView and its related data access services. Participants will learn how to browse, select and visualise satellite data directly in the EUMETView interface, specifically products related to wildfire events (e.g. MTG Fire Temperature RGB, Copernicus Sentinel 3 Fire Radiative Power). In addition, the course will demonstrate how to programmatically access the EUMETView catalogue through its API using a simple Python notebook, enabling automated queries and download of products.

After retrieving products, participants will learn how to visualize and animate them, create simple time series of images to track the temporal evolution of events, and integrate EUMETView layers through the OGC Web Map Service (WMS) into external tools such as GIS software or Python environments.

The session will start with a short overview of EUMETView and its data streams, followed by live demonstrations and guided exercises. By the end of the course, participants will be familiar with the main functionalities of EUMETView, understand how to access data interactively and via API, and be equipped with practical examples on how to visualize and apply satellite products for wildfire monitoring independently. No prior coding knowledge is required, and all training material will be provided.

This short course will train you how to use robust Machine Learning methods to do statistical downscaling of coarse climate model scenarios. A sample dataset will be used: daily surface temperature from one Global Climate Model of the CMIP6 database (historical and future climate time periods), along with a high resolution reanalysis.
Introduction on climate statistical downscaling
Methodology: classical and Machine-Learning based
Steps to perform downscaling
Sample datasets
Results
All material will be made available online, and a sample Jupyter Notebook will be provided.

AI is a gamechanger in the quest for better understanding Earth data. ML allows training of models for virtually any purpose, and many of them are published on open platforms like HuggingFace and Kaggle. However, in practice it is not easy particularly for non-experts to use such models, due to several blockers: Models typically need highly specific data preprocessing requiring skillful python coding. Model metadata are sparse and not standardized. In particular, they are not machine-readable so human intervention is required. A model's comfort zone is not always delineated clearly, and outside of it model accuracy and reliability can drop drastically, such as below 20%.

Recent work in research and standardization is aiming at overcoming these obstacles in the quest for easy-to-use, zero-coding, reliable ML use on spatio-temporal Earth Data. Based on ongoing research in the EU-funded FAIRgeo project we discuss AI-Cubes as a novel paradigm which embeds ML inference seamlessly into the geo datacube query standard, WCPS. Further, the concept of Model Fencing aims at deriving hints about a model's comfort zone so that the server can automatically decide about model applicability on the region selected and warn the user.

Live demos, several of which can be recapitulated by the audience, serve to illustrate the challenges and solution approaches. Ample time will be reserved for active discussion with the audience.

The advances in geodetic theory made an increased emphasis on mathematical methods necessary (Heiskanen and Moritz, 1956). For several decades a rigorous mathematical framework has been developed - Gauss/Markov BLUE, MLE, DIA - in the context of parameter estimation and statistical testing, thus paving the way for a better understanding of Earth's shape, orientation in space, and gravity field. With the introduction of machine learning, the focus has been shifted from a model-driven to a data-driven approach, also thanks to the large amount of data made available through several different terrestrial and space techniques (e.g. GNSS, InSAR, VLBI, SLR, Altimetry, Gravimetry, etc.).

In this short course we first provide a broad overview of geodetic theory, addressing different mathematical problems and well-established solutions adopted in Geodesy. Therefore, we highlight gaps in the current theoretical framework and introduce machine/deep learning paradigms as potential alternative to classical solutions. In this way, we further discuss key relationships between statistical learning and ML/DL methods, in particular focusing on fundamental issues in the adoption of AI techniques as "black box" solutions. Hence, we provide a clear understanding of the major pitfalls, especially concerning the quantification of uncertainty and confidence levels for ML/DL solutions.

Ultimately, we highlight the key role in science of 'explainability' and 'reproducibility', both often overlooked when adopting AI techniques in Geodesy. Target audience is Geodesy and Earth-science practitioners who deploy or evaluate ML in their research works. The format is 60 minutes (e.g. lunch slot) with 30′ for a mini lecture on theoretical fundamentals, 20′ live demo with relevant geodetic examples, and 10′ for Q&A.

Prerequisites: basic linear algebra; no prior ML/DL knowledge is required.

Deep learning algorithms have seen rapid and widespread adoption in ocean science. For many tasks, such as classification and error correction, they now represent the state of the art. However, applying deep learning in the field of oceanography also presents unique challenges, including the various temporal scales of oceanic processes, heterogeneously distributed and noisy observational data, and unresolved processes in numerical models.

In this short course, we aim to present a set of best practices for applying and assessing deep learning methods in oceanographic research. We will also highlight common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

The course will be structured around a series of short presentations and practical examples covering key topics, including:

- Types of oceanographic problems suited for deep learning: reconstruction, prediction, …
- Building datasets appropriate for deep learning applications: constitution of - training/validation/test datasets, effect of non-stationnarity, type/quality/number of data, …
- Training strategies and model selection: normalization, supervised training, generative models, …
- Validation and evaluation of ocean products derived from deep learning: accuracy, realism, …
- Ethical considerations: reproducibility, open science, and the environmental impact of deep learning

You would like to discover a simple, powerful and user-friendly software to visualize and process 2-D datasets in a few clicks? PyAnalySeries allows for efficient visualization and processing of 2-D datasets, in particular time-series, without any programming skills. Its simplicity and user-friendly visualization interface make it an extremely valuable software both for research applications and teaching activities.
PyAnalySeries is the new multi-platform version of the former and now obsolete time-series processing program called “AnalySeries” (Paillard et al., 1996). Written in Python, PyAnalySeries is easily portable across platforms (e.g. Linux, MacOS and Windows). Importing 2-D datasets is simple by copy-pasting from an open worksheet. A user-friendly graphical interface and efficient shortcuts rapidly create various types of 2-D data graphs (e.g. plots on the same or different X or Y axes), which can be interactively modified and exported as final figures. PyAnalySeries also gives access to a full set of astronomical series (e.g. precession, obliquity, eccentricity) and insolation series (for a given date or an integrated interval) from several references. The software provides the original possibilities of resampling and smoothing 2-D data, as well as that of interpolation-based correlation with different records of two archives simultaneously, which is classically used to derive age models in paleoclimate studies. PyAnalySeries is available with Open Access on our GitHub repository (https://github.com/PaleoIPSL/PyAnalySeries) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/15238083). Users are strongly encouraged to post questions and share suggestions of improvement on the GitHub space of discussion.
Beyond its original use in processing paleoclimatic data, PyAnalySeries is useful for any kind of 2-D datasets, such as elemental concentrations on river waters over time, the processing of electromagnetic radiation, any meteorological and climatic time series, biostatistics, sensors, economics. It is also a didactic platform useful in hands-on teaching activities. This makes it a valuable tool for training the next generation of Earth scientists.
During the short course, we will explain to users how to download and install the software, and show the main functionalities of PyAnalySeries using typical 2-D datasets. We also invite participants to bring their own 2-D data and try this simple time-series processing program by themselves.

The majority of multivariate statistics and machine learning algorithms expect Euclidean metrics on unconstrained data spaces. On the other hand, most variables in geosciences are strictly positive and capped by physical constraints, which leads to pointless arithmetic measures. Disobeying these constraints may obscure meaningful patterns, produce spurious correlations, or senseless measures of model quality. Within this short course, useful recipes to overcome common pitfalls in multivariate statistics and machine learning for (a) common physically constrained and (b) compositional data spaces will be presented with hands-on examples.

The course is structured into four topics:
a) Why are common metrics meaningless in constrained data spaces?
b) Challenges of modeling physical extremes
c) Basic recipes for physically constrained data spaces 
d) Meaningful transformation for compositional data (outlook only)

This course is held interactively with interdisciplinary hands-on experience. Advanced statistical/mathematical knowledge is not mandatory, but bringing your own laptop with R, Python, or Matlab environment will help to follow the presented recipes and exercises!

The Anthropocene is the time in which humanity has a greater influence and impact on our planet than all natural forces combined. Itself a contested term, the Anthropocene has been used not only to designate a geological epoch, but also as a means of framing a number of significant environmental, social, and cultural challenges that this period has brought with it. In this short course, you will draw on a number of disciplinary perspectives to open up problems that attend the Anthropocene, both conceptually and as a marker for more complex and urgent material/ real-world impacts that humans continue to shape and encounter. The impact of humans on Earth measured and experienced in what is commonly referred to as the Anthropocene, brings us the questions: how and to what extent has human impact surpassed that of natural forces? How do we imagine and envision the Anthropocene? What are its experiential dimensions? What are the problems relating to the Anthropocene?

In this short course Big Questions in the Anthropocene, you will critically evaluate your relationship with the planet and study new ways and the cultures and practices that it sustains. Together, we will explore questions such as: how do our economies impact waste disposal and energy sources? In addition, we will examine technological innovations, debate ethical issues, and perform social analyses. As we interrogate the idea of the Anthropocene, we will also discuss and challenge related concepts and oppositions. These include the presumptive binary division between ‘nature’ and ‘humankind’; the myth of human domination over nature; and naturalized conceptualizations of time and history.

To tackle these questions, the short course is divided into three main sections, introduction, discussion and solutions/navigation tools, with interactive teaching, in-class assignments as well as a take-home Big Question message.

Through our collaboration with Austrian government representatives in the framework of the Austrian Technical Support Instrument Project, we can build on these connections to create a unique short course experience that bridges science and policy on the ground, at the local level. This could take different forms: for instance, a visit to the Austrian Parliament or relevant ministries, or having parliamentarians and officials joining us as speakers during the EGU26 short course. There is clear interest from the Austrian government side, but the project itself will only officially launch in October.

Are you keen to see your research results integrated into decision-making but don’t know where to start? Science for policy can be very rewarding, but some basic considerations for engaging in science-policy can help you get your foot in the door or up your level of impact. A basic introduction that provides some tips for engagement will be followed up with short impulse talks from a panel of experts, highlighting different opportunities for policy engagement and the skills that got them there. It will also include teasers for different existing toolkits (e.g., Sci-4-Pol Competence Framework) and training opportunities (e.g., Science-Policy Pairing Scheme, or IEEP-EGU mentorship scheme) to boost your science for policy engagement skills. The session will end with an open Q&A with the panel.

Science is increasingly under pressure from political polarisation, misinformation, and declining public trust. These dynamics not only destabilise scientific communication but also challenge the ability of researchers to engage effectively with society and policymakers. To navigate this landscape, scientists and science communicators are developing new “toolkits” – practical methods, frameworks, and strategies – that support resilience, credibility, and impact.

This short course will introduce participants to a set of emerging toolkits designed over the coming year, focusing on how researchers can strengthen the role of science in public discourse and policy. The session will explore key questions: How can scientists better anticipate and counter misinformation? Which communication strategies foster trust across diverse audiences? What can we learn from cross-disciplinary and international experiences in addressing science denial and disinformation campaigns?

Through interactive discussion and real-world examples, participants will gain insight into practical approaches to safeguard the integrity of science while making it more accessible and actionable. The course will also highlight opportunities for early-career scientists to contribute to shaping new narratives and engagement strategies, ensuring that science remains a cornerstone for evidence-based decision-making.

By the end of the session, attendees will walk away with concrete ideas and resources to strengthen their own science communication practices and to contribute to building a more resilient scientific community.

Global challenges, such as climate change and natural hazards, are becoming increasingly complex and interdependent, and solutions have to be global in scope and based on a firm scientific understanding of the challenges we face. At the same time, Science and technology are playing an increasingly important role in a complex geopolitical landscape. In this difficult setting, scientific collaboration can not only be used to help address global challenges but also to foster international relations and build bridges across geopolitical divisions. Science diplomacy is a broad term used both to describe the various roles that science and researchers play in bridging geopolitical gaps and finding solutions to international issues, and also the study of how science intertwines with diplomacy in pursuing these goals.

During this Short Course, science diplomacy experts will introduce key science diplomacy concepts and outline the skills that are required to effectively engage in science diplomacy. They will also provide practical insights on how researchers can actively participate in science diplomacy, explore real-life examples of science diplomacy, and highlight resources where participants can learn more about science diplomacy moving forward.

This Short Course is of interest to researchers from all disciplines and career levels.

Your high impact journal demands reproducible research, but your reviewers don't have access to your supercomputer...

You want colleagues in another country to work with the petabytes of data you created, but they cannot access your server easily...

You want your students to run the analysis you did for one region on any other region in the world, but don't want to manage the dependencies on their laptops...

In this short course we will give you hands on experience on how to create, publish and share workflows that are 'reproducible by design'. Using openly published Jupyterbooks, online JupyterHubs, git-pullers, open interfaces and data formats you will build a reproducible workflow in a single short course! Based on a decade of work with the eWaterCycle project for Open and FAIR hydrological modelling, we will teach the best practices in making modelling studies, even when requiring High Performance Computing resources, truly reproducible.

Bring a laptop, but no need to install anything: everything will be online!

Visualisation of scientific data is an integral part of scientific understanding and communication. Scientists have to make decisions about the most effective way to communicate their results every day. How do we best visualise the data to understand it ourselves? How do we best visualise our results to communicate with others? Common pitfalls can be overcrowding, overcomplicated or suboptimal plot types, or inaccessible colour schemes. Scientists may also get overwhelmed by the graphics requirements of different publishers, for presentations, posters, etc. This short course is designed to help scientists improve their data visualisation skills so that the research outputs would be more accessible within their own scientific community and reach a wider audience.
Topics discussed include:
- golden rules of DataViz;
- choosing the most appropriate plot type and designing a good DataViz;
- graphical elements, fonts and layout;
- colour schemes, accessibility and inclusiveness;
- creativity vs simplicity – finding the right balance;
- figures for scientific journals (graphical requirements, rights and permissions);
- tools for effective data visualisation.
This course is co-organized by the Young Hydrologic Society (YHS), enabling networking and skill enhancement of early career researchers worldwide. Our goal is to help you make your figures more accessible to a wider audience, informative and beautiful. If you feel your graphs could be improved, we welcome you to join this short course.

Communicating science to the general public is a shared challenge across geoscientific disciplines. Nevertheless, conveying our messages is of utmost importance, particularly in the context of global challenges such as climate change. It can be especially fruitful when shared with the youngest, yet most affected, stakeholder group: children.
This interactive short course offers a unique opportunity for scientists, educators, and artists to come together and exchange tools, insights, and experiences related to geoscience education for children. Following a keynote by expert Takahi Kosaki, we will showcase a wide range of educational materials, concepts, and methods in a “market stall” format, where participants will be guided through.
After the tour, participants will have time to explore the materials independently and engage in direct conversations. A dedicated table will also be available for attendees to display and share their own resources from past or ongoing programs. All presented materials will be collected and made accessible via an online drive.
The aim of this short course is to share knowledge and available materials on geoscience education for children, connect interested participants, and inspire future collaborations and the development of educational programs.

How can you ensure your research is heard within your community and beyond? Reaching the public, policymakers, or journalists requires more than good science: it takes clear and engaging communication. This short course will provide guidance on how you can share your work through press releases, blogs, and media interviews. You will learn practical tips for writing popular science pieces, how to avoid common mistakes when speaking to the media, and how to get ready for interviews. Join us to get tips to build confidence and develop essential skills to communicate your science clearly and engage with a wider audience.

Researchers are not only expected to conduct high-quality research, but also to communicate their findings effectively to both the scientific community and the public. This requires a skillset that is often not formally taught during academic training. Presenting your work and answering questions on stage can feel daunting and nerve-wracking. In this short course, we create a supportive environment to help you overcome these fears. Experienced and enthusiastic presenters will teach practical strategies to manage presentation anxiety and you can immediately put them into practice through short pitching exercises.
The first 45 minutes of the course are hybrid. For the second half of the course, participation is only possible on-site.

The scientific communication landscape in the digital era is rapidly becoming all about effectively delivering ideas in brief. As scientific conferences move from longer physical meetings to more condensed hybrid formats, not only are short presentations necessary for pitching yourself to senior scientists or your next entrepreneurial venture to Venture Capitalists, but also for promoting your research. The opportunities of networking rarely reveal themselves, unless you are able to tell a brief, informative, and compelling story about you and your research.
It is truly an art to engage people through these short presentations and ignite a fire in their hearts, which will burn long enough for them to remember you and reach out to you later about relevant opportunities. While practice makes perfect is the mantra for delivering power-packed short presentations, there are several tricks to make your content stand out and set yourself apart from the crowd.
In this hybrid format course, we will bring together ideas and tips from years of sci-comm experience to provide you a one stop shop with the tricks of the trade. Finally, a hands-on exercise where participants will receive structured feedback on all aspects of their talk will help solidify the learning outcomes. The learning objectives of this short course are as follows:

- Structuring a killer elevator pitch – learning from 1/2/3-min examples
- Knowing your audience – harnessing the power of tailored openings/closings
- Captivating delivery – leveraging body language to your advantage
- Harnessing creativity - choosing the right medium
- Enunciating to engage – communicating across borders
- Effectively practising your pitch – making the best of your time

Early career and underrepresented scientists are particularly encouraged to participate as they can gain the most from the learning outcomes of this short course.

Your geoscience is important. It can change thinking and practice in the world if you communicate it well! To be the best communicators we can, and to get proper credit for approaches that work and inspire, it is important to publish on best practice. This session is to help you publish research about the tools, tips and techniques you use, or the impact of your educational, outreach, or engagement (e.g. with government, industry) work.

The session is a task-led workshop and will consist of roughly 10 mins of us talking, followed by 15 mins of Q&A, then we will break into group-based activities to build your confidence led by an editor of the journal Geoscience Communication editor. It doesn’t matter if you know very little already. No question is too basic, and no prior knowledge is needed.

The activities will include:
● 'Plan a project' - sketch out a project plan (e.g. a flow chart) for research-led communication.
● 'Help me with my idea' - a safe space to get 1-to-1 input from a Geoscience Communications editor.
● 'Editor for the day' - understand the review process infinitely better with an exercise in which you are editor for a GC insights article.

The questions can answer include:
● How do I get started? - I’ve got a great outreach idea, but how do I do it as research and contribute to best practice?
● How do I collect evidence / data? – The guts e.g. methods & statistics
● What does robust ‘research’ about communication look like? i.e. what a paper needs.

We hope the workshop will benefit burgeoning communicators at any career stage. Or, if you’re an experienced geoscience communication practitioner, then we can help you get the reputational benefit that comes with publication.

Peer-review is the heart of quality control when it comes to publishing our scientific results. It is almost exclusively based on voluntary service by the scientific community itself. Yet peer-reviewers are currently the most limited human resource in scientific publishing. Insights about the peer-review process are essential for the successful publication of your manuscript, but the prospect of reviewing scientific manuscripts can appear daunting, especially to early career scientists (ECS). Open questions regarding the role as reviewer, expectations by the journal editors, and the degree of detail, but also ethical responsibilities may lead to doubts. This short course offers the opportunity to meet editors of internationally renowned journals to get answers to those questions and to eliminate the doubts regarding one’s aptitude as a reviewer:
• How is the peer-review process organized? How do editors search for and select reviewers?
• Which forms of peer review exist and what are the main differences?
• Tips for my first review: What to focus on and how to structure?
• What are (and are not!) the duties and roles of reviewers?
• What are the ethical responsibilities of reviewers? How do I deal with conflicts of interest?
• What are the benefits of voluntary peer-reviewing?
As part of the course, the EGU peer-review model and the details specific to the EGU journals will be presented. This includes the advantages of the EGU’s interactive open access publishing with multi-stage open peer review. Participants will have the opportunity to indicate their interest in the next edition of the EGU Peer Review Training (Fall 2026), where hands-on experience will be provided through the review of preprints on EGUsphere.
In this short course, there will be plenty of opportunity to raise follow-up questions and have an open discussion about how to become comfortable in the role as reviewer. The short course might be interesting for ECS conducting their first reviews but also for advanced scientists willing to share their experiences as reviewers (and authors).

Writing is difficult. Like most geoscientists, you might struggle, especially if your native tongue is not English. Writing is a skill best learnt by practice, lots of it, ideally with immediate peer feedback. It can also be a lonely job. In this hands-on, participatory workshop you will work on a writing task with colleagues, sharing inspiration and getting immediate feedback. The task illustrates in vivid fashion some key elements of writing.

This Short Course will be a *workshop* including the following:
1. Quick intros [5 mins]
2. An enjoyable, small-group writing game, with immediate feedback [40 mins]
3. Small-group debrief [25 mins]
4. A Q&A session with journal editors [30 mins]
5. Wrap-up [10 mins]

As editors of the EGU journal, Geoscience Communication, we believe that this workshop will be of use to all authors, although we particularly encourage beginners and those of intermediate experience to attend.

It might be possible to use a short, and not-too-technical, paragraph of yours in the workshop and suggest improvements. If you would like to do that, please see the Additional Information below.

Please note that some workshop materials will allow up to a maximum of 20 participants, on a first-come basis. Additional people will be invited to conduct guided observation in silence during the exercises, and then to contribute actively during the debriefing and discussion.

Please bring some blank paper, a pen and an internet-enabled laptop or telephone (with QR code capability).

This short course introduces non-geologists to the fundamental principles of plate tectonics, structural geology, petrology, and geomorphology, showing how geologists study Earth’s materials and processes. A one-afternoon pre-conference field excursion will allow the participants to link observations in nature with geological theory.

The data available to geologists are often minimal, incomplete, and only partially representative of the geological history of our planet. To make sense of such limited information, geologists need to develop strong observational skills, master field techniques, and apply analytical methods to interpret the data accurately. By doing so, they gain an understanding of how the Earth has evolved through space and time, from its formation to the present.

We cover the following subjects:
0) Pre-conference field excursion – Linking observation and theory
1) The principles of geology – From mantle to surface
2) Mantle – Understanding the interior of the Earth
3) Crust – What rocks reveal about Earth’s processes
4) Surface – How landscapes form and evolve
5) Q&A session!

Pre-conference field excursion
We will host a half-day geological excursion, to link field observations with the theory behind Earth’s materials, structures, and processes. The excursion will take place at 12:30 on Sunday May 3 before the General Assembly, within 60 minutes by public transport from central Vienna. Participants should bring their own lunch, no additional costs are involved. Guided by the course experts, participants will explore rocks and structures in the field and discuss their formation and evolution. The excursion is designed at an entry level, giving participants a sense of how geologists study rocks in the field. This section will soon be updated with more details and a registration form.

60-minute short course
Our aim is not to turn you into a geology specialist, but to give you an idea of the data we use to study the Earth. We will introduce some of the methods currently used to collect geological data and we will show the challenges geologists face in the field. The course is designed to give you a feel for the capabilities of geological research and to foster interdisciplinary thinking.

The 60-minute short course is part of a series of introductory 101 courses that also includes Exoplanets, Geodesy, and Seismology. All courses are led by experts who aim to make complex Earth Science concepts accessible to non-experts.

After the detection of thousands of exoplanets, the field has moved from the era of discovery to the era of characterisation. Remote observations now provide constraints on radii, masses, and atmospheric compositions, offering crucial insights into the physical and chemical properties of these worlds. Yet, without techniques long developed in the geosciences, it is impossible to fully interpret such data.

This short course will begin with an introduction to exoplanet observations, then progress through planetary structure, composition, mineralogy, cloud formation, atmospheric chemistry, and dynamics. It will highlight how methods from climate science, geophysics, geochemistry, and experimental petrology can be applied to exoplanet research, including a hands-on session on 4D climate data and mineralogical phase diagrams.

The aim is to provide participants with the physical understanding and computational tools needed to characterise exoplanets. The course is designed for early-career scientists from diverse backgrounds.

Get to know the basics of geodesy and the types of data it provides. From GNSS signals to gravity measurements, geodetic observations play an important role in Earth sciences by supporting research in various disciplines (e.g., hydrology, glaciology, geodynamics, oceanography, seismology). This short course will give you an introduction to what geodesy can (and can’t) tell us. You don’t need to be a geodesist to join and by the end, you won’t be an expert either, but we do hope that you have gained more knowledge about the limitations as well as advantages of geodetic data. The crash course is designed and taught by scientists from the Geodesy division, and open to anyone curious about how geodesists work as well as for researchers already handling geodetic data. We hope to have a lively discussion during the short course. And if you’re a geodesist, this is your chance to hear directly what scientists from other disciplines need when working with your data.

How do seismologists detect and locate earthquakes? Is seismology only about earthquakes? Seismology has become an essential tool across various geo-disciplines, complementing fields like tectonics, geology, geodynamics, volcanology, hydrology, glaciology, and planetology.

In Seismology 101, we will introduce the fundamental concepts and methods of seismology. This course remains tailored to those unfamiliar with the subject, particularly early career scientists. We will provide an overview of key methods and processing techniques applicable to surface processes, near-surface geological structures, and the Earth’s interior. The course will emphasise how advanced seismological techniques can enhance the interpretation of results from other disciplines.
Topics include:
- Basic principles of seismology, including earthquake detection and location
- Understanding and interpreting "beachballs" (focal mechanisms)
- The distinction between earthquake risks and hazards
- An introduction to free tutorials at seismo-live.org and other useful tools
- Applications of seismic methods for imaging the Earth’s interior (at various scales), deciphering tectonics, and monitoring volcanoes, landslides, glaciers, and more.

While we won’t turn you into the next Charles Richter in 60 minutes, we aim to increase your awareness of how seismology can support geoscience. Each topic will be discussed in a non-technical manner, highlighting both strengths and potential limitations. This course will help non-seismologists better understand seismic data and foster enriched interdisciplinary discussions.

The short course is organized by early career seismologists and geoscientists, who will present examples from their own research and high-impact reference studies for illustration. This 60-minute short course is part of a quintet of introductory 101 courses on Geodesy, Geodynamics, Geology, Seismology, and Tectonic Modelling. All courses are led by experts who aim to make complex Earth science concepts accessible to non-experts.