The goal of this session is to bring together a wide variety of experiences, stories and people. We invite submissions from any geoscientific field in two specific categories:
First, any submissions that showcase a specific problem, your Eureka moment if there was one, and your solution to it. The goal of such submissions should be to show that unforeseen problems happen to everyone, but that it is possible to overcome these. Examples may include (but are not limited to):
• Designing computing codes that run with fewer computational resources
• Using sensors, technologies, and data beyond their traditional applications
• Developing computational workflows that integrate different approaches in novel ways (e.g., machine learning, trap cameras, and social media)
• Merging methods from several disciplines into new approaches.
• Building automation methodologies that avoid errors while using high-performance computing.
Second, any submissions that provide an Early Career Perspective on the grand challenges in your specific field or the geosciences as a whole, and your proposed solutions to these. Examples may include (but are not limited to):
• Community initiatives that facilitate the use of fieldwork techniques and computational resources.
• Grand challenges framing from a perspective that highlights inclusivity, diversity, and equality.
• Community perspectives and synthesis to reduce barriers of entry in transdisciplinary paths focused on problem-solving.
• Juggling how problem-solving was applied to a research career (e.g., kids, migration)
High-performance computing (HPC) is a powerful tool in geoscience, yet its complexity often creates barriers. Running large-scale simulations requires significant resources and time, and results are rarely immediate—making iterative improvements (or debugging) slow and frustrating. During my research, and after long HPC runs, I discovered that my chosen mesh discretization still suffered from significant discretization errors, forcing me to restart the workflow and endure additional delays.
Rather than viewing this as wasted effort, I analyzed that data and realized that the “incorrect” data contained valuable information. This observation sparked a new idea: could we bypass costly, high-resolution simulations by combining approximate physics models with coarse-mesh simulations to reduce error without sacrificing interpretability? Over a single weekend, I developed a prototype workflow that integrates these concepts [1-2]. I have now developed an approach that avoids full 3D forward models that requires specialists’ expertise and a tremendous amount of computational resources, not readily available to everyone. It allows users to check their multidimensionality assumptions, without relying on costly simulations. Recently, I updated the approach to actually replace full 3D simulations with a combination of coarse meshes and simplified physics models. This experience highlights how unexpected challenges can lead to creative solutions.
[1] Deleersnyder, W., Dudal, D., Hermans, T. (2022). Novel Airborne EM Image Appraisal Tool for Imperfect Forward Modeling. Remote Sensing, 14 (22), Art.No. 5757. doi: 10.3390/rs14225757
[2] Deleersnyder, W., Slob, E. (2025). Fast approximate physics method for 3D time-domain EM modelling. Geophysics https://doi.org/10.1190/geo-2025-0566
How to cite: Deleersnyder, W.: Turning Computational Frustration into Innovation: Combining Too Coarse Meshes with Simplified Physics Models for Efficient Modelling, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3971, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3971, 2026.
Drawing on experiences from the EU Horizon 2020 project MYRIAD-EU and the EGU 2025 short course “Best Practices for Early Career Researcher (ECR) Engagement and Empowerment in Research Projects”, this work explores good practices, in addition to enabling factors and benefits, for ECR engagement in the scope of interdisciplinary research projects. Specifically, we focus on scalable, practical strategies that foster agency, growth, and inclusion, particularly through structural involvement in project management and other project-related work, organization of events for ECRs together with ECRs, and forming networks beyond their own work. These approaches contribute to the systemic empowerment of ECRs, which not only supports their development but also can generate benefits for projects, including enhanced innovation, fresh perspectives, and improved project reputation for inclusivity. Key engagement activities were found to be supported by direct influences and advisory support, agency of ECRs to enable action, and external factors in the project context.
Despite a growing emphasis on career development from funding bodies, the systematic integration of ECRs into research project structures remains under-explored. While external programmes offer valuable support, meaningful engagement of ECRs should additionally be embedded directly into project structures and cultures. To implement the practices identified within our initiatives within a broader scope, we provide several recommendations. These range from easy-to-implement actions within the immediate influence of project teams to more ambitious, large-scale changes such as shifts in funding strategies. These strategies can be adapted to suit different environments, projects of varying sizes, and funding levels. We further advocate for research projects, funding agencies, and scientific communities to adopt and take lead on these approaches. Integrating ECR empowerment into the core of research projects does not only provide equitable platforms but is also a strategic pathway for innovation in inter- and transdisciplinary geosciences. Though we further advocate and call for more exploration of how it would best benefit projects, this work demonstrates that empowering ECRs is both a necessary and transformative step toward more inclusive, dynamic, and impactful research.
How to cite: De Polt, K., Schlumberger, J., Claassen, J., Tiggeloven, T., Buijs, S., de Ruiter, M., Gargiulo, M. V., Gill, J., Ramalingam, N. R., Reluy, N. P., Trogrlić, R. Š., and Ward, P.: Shaping tomorrow’s science: Empowering ECRs to make research projects flourish, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-6929, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-6929, 2026.
This research examines the multifaceted experiences of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) navigating the increasingly globalized landscape of atmospheric chemistry. Drawing upon collective insights from the ECR Scientific Steering Committee and quantitative data from a survey of 180 ECRs across 40 countries, we investigate their primary motivations, challenges, and opportunities. Key obstacles identified include systemic difficulties in securing funding and resources, achieving sustainable work–life balance, and uncertainty around long-term career prospects, often compounded by precarious employment conditions. While globalization offers significant avenues for international collaboration, data sharing, and knowledge exchange, it concurrently presents challenges such as heightened competition, visa restrictions, regional disparities, and the risk of inequitable research practices. Despite these hurdles, ECRs are driven by a strong interest in their field, a desire to make a tangible impact on societal concerns, and the appeal of a supportive community. This research offers actionable insights focused on 4 key pillars: (i) strengthening mentoring programs; (ii) reforming funding mechanisms for improved accessibility and equity; (iii) providing targeted skill development workshops; and (iv) promoting equitable collaborations and advancing the decolonization of research practices. To foster a supportive, inclusive, and sustainable environment for the next generation of atmospheric scientists, this work underscores the urgent need for systemic change and sustained collaborative action by networks such as International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC), as well as by senior researchers, academic institutions, and funding agencies.
The research presented is published as Maximilien Desservettaz, Martin Otto Paul Ramacher, Simone Thirstrup Andersen, Cybelli Barbosa, Sebastian Diez, Hannah Bryant, Tamryn Hamilton, Stephanie Schneider, Karn Vohra, Yuanzhe Li, Sachin Mishra, Nor Diana Abdul Halim, Shahid Uz Zaman, Flossie Brown, Shyno Susan John, Pravash Tiwari, William Apondo, Emily Matthews; A new generation of Early Career Researchers in atmospheric chemistry: Navigating a globalized scientific landscape. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 3 January 2025; 13 (1): 00064. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2025.00064.
How to cite: Bryant, H., Desservettaz, M., Otto Paul Ramacher, M., Thirstrup Andersen, S., Barbosa, C., Diez, S., Hamilton, T., Schneider, S., Vohra, K., Li, Y., Mishra, S., Abdul Halim, N. D., Uz Zaman, S., Brown, F., Susan John, S., Tiwari, P., Apondo, W., and Matthews, E.: A new generation of Early Career Researchers in atmospheric chemistry: Navigating a globalized scientific landscape, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10420, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10420, 2026.
Early career researchers are increasingly mobile, often conducting their scientific training and research in countries where neither the language nor the academic culture are their own. While scientific mobility is widely encouraged, its implications for scientific identity, confidence and participation are rarely discussed. This contribution offers an early career perspective on the challenges of doing science in a second language within the context of academic migration.
Drawing from personal experience in hydrology and climate research, this presentation reflects on how working in a non-native language extends beyond communication difficulties and shapes the way early career researchers think, write, code, and engage in scientific discussions. Limited linguistic fluency can amplify impostor syndrome, restrict spontaneous participation, and temporarily reduce perceived scientific competence, particularly in highly competitive academic environments. At the same time, navigating science across languages and cultures can foster adaptability, conceptual clarity, and a deeper understanding of one’s own research.
The experience of academic migration often entails a parallel loss and reconstruction of scientific identity; expertise developed in one context may feel diminished in another, leading early career researchers to re-evaluate their knowledge, methodologies, and role within the scientific community. This presentation highlights how such transitions, while challenging, can ultimately strengthen critical thinking and interdisciplinary awareness when adequately supported.
By sharing these reflections, this contribution aims to normalise experiences that are often internalised and invisible, and to highlight language and migration as structural dimensions of diversity in science. Practical suggestions are proposed to foster more inclusive research environments, including changes in mentoring practices, meeting dynamics, and expectations around scientific communication. Acknowledging the human dimensions of scientific mobility is essential not only for researcher well-being, but also for the quality, creativity and inclusivity of scientific knowledge production.
How to cite: Escanilla-Minchel, R.: Scientific Identity in a Second Language: Challenges of Academic Migration for Early Career Researchers, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13861, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13861, 2026.
Altiplano wetlands are extreme environments where hydrology, geochemistry, ecology, and climate interact in complex and often poorly constrained ways. In northern Chile, these systems support unique biodiversity, regulate water availability in closed basins, and sustain cultural practices that have persisted for centuries. At the same time, they are increasingly exposed to climate change, chronic water scarcity, and expanding mining activities. Despite their importance, soil processes in these ecosystems—particularly the spatial organization of salinity and ionic composition—remain underrepresented in environmental research, partly due to methodological fragmentation across disciplines.
This contribution reflects on an interdisciplinary attempt to “learn to fly” by borrowing tools from hydrogeology and water quality studies and applying them to soil science. The study focuses on the Salar de Huasco, an Altiplano wetland in the Chilean North. The main objective was not only to characterize soil salinity patterns, but also to explore whether classical hydrogeochemical visualization tools such as Piper and Stiff diagrams could provide intuitive insights into soil ionic composition in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Soil samples were collected at 15 locations across the salt flat and grouped by cardinal sector (north, south, east, and west). Laboratory analyses quantified major soluble cations and anions, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, sulfate, and carbonate species. These data were processed in R to generate Piper and Stiff diagrams adapted to soil chemistry, a step that required methodological adjustments and conceptual translation from water to soil systems. The results reveal a contrast between variability and consistency: while total salt concentrations differ substantially across the Salar, the relative proportions of cations and anions remain similar in most sampling points. This finding suggests shared geochemical controls at the system scale, despite spatial heterogeneity in salinity intensity. This work illustrates the value of interdisciplinary learning. Applying familiar tools in unfamiliar contexts involves uncertainty, trial and error, and continuous questioning of assumptions. However, it also opens space for methodological creativity and clearer communication. Piper and Stiff diagrams emerge as powerful visual tools for bridging disciplines and making complex soil salinity patterns more accessible, offering a promising pathway for future research and monitoring of Altiplano Wetlands.
How to cite: Giraldo, C., Acevedo, S. E., Contreras, C. P., Leray, S., and Suarez, F.: How to use hydrogeochemical diagrams to understand soil salinity in a Altiplano Wetland?, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14226, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14226, 2026.
How to cite: Oliveira Makowski, M. and Chen, J.: How Not to Drown in Code: Strategies for Managing Research Software, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17475, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17475, 2026.
Posters virtual: Fri, 8 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 5
EGU26-16189 | Posters virtual | VPS1
Beyond Equality: Early-Career Perspectives on Equity in GeoscienceFri, 08 May, 14:18–14:21 (CEST) vPoster spot 5
Early-career researchers play a central role in advancing geoscience, yet their research trajectories are shaped not only by scientific challenges, but also by structural conditions that influence access, recognition, and sustainability. While equal-opportunity frameworks aim to ensure fairness through consistent treatment, they may still produce uneven outcomes when differences in experience, workloads, contribution, and risk exposure are not fully recognised. These conditions are particularly consequential for early-career researchers navigating mobility and temporary contracts. The uneven distribution of invisible academic labour further shapes who remains visible and who is able to sustain a research career.
Framing these dynamics as shared research challenges allows early-career researchers to learn from one another’s experiences, reduce impostor syndrome, and make visible the human side of scientific work. Equity is a shared responsibility: institutions and organisations can improve transparency around structural conditions, while research communities and scientific societies can reduce inequities by shaping participation, recognition, and visibility within existing constraints. This includes flexible participation models, transparent evaluation practices, and greater recognition of non-visible contributions that support more equitable and inclusive research environments. By treating equality and fairness as shared problem-solving spaces rather than individual burdens, this perspective aims to support more inclusive and sustainable pathways for early-career researchers in geoscience.
How to cite: Tang, A. C. I.: Beyond Equality: Early-Career Perspectives on Equity in Geoscience, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16189, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16189, 2026.
EGU26-21525 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS1
Extreme Academic Tales for Recorded Extreme Tails in GreeceFri, 08 May, 14:21–14:24 (CEST) vPoster spot 5
One of the most life-changing experiences for scientists is when real-world events challenge theoretical knowledge and standard models in the literature. When facing such circumstances, scientists, instead of feeling disappointment and discouragement, must seize the opportunity to expand their knowledge and adjust for flaws in their initial assumptions, as academic integrity is rooted in fundamental scientific values, such as honesty and fairness. Considering this, and after decades of post-graduate, PhD, and post-doctoral studies in the fields of Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Stochastics, we witnessed a series of unprecedentedly extreme events in academia involving the official regulations for tenured professorships in Greece. These regulations mandate the formation of an Academic Board for candidate evaluation by randomly drawing lots from a pool of professors whose scientific fields are relevant to the subject of the position. This is intended to avoid "pre-designed" boards (i.e., those formed by blocking certain experts —often highly qualified ones— from the draw and favouring others —often poorly qualified ones— who may have scientific and financial conflicts of interest regarding specific candidates), which can cause severe long-term degradation of the educational system. Unexpectedly, even after multiple repetitions and strong reassurance regarding the validity of the above procedure, the probability of the outcomes (specifically, the consistent drawing of a handful group of lots) reached the extreme order of millionths. In this presentation, we will discuss these experiences with extremes and whether the concepts of statistical significance and reliability indices in scientific literature and academic regulations should be revisited.
How to cite: Dimitriadis, P.: Extreme Academic Tales for Recorded Extreme Tails in Greece, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21525, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21525, 2026.
