In 2016, the first of this session series was organised. In a moment of general turbulence for EDI actions, come to celebrate with us and to help us to build bridges and long-lasting actions of fairness in the geosciences. Following the success of last 10 years, this session will explore reasons for the under-representation of different groups (gender identities, sexual orientations, racial and cultural backgrounds, abilities, religions, nationality or geography, socioeconomic status, ages, career stages, etc.) by welcoming debate among scientists, decision-makers and policy analysts in the geosciences.

The session will focus on both obstacles that contribute to under-representation and on best practices and innovative ideas to remove those obstacles. Contributions are solicited on the following topics:

- Role models to inspire and further motivate others (life experience and/or their contributions to promote equality)
- Imbalanced representation, preferably supported by data, for awards, medals, grants, high-level positions, invited talks and papers
- Perceived and real barriers to inclusion (personally, institutionally, culturally)
- Recommendations for new and innovative strategies to identify and overcome barriers
- Gender Equality Plans (GEP) in European host institutions: the good, the bad, and the ugly
- Best practices and strategies to move beyond barriers, including:
• successful mentoring programmes;
• networks that work;
• specific funding schemes;
• examples of host institutions initiatives;
• examples of conferences and meetings initiatives;
Reports on situations that you may have experienced considering recent socio-political changes and attacks on EDI activities are encouraged.

This session is co-organised with the support of the European Research Council (ERC).
Conveners will propose a special issue based on multi-annual contributions of the session, and if accepted, it will be published as a collection of papers within a specific journal or series.