Being a ECS representative

Early career scientist representatives are a crucial link between the EGU and the early career scientist community. They are vital in providing feedback from students and early career researchers, so that we can take action to improve our early career scientists activities at the EGU General Assembly and maintain our support for early career scientists throughout the year.

As well as giving you the platform to interact with a large network of researchers in your field, being an early career scientists representative is a great opportunity to build on your communications skills, boost your CV and influence the activities of Europe’s largest geoscientific association.

Within each scientific division, representatives can also take on a variety of tasks, according to their areas of expertise and interest. These can include (but aren’t limited to): organising events for early career scientists at our annual General Assembly, outreach to early career scientists and the wider public through social media or a division blog, or establishing a mentoring programme for other early career scientists. For a first-hand account of what it’s like to be an early career scientists representative, see this interview with the former Union-level representative, Wouter Berghuijs.

Interested? Currently, all Divisions have an appointed ECS representative; however stay tuned to the Division pages for calls for future vacancies.

If you would like to get involved in ECS activities contact your early career scientists representative.

If you are interested in being an early career scientists representative, or have any questions about getting involved in the Union, please contact:

Division ECS representatives

Each EGU division president determines their division’s internal structure, which may differ from division to division. The internal organisation of each division (the various officers, including ECS representatives) is decided by voting at the annual division meeting during the General Assembly.

Since the 2014 General Assembly, the majority of the divisions that required new ECS representatives sought candidates on the run up prior to the Assembly via an open call. Following the presentation of the candidates during the annual division meeting, the members voted for their preferred candidate. Representatives serve for two years, are able to serve for a maximum of two terms and must fulfil the definition of the ECS.

Union-level representatives

The Union-level ECS representative collects feedback from the division-level representatives and presents it to the EGU’s Programme Committee and Council.

Prior to the approval in April 2023 by the EGU Plenary, the Union-level representative held a non-voting seat on the EGU Council. Since the registration of these changes to the statutes by the 2023 EGU Plenary, the Union-level representative is a voting member of the EGU Council and is elected by the EGU members during the annual elections.

The Union-level ECS Representative is elected for a two-year period where they first serve for one year as the -Union-level ECS vice-Representative and then serve a following one-year term as the Union-level ECS Representative.

Candidates for Union-level ECS Representative are selected according to the following criteria as per the EGU best practices:

• The candidate is an early career scientist at the start of their term as Union-level ECS Representative, as per the EGU definition of early career scientist.
• The candidate has previous experience in community service for early career scientists.

Community service could include, but are not limited to:

• Volunteering for geoscience-related outreach, education, and public engagement activities.
• Active participation or leadership roles in geoscience-focused groups, societies, or committees.
• Contributions to geoscience communication efforts, such as writing for community blogs, participating in science communication platforms, or organizing public science events.