Lucía Pérez-Díaz an illustrator and Earth Scientist from Spain and Ilias Tsagas a poet and energy policy journalist from Greece have been selected for a residency at the next EGU General Assembly. The Artist in Residence programme offers scientist-artists an opportunity to engage with scientific research in a dynamic setting and be inspired by the many new discoveries being presented at the conference, which will take place in Vienna, Austria from 14–19 April 2024.

Ilias Tsagas (@Ilias_Energia) is a poet, and an educator and journalist in energy policy, with a particular interest in environmental and eco-poetry. At the General Assembly he will be creating erasure poetry, also known as blackout poetry, from the text he encounters at the meeting. Erasure poetry is a form of poetry where the poet takes an existing text and erases, blacks outs, or otherwise obscures a large portion of that text, creating an entirely new work from what remains. “Part of my poetry work focuses on eco-poetry and the natural world, while I have a specific interest in scientific texts and climate meetings. EGU24 gives me the opportunity to generate writing that is on the frontline of science on the environment and I’m looking forward to hearing the debates at EGU and turn them into poetic form” he says. “Apart from the attendees’ PICOs, posters and presentations, I’m also interested in people’s ideas and feedback, so please feel free to talk to me. Or even better, please join my workshop at EGU24 about how to turn scientific writing into poetry!”

Lucía Pérez-Díaz (@DrLPerezDiaz) is a freelance illustrator and Earth scientist, whose experience ranges between science communication through illustration and storytelling, and working as a senior geodynamics specialist. At the General Assembly she will be creating a large-format digital illustration that will attempt to capture what EGU is all about, according to the participants of the meeting itself. “After several years participating at EGU with my scientist hat on, I am really excited to have been selected as one of the Artists in Residence this time around. For most of my career, I have used art as a vehicle to communicate my research to peers in a more engaging way, and also to open scientific discovery to non-specialists. I hope this residency will allow me to share some of what I have learnt with colleagues interested in illustrating their own research.” she told us. “During the meeting, I will be seeking the help of attendees to collate a word cloud containing keywords describing what EGU is all about to them…which I will then turn into a large-format illustration (an image speaks louder than a thousand words right?). I also intend to run a short course where, using some of the principles of stylised illustration, I will prove to anyone interested in joining that they can, in fact, draw.”

EGU General Assembly participants will be able to see images of the artwork produced by artists via social media (using the hashtag #EGUart), on the EGU GeoLog blog and live at the conference centre. Find out more about the last few years’ Artists in and (not) in Residence by visiting our Youtube playlist and EGU’s GeoLog blogs.

• EGU24 General Assembly website