The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalists Jane Qiu and Jane Palmer as the winners of its 2017 Science Journalism Fellowship. Qiu will receive €3,000 to report on glaciers and fjord ecosystems in Svalbard, while Palmer is awarded €2,000 travel to Peru to find out more about the threat posed by slow-moving landslides.

Qiu, one of the winners of the first edition of the EGU Science Journalism Fellowship five years ago, says: “I’m thrilled to have the fantastic opportunity to investigate a peculiar glacier behaviour in Svalbard, Norway, that has societal implications for high-mountain regions globally. I’ll also look into what is likely to happen to a unique fjord ecosystem once the fast-retreating glaciers terminate on land.”

Palmer, a first-time winner of the Fellowship, says: “It’s an honour to be selected for this fellowship, which I will use to travel to the Colca valley of southern Peru where a slow-moving landslide threatens a village, pre-Inca terraces and tourism. I am looking forward to reporting on this research, which will help scientists identify and prepare for slow moving landslides in other regions of Peru, and the world.”

Jane Qiu is an independent science writer in Beijing. She has written wide-ranging geoscience topics for publications such as Nature, Science, Scientific American, and The Economist – providing a much-needed perspective on science in Asia. A recipient of many fellowships and travel grants, Qiu has gained an in-depth understanding of the Earth system by tagging along with field scientists in far-flung corners of the world. In 2016, she received an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, an Asian Environmental Journalism Award, and a Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting travel grant.

Jane Palmer is a print and radio journalist based in the Colorado who covers science, the environment and health. She has written extensively about the geosciences for many outlets including BBC Earth, New Scientist, Smithsonian and Science and is a regular host of Colorado’s KGNU’s How On Earth radio show. She has been awarded two travel fellowships by the National Association of Science Writers and a Logan Science Journalism Fellowship from the Marine Biology Laboratories.

The EGU Science Journalism Fellowship is an annual competition open to professional journalists wishing to report on ongoing research in the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The winning proposals receive up to €5K to cover expenses related to their projects. This support is intended to allow the fellows to follow geoscientists on location and to develop an in-depth understanding of their questions, approaches, findings and motivation.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It is a non-profit interdisciplinary learned association of scientists founded in 2002. The EGU has a current portfolio of 17 diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organises a number of topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 12,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, such as climate, space missions, natural disasters, Arctic sea-ice decline, citizen science or seafloor exploration, and feature new and timely research. The EGU 2017 General Assembly is taking place in Vienna, Austria, from 23 to 28 April 2017. For information about meeting and press registration, please check http://media.egu.eu, or follow the EGU on Twitter and Facebook.

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• More information about the EGU Science Journalism Fellowship, including past winners