EGU’s annual General Assembly brings together geoscientists from all over the world for a meeting that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences, not just for those attending on-site, but also for people attending virtually around the world. The new ‘Artists raising awareness of EDI in the Geosciences’ placement initiative provides a unique opportunity for artists to interact directly with a broad range of researchers on the theme of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in this exciting and dynamic setting, whilst engaging directly with EDI themes in a science environment. This opportunity to directly examine the intersection of EDI, science and art also benefits the research community by raising awareness of EDI issues, challenges and solutions in the geosciences in new and creative ways.

EGU are seeking applications from curious and open-minded creatives, either researchers who are also creatives, or artists with some experience engaging with science and EDI themes, to apply to spend the week with us in Vienna, Austria. We welcome applications from people who work in any kind of creative field (although the location does come with some practical limitations for those who work in audio formats, please contact us for more information). The placement will involve the production of new creative works generated during the week of the meeting and inspired by the EDI experiences and stories of researchers attending EGU24.

In addition to creating new artworks, the successful EDI Artist will be able to submit an abstract to present their work/research during the meeting, and are also encouraged to run a short course or pop-up event in the EGU EDI Booth on how their creative format can be used to communicate EDI in geoscience issues. Examples of past EDI Artists include the team from Did This Really Happen and Kelly Stanford.

Interested artists should submit an application by 15 December 2023. The application should include:

• a description of the type of work that will be produced during the meeting, how the art will build on themes that intersect EDI and science, raise awareness of EDI challenges/barriers, stimulate conversations of EDI experiences and empower under-represented members in the geosciences, and how the new work could be showcased to General Assembly participants (both on-site and virtually).
• details about potential costs related to the transportation of art materials to Vienna, potential costs of materials for a short course, and any technical and space requirements, as well as potential travel costs to EGU24, based on artist location.
• a one-page CV and short description detailing previous experience.

The results will be announced by early January, to give the successful artist the opportunity to submit an abstract to present at the conference if they wish to. The placement takes place at the EGU24 conference centre, the Austria Center Vienna, and lasts for the full week of the meeting. Please note that having thousands of scientists in the building produces reasonable noise levels and that creative works that either require a quiet environment or that generate a fair amount of noise itself may not work well. The successful applicant will be provided with a financial stipend to support material costs and travel expenses, as well as being provided with a free registration to EGU24. The total amount of the stipend will vary depending on the location of the artist, but in previous years has averaged to approximately 1200€.

All work produced will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence. The EGU reserves the right to use the art, or reproductions of the art (such as photographs), on the EGU blogs, social media and other communication channels, including the screens at the conference centre. Depending on the format of the works, EGU may also use them, non-commercially, on postcards, t-shirts and other merchandise. We will give appropriate credit to the artist and request that all art produced mentions the EGU.

If you have any question please email the EDI Committee before the deadline date of 15 December 2023.

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 with headquarters in Munich, Germany. The EGU publishes a number of diverse scientific journals that use an innovative open access format and organises topical meetings plus education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting more than 14,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources. The EGU General Assembly 2024 will run from 14 to 19 April 2024.

Image in header: Lucia Perez-Diaz and the Did This Really Happen team, 2023

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee
• EGU General Assembly 2024 website
• EGU blog, GeoLog