2018 Goldschmidt conference, Boston
A small representation of the ECR-Net was present at the August 2018 Goldschmidt conference in Boston (MA, USA). Because of the varied academic disciplines represented at Goldschmidt, and the limited time and funding available, no specific ECR-Net event was held. However, informational materials (signs and brochures) advertising the ECR-Net were placed at the Harvard Mineraological & Geological Museum Mixer event, held on the evening of Tuesday 14 August. James Muller organized this, and he was present at the mixer to answer any questions about the Network. As an indicator of the success of these efforts, all of the 180 small flyers available were taken by interested parties, including one early career faculty, and multiple post-docs, grad students, and undergraduates, the latter of which were weighing options for future graduate training.
Cities on Volcanoes 10, Napoli
This was the conference where the ECR-Net was the most active this year (see detailed report in Appendix 1). We organized a workshop focused on the roles and needs of scientists and stakeholders during crises, which gathered 37 ECR participants and six expert guest speakers. This workshop was free. The traditional ECR-Net social event was organized as a pizza party and gathered more than 150 ECR participants. A total of 720€ was spent from the IAVCEI budget for ECR-Net activities. Through the conference we were selling ECR-Net T-shirts from which 500€ from the profit was used for the pizza party. Members of the WG met at several occasion and new connections were made with potential new candidates to join the WG from Asia (Japan, China, India), Africa (DR Congo) and the Caribbean. The activities were very successful and in general, we received lots of interest in the ECR-Net initiative from both ECRs and advanced scientists. Conference participants as well engaged with the social media accounts, especially Twitter, during the conference to discuss e.g. abandoning disposable cups.
2018 AGU
Sam P. presented our experience with founding the ECR-Net in a pop-up oral session on “Connecting the scientific community” (Appendix 2). No specific ECR-Net event was organized at AGU, because that association already has an active ECR program at their meetings in general, and the VGP section ECR representative did not attend the conference, which limited interaction. Sam P. attended the evening ECR student & scientist mixer on Monday evening ($5 entry fee). That event was poorly attended (maximum 40 participants), in a formal hotel diner room. Drinks were not free and expensive at first, but were later covered by the VGP Section leadership, which significantly improved the atmosphere. The attending WG members distributed ECR-Net stickers to publicize the network. Sticker distribution continued through the week. Eight ECR-Net T-shirts (see IV.5, below) were sold throughout the week. Remaining shirts were transferred to James M. for safekeeping until the IUGG 2019 meeting in Montreal.
Logo contest for ECR-Net
From June to August, we organized a logo contest via social media, which resulted in the election of the logo for the ECR-Net (see appendix 3). This contest involved 15 logos from 14 participants. The winner was Danielle Charlton (PhD, UK), who was awarded with a free T-shirt during the CoV10 conference.
This logo was then used for printing stickers and T-shirts. With the help of the IAVCEI budget for ECR-Net activities, 800 euros were used to buy 100 T-shirts with our new logo. Sales of T-shirts at conferences (~70 have been sold at CoV and AGU, already) are intended to increase visibility of the ECR-Net, and to offset future costs of networking events (e.g., socials).
