Open Call to Early-Career Geoscientists Attending EGU 2026

Today's youth are very aware of climate change, natural hazards, and other global environmental challenges, and many want to do something about it. Mission Earth, a new education initiative through the EGU Special Activity Fund, connects students' innate curiosity about the environment around them to real-world action by giving them the skills to share their geoscience stories.

Throughout summer and fall 2026, Mission Earth will leverage virtual classroom visits for building storytelling skills, and fun and interactive science shows to see science communication in action to prepare students for the EGU Student Mission Earth Challenge. During the challenge, students will produce short videos about a project they are already working on to address a local geoscience challenge (e.g., measuring rainfall to track flooding or drought conditions, growing a community garden to explore food security, community events to discuss how to build resilience to climatic changes).

We're looking for early-career geoscientists to join the Mission Earth initiative. As a Mission Earth Ambassador, you will:

• Gain storytelling skills;
• Facilitate virtual or in-person school visits to classrooms nearby where you live to talk about your geoscience career path and attend a science show by science educator and entertainer Jo Hecker; and
• Help students develop, film, and edit their video stories for the EGU Student Mission Earth Challenge.

The best short films will be recognized with a small book award to the winning schools and shown at GeoCinema during the EGU General Assembly in spring 2027.

Interested in learning more about becoming an Ambassador? Come to one of the two informational storytelling workshops we are hosting at EGU 2026 on Thursday, 7 May 8:30 - 10:15 and 10:45 - 12:30 CEST. To register, sign up by March 31st, 2026 at [link]. Each workshop is capped at 25 participants.

For questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Workshop Facilitators

Joachim Hecker is an electrical engineer by training who now is a freelance science entertainer, having worked in science education for nearly 20 years. He is an author of popular science books for children and hosts kid’s TV shows.

Daniel Zietlow is an informal Earth science educator and filmmaker, with a research background in solid Earth geophysics.  His award-nominated work has been broadcast on PBS and NOVA, as well as various film festivals.

Barbara Ervens is a researcher with the Institute of Chemistry at Université Clermont Auvergne where her current work focuses on biological processes in clouds.  Barbara is also the chair of the EGU Publications Committee.

Rebecca Haacker is a geographer and cultural anthropologist, with experience running nature reserves in Latin America, and a career in science management, mentoring, and promoting interdisciplinary research in the geosciences.