Each year at the General Assembly, the EGU organizes a limited number of Union Symposia (US) and Great Debates (GDB). These union-wide events are intended to be cutting-edge, focusing on current topics, and of interest to a broad range of the Earth, Environmental, Planetary and Space sciences. They can bring forward unresolved and highly debated research topics with an important broad scientific impact.

US and GDB can focus on research and innovation topics as well as on outstanding issues that matter for research, such as education, outreach, promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion, interfacing science with society, practitioners and policy makers.

US and GDB sessions are open to registered participants (on-site and online) of the EGU General Assembly.

Organizing US and GDB sessions

Union Symposia (US):

  1. US sessions aim to bring the scientific community together to share and discuss ideas with experts on a given, novel, specific subject at the forefront of research covered by the EGU, or on issues that matter for research and are of interest for the communities (see above).
  2. A US session consists of one time block of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
  3. Typically, a US panel has 3 to 5 members (solicited speakers) in addition to the moderator. It is up to the conveners to decide on the speakers and exact timing of the session.
  4. Solicited speakers do not submit an abstract.
  5. Financial support to solicited speakers for travel/accommodation and/or registration can be requested by the session conveners (see conditions below).
  6. Further guidelines below also apply to US sessions when submitting a proposal.

Great Debates (GDB)

  1. GDB sessions aim at providing space for debate and discussion by a panel and the audience on a given, specific subject at the forefront of research covered by the EGU or on issues that matter for research and are of interest for the EGU community (see above). A specific debatable or a contentious question/issue should be identified, and solicited panellists and the audience should be able to exchange contradictory viewpoints over it.
  2. A GDB session consists of one time block of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
  3. Typically, a GDB panel has 3 to 5 members (solicited speakers) in addition to the moderator. Moderators should be willing/able to hold an actual debate. Additional support and/or guidance can be provided to moderators not used to managing a debate, by request to the EGU office. It is up to the conveners to decide on the speakers and exact timing of the session.
  4. Solicited speakers do not submit an abstract.
  5. Financial support to solicited speakers for travel/accommodation and/or registration can be requested by the session conveners (see conditions below).
  6. Further guidelines below also apply to GDB sessions when submitting a proposal.

US and GDB sessions are live-streamed and recorded for on-demand viewing by registered conference attendants during the conference viewing material period (i.e., during and in the weeks following the General Assembly). They will also be archived online after the General Assembly for general viewing, subject to agreement from all speakers/panellists and the convener team.

If more than one US or GDB are proposed on the same area or topic (as decided by the Programme Committee Co-chairs), the organizers will be put in contact with each other and will need to negotiate their subject boundaries, possibly adjusting their title and description to be more specific within their theme. Then, links to the other event/s will be provided in the session descriptions, to encourage cross-disciplinarity.

Submitting a proposal for a US or GDB session

  1. Read carefully the general convener guidelines and rules.
  2. The EGU strongly encourages diversity in career stage, gender, geographical origin, and scientific approaches for US and GDB speakers/panellists and for the convener teams.
  3. One can submit a maximum of 1 US and 1 GDB as lead convener. (Co-)convenership for US and GDB counts as an additional one in the EGU general rule of a maximum of 3 (co-)convenerships in total within the entire General Assembly programme, with one as lead convener.
  4. Conveners should have their sessions ready to be included in the final programme (description, list of speakers/panellists, titles of talks, timing of the session, etc.) by the end of February. Any further session modification can be done following the general guidelines for conveners.

Moreover, proposals of US and GBD need to include the following additional information in the proposal form (this information is not public):

  1. A justification of the union-wide character of the proposed session, indicating which EGU Programme Group(s) is/are more closely related to the proposed topic.
  2. A contact person in the Programme Committee or EGU Council (already contacted or to be contacted).
  3. A preliminary list of speakers/panellists, where it can be indicated if any have already been contacted and/or agreed in principle to participate in the session in case it is accepted.
  4. Any potential financial support requested for speakers and the estimated amount (see below).

By submitting a proposal, conveners agree to abide by the EGU code of conduct.

Financial support for US and GDB sessions

  1. US and GDB speakers, panellists, conveners, and moderators do not automatically receive discounted registration fees or travel reimbursement.
  2. However, limited financial support can be requested by the lead convener in specific cases and with justification.
  3. The EGU will consider financial support requests for up to 3 speakers per US or GDB session. This support is generally intended for speakers who are not geoscientists, who would otherwise not attend the EGU General Assembly, and/or who do not have funds to cover their expenses.
  4. Requests can include support for registration fees, up to 2 nights of accommodation (up to €150 per night), and/or travel (up to €400).
  5. Financial support requests are subject to approval by the EGU Treasurer and the EGU Executive secretary, under recommendation of the Programme Committee.
  6. Conveners must identify the speakers/panellists to receive financial support as well as the conditions of said support via a designated form, to be circulated by the EGU office. Conveners are responsible to maintain the financial support budget, as established upon session acceptance.