EGU is the european geosciences union, where 10,000 (yes, actually not a hyperbole) geoscientists roll up in Vienna each year to exchange knowledge and knock back free wine/beer. The whole thing includes disciplines as widely separated as atmospheric scientists, plasma physicists, sedimentologists seismologists and anything else in between, and all in all, it was pretty good fun.
This year was the first time I gave a talk. I was apprehensive beforehand, not really about the talking in front of people, more about the fact that I was worried there weren't going to *be* any people, as my session took place on a Friday afternoon. Thankfully, and a testament to the interesting things said in the first installment of our session earlier in the week, a big bunch of people turned up and my talk went over rather well
Outside my own talk, I enjoyed this year's conference a lot more than last year's. Somehow an extra year in the PhD business has allowed me to relax a little bit. I no longer have the idea that I am somehow failing if every microsecond of my day is not filled with interesting, high quality and relevant discussions about my project.
Exploring poster sessions outside my own discipline was great fun, and great scientific discussion practice. Perhaps the high point of my conference was attending a poster session on deformation of ice where I was able to help someone bridge the gap between the literature on the phenomena from their research area (materials science) and the work done on similar things in geology. It was a brilliant moment when the person replied to my email a few weeks later to say that what I had said had encouraged them to try some new and useful stuff!
Der Tom
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