Diversity and inclusion high on the agenda for Helen Glaves as she begins her term as President of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)

Helen Glaves, Senior Data Scientist at the British Geological Survey (BGS) will begin her term as President of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) as from today, at the EGU General Assembly 2021 taking place online from 19th to 30th April. 

The EGU is the leading organisation for Earth, planetary and space science research in Europe and the event brings together geoscientists from all over the world to present research and discuss ideas in their fields of expertise.

Having been officially invested during the EGU Plenary Meeting in May last year, Helen will serve as EGU President until April 2023. She previously served as EGU Vice-President for 12 months.

Helen, who is based at the BGS headquarters, Keyworth, Nottingham, began her career at the BGS more than 30 years ago as a geoscientist with a focus on coastal geomorphology.

Over the years her role has transitioned and she is now focused on geoinformatics with a particular emphasis on data infrastructures to support open science.

Helen is editor of the open access Earth and Space Science (ESS) journal published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and was awarded the EGU Ian McHarg Medal in 2016 for her contribution to marine informatics.

The following year she was elected EGU Division President for the Earth and Space Science Informatics.

A role model and advocate for diversity in geoscience, key issues she hopes to address as EGU President include improving diversity, equality and inclusivity with European geosciences for scientists at all stages of their career.

Having the opportunity to lead EGU is a real honour and will provide me with the opportunity to promote equality, diversity and inclusivity throughout the geoscience community.

Inclusion and diversity has been brought into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic through the Black Lives Matter movement.

There is also a greater recognition that many parents now equally share caring responsibilities for dependents. This should be more widely accepted and reflected in the mechanisms and systems that are in place to support women and men who have caring responsibilities, which should never be a barrier to achieving the very highest in their academic careers.

I also hope to advocate for better integration of the different geoscience disciplines to support multidisciplinary research.

Helen Glaves, British Geological Survey Senior Data Scientist

Meanwhile, Helen will continue to lead the BGS’ contributions to two Horizons 2020 projects focused on sharing and re-use of environmental data. She will also remain part of the leadership team for the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) as Strategic Director for the Integrated Core Services.

On an international level, Helen will remain actively involved in the field of open data policy and data sharing through a number of roles including as a member of the GEO Data Working Group, and member of the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) for the Research Data Alliance, which promotes data sharing and re-use.

Read more about Helen’s role as President of the EGU.