With financial support from the Wilo-Foundation, 21 students from Germany and France (a small group compared to the 18,831 international delegates of the conference) took part in the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU23) to do research and produce scientific journalistic content for the European research guidebook science-guide.eu. During the conference week in April 2023 a total of 16,937 lectures were held, 57% of them by junior scientists. The group was guided and coordinated by Professor Holger Wormer, Chair of Science Journalism at TU Dortmund University.

The focus of the students’ work was on writing articles, under real working conditions of journalists, on a variety of subjects from the fields of environmental science, geoscience and climate science. They explored a huge range of topics: from the question of how vulcanoes impact our climate, how to make academic trips environmentally friendly, or what options of water storage in periods of drought are available, up to measures to save the world’s peatlands or the risks that sunken military wrecks cause for the marine environment. After completing a practical module on science journalism, the students are currently participating in a training research project where they are evaluating the quality of their articles on the science-guide.eu project website by way of user surveys.

Another important component of the initiative was to foster the exchange between French and German students, especially through joint research projects and talks with science journalists of renowned media. The collaborative initiative is also aimed at deepening mutual understanding of the respective other European culture in science and journalism.

Background:

The Science Guide is part of the “Science in Europe” project at the Department for Science Journalism of TU Dortmund University. On the website www.science-guide.eu, which was launched in 2022, university students in journalism share their insights about unique research locations and projects in Europe, for instance the renowned Institut Pasteur in Paris where the HI virus was discovered, the continent’s longest underwater canyon which is located off the coast of Portugal, and the mega wind farm near the westernmost point of Denmark. The project receives funding from the Wilo-Foundation, which has been supporting the annual German-French seminars involving students from Dortmund, Strasburg and Dijon over the last ten years.