Tuesday, May 17, 2016


A report on the session on Geoethics at the EGU 2016
organized by the 
IAPG – International Association for Promoting Geoethics


IAPG has organized its fourth session on geoethics at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) – General Assembly 2016 in Vienna (on 18 April 2016), with the support of the GSL – Geological Society of London. 

The session (EOS5), entitled “Geoethics: theoretical and practical aspects from research integrity to relationships between geosciences and society”, was convened by Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General), Nic Bilham (GSL and IAPG Corresponding Citizen Scientist), Eduardo Marone (IAPG-Brazil Coordinator) and Marie Charriere (IAPG-Young Scientists Club Chair), and got a large participation of geoscientists, who gave 12 oral and 30 poster presentations. Authors came from 18 different countries in 5 continents (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA). 

The session was divided in two parts: “Geoethics: communication and application” and “Geoethics: institutional paradigms and conceptual challenges”. Interesting works and ideas were presented on many issues of Geoethics: theoretical and philosophical aspects, geoethics in natural hazards studies, geo-engineering paradigms, global initiatives on sustainability and geo-risks reduction, activities on ethics by geoscience organizations and research infrastructures, etc.).

Among the authors, Margaret Leinen (President of the AGU – American Geophysical Union), Stefano Tinti (President of the IAPG), Pat Leahy (Executive Director of the AGI – American Geosciences Institute), Werner Leo Kutsch (Director General of ICOS – Integrated Carbon Observation System), Nic Bilham (Director of Policy & Communications at the Geological Society of London), Joel Gill (Founder and Director of GfGD – Geology for Global Development), Vitor Correia (President of the EFG – European Federation of Geologists).

IAPG network contributed to the session with presentations by members of the Executive Board (Stefano Tinti, Silvia Peppoloni and Giuseppe Di Capua) and the Young Scientists Club (Marie Charriere and Francesco De Pascale), Corresponding Citizen Scientists (Martin Bohle and Nic Bilham), and coordinators of the following sections: Italy (Silvia Peppoloni), Iraq (Nawrass Ameen), Greece (Gerassimos Papadopoulos), Argentina (Elizabeth Rovere and Roberto Violante), Brazil (Eduardo Marone).

Among the authors there were the representatives of two great European Research Infrastructures (EPOS - European Plate Observing System and EMSO - European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory) and the responsible of an important European Project in Horizon2020 (ENVRI-Plus - Environmental Research Infrastructures).

Among the public, the past and current Executive Directors of the GSL – Geological Society of London (Edmund Nickless and Sarah Fray).

A large audience has crowded the meeting room for the entire duration of the session.

Slides of the orals and posters in pdf version have been uploaded on the IAPG website for free download at: http://www.geoethics.org/egu2016.html 

Below, some selected pictures from the IAPG session EOS5 on geoethics.

A complete photo gallery of the session EOS5 on geoethics is available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125283529@N05/albums/72157667550429246

Convenership of the session EOS5 on geoethics organized by the IAPG at the EGU 2016: from the left, Nic Bilham (Director of Policy & Communications at the Geological Society of London and IAPG Corresponding Citizen Scientist), Marie Charriere (IAPG-Young Scientists Club Chair), Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General), Eduardo Marone (Coordinator of IAPG-Brazil).

Silvia Peppoloni and Nic Bilham, while starting the session EOS5 on geoethics.

Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General), organizer and convener of the session EOS5 on geoethics at the EGU 2016.

A large audience in the room 2.83 attended the session EOS5 on geoethics at the EGU 2016.

Pat Leahy, AGI’s Executive Director, during his speech at the session EOS5 on geoethics.

Eduardo Marone, coordinator of IAPG-Brazil, while discussing on ethical dilemmas.

Participants at the session EOS5 on geoethics: from the left, Stefano Tinti (IAPG President), Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General), Margaret Leinen (President of the American Geophysical Union - AGU), Edmund Nickless (Past Executive Director of the Geological Society of London - GSL), Christine McEntee (Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the American Geophysical Union - AGU).

Poster session on geoethics at the EGU 2016: from the left, Nic Bilham (Director of Policy & Communications at the Geological Society of London and IAPG Corresponding Citizen Scientist), Ruth Allington (Chair of the International Union of Geological Sciences - IUGS - Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism), Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General), Vítor Correia (President of the European Federation of Geologists).