This page contains information to help members of the EGU Programme Committee during the various stages of building the programme for the General Assembly.

1. Structure of the programme committee

The EGU Programme Committee (PC) has the following members:

  • EGU PC chair;
  • EGU President, EGU Vice-President, EGU General Secretary, EGU Treasurer, EGU Executive Secretary, Copernicus Managing Director, and Copernicus Meetings Conference Manager;
  • Programme group chairs;
  • PC Officers for Travel Support, Media and Communications, Early Career Scientists, and the Outstanding Student Poster and PICO Award.

Each programme group (PG) includes the following:

  • PG chair;
  • PG scientific officers;
  • PG conveners, authors, and participants.

The PG scientific officers and the PG chair for each PG are responsible for organizing the General Assembly programme for their PG.

2. Building the session programme

The EGU General Assembly session programme is organized into several programme groups and their respective sessions. The session programme is built in three steps following the timing in the deadlines & milestones table.

  • Call-for-skeleton programme: the PG chairs are asked to implement sub-programme groups in their respective PG to guide session submission. The sub-programme groups can be adjusted during the later phase of session programme finalization.
  • Public call-for-session proposals: the public is invited to suggest sessions. Information for future conveners and guidelines for the call-for-sessions can be found in the convener guidelines.
  • Session programme finalization: the PG chairs and their scientific officers are asked to compile their session programme from suggested sessions. They can solicit late sessions to fill possible thematic gaps in the programme.

2a. Skeleton programme

The call-for-skeleton programme tool is available via the Copernicus Office dashboard for PC members called "PC Overview", and the corresponding links will be provided by email. In this phase, PG chairs are asked to define sub-programme groups.

2b. Public call-for-sessions

Guidelines for session proposal can be found in the convener guidelines.

The session proposal form contains the following items:

  • Conveners: conveners are entered by first name, last name, and email and searched for their user account in the Copernicus Office to connect them with an appropriate user ID. We strongly encourage convener teams to reflect (i) multiple countries and institutes, (ii) different career stages, and especially include early career scientists, and (iii) gender diversity. Sessions need at least two active conveners (1 convener and 1 co-convener) and can have a maximum of 5 conveners (1 convener and 4 co-conveners). Our guideline is a maximum of 3 (co-)convenerships total per person, with one as lead convener. One additional (co-)convenership for US or GDB is allowed. Short Courses are exempted from the guideline on number of (co-)convenerships.
  • Keywords: conveners are asked to select keywords from the EGU list (download csv). This selection can be adjusted during session programme finalization. The keywords are used to identify potential session similarity and the main target is inter-programme group overlap. Keywords are not used to characterize sessions for online search tools.
  • Inter- and Transdisciplinar Sessions (ITS): sessions that are truly inter- and/or transdisciplinary can be suggested as an ITS programme. Please carefully check the guidelines.
  • PICO sessions: conveners can suggest their session as a PICO session.
  • Poster-only sessions: sessions that are poster-only are to be marked by adding "(poster-only)" to the session title (there is no flag in the session proposal form).
  • Cooperation between PGs: conveners can suggest other PGs for co-organization. The PG chair and officers need to follow up on these suggestions during session programme finalization.
  • Session co-sponsoring: conveners can suggest co-sponsoring of their session by colleague scientific organizations. The PG chair and officers need to follow up on these suggestions during session programme finalization.

2c. Session programme finalization

After the open call for session proposals, PG chairs and their scientific officers are asked to finalize their session programme. Please pay specific attention to the following points:

  • Finalization: after the finalization of this tool, further changes can only be implemented by Copernicus Meetings. The recommendation is not to finalize until the autumn PC meeting.
  • Ordering of sessions: all sessions in the programme (i.e. your own and co-organized sessions) can be moved to any position in your programme, including the positioning into sub-programme groups.
  • New sessions: the PG chair and officers can upload new session proposals to fill thematic gaps in the session programme that they can build from the public sessions.
  • Session implementation: implement each session by assigning the session a number. Please carefully check convener diversity, session co-organization, and session co-sponsoring (more below).
  • Conveners: as far as possible, please check that convener teams reflect (i) multiple countries and institutes, (ii) different career stages, and especially include early career scientists, and (iii) gender diversity. Sessions need at least two active conveners (1 convener and 1 co-convener) and can have maximum of 5 conveners (1 convener and 4 co-conveners). Our guideline is a maximum of 3 (co-)convenerships in total per person, with one as lead convener. One additional (co-)convenership for US or GDB is allowed. Short Courses are exempted from the guideline on the number of (co-)convenerships.
  • Keywords: keywords selected by conveners can be adjusted. The keywords are used to identify potential session similarity and the main target is inter-programme group overlap. Keywords are not used to characterize sessions for online search tools. Typing in the keyword box will bring up suggestions from the EGU keyword list (download csv).
  • Session similarity: if a significant number of keywords is similar for two or more sessions, these sessions are listed as potentially similar, with the option to contact the involved parties to agree on a merger. Please carefully check the section headlined session similarity to identify sessions with a potential overlap in topics. Session mergers are possible within and between programme groups. It is strongly encouraged to build sessions that are distinct and/or complementary.
  • PICO sessions: identify PICO sessions in the session implementation form. Please note that conveners can already have suggested their session as a PICO session. PICO sessions will be shown as PICO sessions during abstract submission, and abstracts submitted to these sessions are automatically classified with PICO (not oral or poster) preference.
  • Poster-only sessions : sessions that are poster-only are to be marked by adding "(poster-only)" to the session title.
  • Implementation of cooperation: if two or more PGs have a significant and active interest in the topics of a session, these PGs can co-organize this session. It is implied that conveners with a link to the different programme groups are involved in the session. Session co-organization is initiated in the session implementation form. The suggestions by conveners for co-organization are listed in the implementation form. The proposal for co-organization will be accepted or rejected by the other PG. In the case of acceptance, the session is organized by all cooperation partners and placed in their programmes. The leading PG will take primary responsibility for scheduling the session. In terms of abstract statistics, the session is connected to the leading programme group. Union Symposia and Great Debates cannot be co-organized.
  • Implementation of co-sponsoring by colleague organizations: the EGU encourages session endorsement by other colleague organizations as a means of strengthening ties and encouraging collaboration. Conveners can suggest co-sponsoring during session submission and these suggestions are shown in the session implementation form. The decision for session co-sponsoring lies with the PG chair. Please check the following: (i) session co-sponsoring is reciprocal, meaning that your PG will co-sponsor a similar session at a meeting of the colleague organization (the convener teams do not need to be identical), (ii) the session has conveners from both organizations, and (iii) the colleague organization agrees to session co-sponsoring. Session endorsement is intended for colleague scientific organizations and does not imply funding. An endorsing organization should furthermore not influence the work of the conveners or the content of the session.
  • Sessions by invitation only: if you have a session (e.g. Union Symposia) which accepts abstracts only by invitation, please inform Copernicus Meetings to provide a password for the abstract submission.
  • Make sure abstract submission is enabled for the session. Short Courses, Great Debates, and Townhall Meetings should disable abstract submission.

3. Public call for abstracts and PC support ranking

3a. Call for abstracts

The call for abstracts opens after the Autumn Programme Committee meeting and has a deadline close to or on 10 January. Please assist your conveners during the call for abstracts by for example advertising the entire session programme in your programme group.

Conveners can solicit one presentation for their session (oral, poster or PICO). To this purpose, each session can generate one transaction number (TAN) to provide to the author submitting the solicited presentation. Each programme group chair has in addition a limited number of extra TAN that they can assign to sessions to allow an additional solicited abstract. For example, sessions that can be expected to receive a large number of abstracts can make a case for an additional solicited (oral, poster or PICO) abstract.

3b. PC support ranking

Abstracts with support application have an early submission deadline. Support ranking consists of the following steps:

  • Convener rating: conveners rate support applications by the quality of the science and the quality of the abstract. They can also mark one abstract in their session as essential. Conveners are not allowed to rate or comment on support applications on which they are involved as co-author. These applications are either handled by other session conveners or directly by the PG chair.
  • Finalizing the convener tool support application assignment & rating: after the conveners' deadline has expired, you will be asked to finalize this tool for your PG sessions that are still open (i.e. conveners did not finish). Only handle the session(s) on which your PG has the lead. You can at this step also rate applications which conveners could not handle because they are co-authors on the abstract.
  • PG chair ranking: the PG chair provides a ranking of all ratings within the PG. In addition to the conveners' comments, you can also add your own comment to a support application. This ranking is passed to the support selection committee.

Support applications that did not receive a ranking by the respective PG chair within the given period cannot be considered by the support selection committee.

4. PCI – abstract implementation & session tagging

  • Convener tool SOI for abstract implementation: in session organization phase I, conveners review abstracts in their session. They can transfer abstracts to another session or upload late abstracts. They can also discuss session merges.
  • Session threshold: sessions with a small number of abstracts (5 or less) will be cancelled. Authors are informed and asked to indicate a new session for their abstract.
  • Convener tool SOII for session tagging: during session organization phase II, conveners give information on among others no-overlap and back-to-back requests, and estimated desired room size.
  • Finalize SOI and SOII if not finished by session conveners: after the conveners' deadlines for SOI and SOII have expired, you will be asked to finalize the SOI and SOII tools for your PG sessions that are still open (i.e. conveners did not finish). Detailed instructions are provided within the PCI tool.
  • Accept or reject late abstracts in your PG: during SOI, conveners can still upload late abstracts. This is meant as a service for authors that could not make the deadline. Late abstracts have an increased abstract processing charge. Abstracts sent by authors during PCI or at a later stage cannot be accepted. PG chairs will have to accept or reject the late abstracts uploaded by conveners.
  • Session similarity: if a significant number of keywords is similar for two or more sessions, these sessions are listed as potentially similar, with the option to contact the involved parties to agree on a merger. Please carefully check sessions that are flagged as similar. Session mergers are possible within and between programme groups. It is strongly encouraged to build sessions that are distinct and/or complementary.
  • Session mergers: sessions that received few submissions or sessions that are very similar in scope can be merged. Conveners can merge sessions in SOI. PG chairs can also merge sessions via the SOI tool as long as the tool is open. After informing the authors and giving them some time to request a transfer of their abstract to a different session, please follow this procedure:
    1. Discuss which session will form the basis for the new session.
    2. Update the title, abstract, and list of conveners of the base session.
    3. Mark all abstracts in the other session for movement into the new session.
    4. Accept all those abstracts in the new session. The result is that the base session for the merge now contains the abstracts of both sessions, while the other session contains no abstracts and can be withdrawn (i.e. removed).
    It is recommended that the convener list, session title, and description be adapted in the case of a session merger. This is to guarantee the best representation of the ideas, topics, and targeted communities. While session title and description can be adjusted by any convener or co-convener of the (new) base session through the session modification tool, the co-convener list can only be adjusted by the main convener of the (new) base session through the same tool. The rule for the number of conveners is valid also for merged sessions (sessions need at least two active conveners, 1 convener and 1 co-convener, and can have a maximum of 5 conveners, 1 convener and 4 co-conveners).
  • Rejected abstracts: in the PCI tool, you are asked to review the abstracts rejected by a convener for possible acceptance in one of your sessions. Please check carefully whether the abstract is a good fit.
  • Similar abstracts: please check those contributions in which an analysis found substantial similarities to other submissions. Double submissions should be withdrawn.
  • Abstract acceptance: as part of PCI, authors will be informed about the acceptance of their contribution by a letter of acceptance. This letter does not yet state the form of presentation.

5. PCII – scheduling

Within the PCII tool, you are asked to schedule the sessions of your PG by assigning your allocated rooms and time blocks and determining the maximum number of oral units per session (1.5 hours = 6 units). Conveners in SOIII will use the PCII results to implement their selection of oral, poster, and PICO presentations, the sequence of the presentations, and the lengths of different presentations.

5a. Scheduling tool

  • Please carefully read the guidelines for scheduling. A link will be provided with the scheduling information email.
  • Schedule the sessions on which your PG has the lead.
  • Schedule orals and PICOs only to your assigned rooms, PICO spots, and time blocks.
  • When scheduling, please pay attention to time conflicts (you will see a pop-up during scheduling) and to convener requests. SOII requests from conveners are available for download in the PCII tool.
  • Do not finalize PCII until the early-year PC meeting.

5b. Clusters

The allocation of rooms for orals and PICOs is to clusters. There are 6 singe-PG clusters (AS, BG, CL, HS, NH, SSS) and 6 clusters with 2 or 4 PGs each. Please negotiate rooms and PICO spots with your cluster colleagues before you place sessions in the system.

5c. Scheduling orals

  • Oral sessions are scheduled in slots of 15 minutes and blocks of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
  • Schedule oral sessions only in rooms and time blocks assigned to your cluster.
  • It is possible to trade time blocks and rooms within the PCII tool, but please make sure that all involved PGs agree.
  • Do not move Union Symposia or Great Debates as these events require web streaming.

5d. Scheduling PICO

  • PICO sessions are scheduled in blocks of 15 abstracts.
  • Schedule PICO sessions in PICO spots and time blocks that are assigned to your cluster. PICO spots can be traded.

5e. Scheduling posters

  • Please schedule your posters equally distributed over the week and equally over time blocks TB1 to TB4.
  • Poster locations will be assigned after PCII. Related PGs are kept close together. Posters are also kept close to the orals in a PG where possible.

5f. Award and solicited talks

Conveners will set the status of solicited talks and medal/award lectures in SOIII. Please communicate with them. Division medal lectures within an oral session should be scheduled 60 minutes. Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists lectures are 30 minutes. Division outstanding Early Career Scientist Award lectures can be 15 or 30 minutes.

5g. Division meetings

Your division meeting has been pre-scheduled, but you can reschedule. However, if you move your division meeting, please look closely at potential clashes with Union medal lectures and editorial board meetings that are relevant for your division. These are marked in the overview that can be downloaded from the PC-and-council meeting page. Division meetings are under Feedback and Administration Meetings (FAM).

6. PCIII – presentation selection

6a. Finalize SOIII if not finished by session conveners

After the conveners' deadline for presentation selection has expired, you will be asked to finalize the SOIII tool for your PG sessions that are still open. Please follow the guidelines for SOIII in the convener guidelines.

6b. Final check

Please make sure that the conveners have correctly scheduled your division medal lectures with 60 minutes and Arne Richter outstanding ECS award lectures with 30 minutes.

6c. Letter of schedule

After all PGs have finalized PCIII, Copernicus Meetings assigns poster areas and runs the meeting programme generator. Then, all abstracts receive their final scheduling and authors are informed about the details of their presentation by a letter of schedule.