Researcher, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech, Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes leaders representing various identities, voices, and perspectives. List any identities, voices, and perspectives you would bring, including but not limited to nationality, regional representations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and anything else you feel comfortable sharing.

As a white male from Western Europe I may not exactly be representing any minority group of the community. I will, however, make the effort to balance future elected positions, honors and the scientific program of our section of the AGU Fall Meeting with respect to underrepresented members of the community.

I believe we are all here for the science, and everyone should be given equal opportunity to present their work without discrimination or harassment because of nationality, religion, or personal identity. Scientific programs need to be representative of the entire community, and we should strive for evenly distributed roles, in as far it reflects the community and the scientific merits. The quality of the scientific program shall be the leading factor, but when weighing equally strong contributions, a preference should be given to underrepresented members of the community. Sometimes, international members may not have a sufficient command of English to make their points clear. I would support an AGU initiative to offer, for example, training sessions that focus on presentation skills for speakers who identify as having limited command of English. I welcome also initiatives from within the community.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

International Commission on Atmospheric Electricity (ICAE) 2026, Barcelona, Spain, Member, Local Organization Committee; AGU Fall Meeting 2023, Member, Atmospheric and Space Electricity Benjamin Franklin Lecture Committee; AGU Fall Meeting 2022, 2023, 2024, Convener, Thunderstorm Effects in the Near-Earth Space Environment; 44th, 45th, 46th Annual European Meetings on Atmospheric Studies by Optical Methods, Member, Scientific Programme Committee

As one of the elected leaders of your section, how will you partner with your president, president-elect, other leaders, and staff to communicate with and engage your members to achieve AGU’s vision, values, mission, and goals?

As a member of the team of the Atmospheric Space Electricity section, my task, besides creating a rich scientific program with the AGU session conveners is to ensure that every member of our community experiences equal opportunities to participate in the scientific and social programs. Embracing the diversity in nationality, experience level and personal identities of its members, we strive to improve the accessibility, fairness and equal comfort for everyone. We consult our community to inventorize points for improvement, and act in our capability to foster change. In recent years, our section has welcomed new initiatives by early career researchers and I look forward to working together to make this a success for the visibility and enthusiasm of our young members!

Our society faces the challenge of climate change and adaptation, and AGU wishes to contribute solution-driven research. Lightning and atmospheric electricity research has applications, for example in the protection of renewable energy infrastructures, in the early warning of the public for severe weather, forest fires, and even volcanic eruptions. Notably, lightning has been declared one of 55 Essential Climate Variables by the World Meteorological Organization. It holds great potential for monitoring the state and dynamical interactions of the climate system. Our section could place a spotlight on those contributions that are notable beyond our own discipline. I stand for the celebration of our diversity of topics, ranging from measurements to modeling, from the smallest to the largest scales, from particle chemistry to societal impacts.

Section affiliations:

Atmospheric and Space Electricity; Atmospheric Sciences; Natural Hazards