European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2025

Sijing Shen

Bangor University

I gave an oral presentation on ‘Agulhas Meanders vs. Subtropical Front: Influence on Retroflection Path Over 28 Years’ under ‘The South Atlantic: regional dynamics, inter-basin exchanges and global impacts’ session, at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2025. My talk went very well, and I received lots of constructive feedback for my future research. Moreover, session conveners kindly organised a picnic after the session, which provided a great opportunity to network with other scientists working in similar research areas.

In addition to giving an oral presentation, I also participated in lots of short courses, scientific sessions, Metal & Award lectures, and Great Debates. One highlight was the course “Draw Them In: Communicating Your Research Through Illustrations,” which taught useful techniques for designing and illustrating scientific concepts. That course also gave me encouragement that scientists can be good at both doing research and drawing. I also found the course “Invited to Interview? Prepare for Success with Job Applications and Interviews in Industry and Academia” particularly valuable—it offered practical and insightful advice for navigating job interviews Similarly, the sessions “Meet the Editors (1 & 2): How to Write, Revise, and Publish Your Manuscript” and “Publish or Perish in the Open Access Era: How to Prioritize Scientific Quality Over Commercial Interests” opened the door of publishment to me, guiding me to build a better understanding for communicating my research. These sessions, led by experienced professionals such as journal editors and interview panel heads, were of especially high quality.


Throughout the conference, I also attended scientific sessions and lectures based on my research interests, trying to find out some interplanetary topics. What attracted me was the topic on turbulence influences the sediment transport.           

I also took some time to enjoy the city of Vienna. One of the highlights was visiting the Natural History Museum, where I experienced a fun interactive exhibit that generated an image of what I might have looked like as an early human. It was both entertaining and fascinating.


Overall, my participation in EGU 2025 was highly enriching, offering academic engagement, professional development, and cultural exploration.   

Profile:
I am a PhD researcher at School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, under the supervision of Yueng-Djern Lenn. My PhD project is directly tied to the international QUICCHE (QUantifying Interocean fluxes in the Cape Cauldron Hotspot of Eddy kinetic energy) project, focusing on the long-term impact of the Agulhas system on the Agulhas leakage and its further influences on the turbulent mixing in the Cape Basin.