International Early Career Networks (ECN) are global voluntary communities of Early Career Scientists (ECS) aiming to advance the careers of ECS and to improve their inclusion into the international scientific community. We use member surveys alongside with case studies from well-established and long-term networks to elucidate the attributes that make a successful, sustainable ECN, and propose best practices for developing ECN successfully.

The "Did this really happen?!" project aims at publishing real-life, everyday sexism in the form of comic strips. Its major goal is to raise awareness about unconscious biases that transpire in everyday interactions in academia and increase the visibility of sexist situations that arise within the scientific community, especially to those who might not notice it. In this publication, we present the project and the different recurring sexist behaviours identified in the collected stories.

Researcher diversity promotes research excellence. Autism is a disability that is under-represented within higher education, despite many autistic individuals having attributes that are conducive to research excellence. Focusing on geosciences, we evaluate why academia can be inaccessible, and propose simple strategies that can reduce and remove barriers to academic success. Minor changes can make significant differences to the inclusion of disabled researchers, particularly those with autism.

We identify a problem with professional society honours and awards programs: that they typically do not represent the full demographics of the society's membership. This problem must be addressed intentionally; it will not fix itself, even as more people from historically under-represented groups increase among the membership. We offer actions to address and ameliorate this problem based on our collective experience with the American Geophysical Union Honors and Recognition program.

This study sought to understand how geoscience departments are supporting students with disabilities in field-based learning experiences. Eleven accessible and inclusive teaching practices were identified and evaluated based on qualitative survey responses from over 160 geoscience departments in the United States. The outcomes of this study offer practical suggestions for providing accessible and inclusive field experiences for students with disabilities.

The paper reflects on the results of a survey carried out within the COST TN1301 Sci-Generation network among the holders of ERC starting grants originating from countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It is discussed how the the statistics of ERC starting grants is a mirror of host countries' and host institutions' ability to attract and keep the most talented young researchers.

Scientific meetings and workshops are critical for career development, but attending these events can involve expensive travel. A survey of early career researchers found that cost prevented most respondents from attending important events and they frequently have needed to use personal funds. Replacing travel reimbursements with advances helps the financial burden. Addressing disparities in travel support will promote diversity in the next generation of polar scientists.

The paper presents descriptive statistics of gender participation in ERC calls in the geosciences. The share of women applying for Starting Grants is on average around 30 %; for Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants the share is around 25 % and 11 % respectively. Success rate analysis shows no significant gender disparities. The paper provides an overview of the ERC peer-review system, discusses results specific to the geosciences, and concludes with a review of past actions and future goals.

In marine research in Kiel (Germany), women are underrepresented in leading research positions. In our case study, we discuss innovative activities to improve gender equality in two large externally funded marine sciences research alliances: the Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean and the Collaborative Research Centre 754 Climate–Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean. We show that progress towards gender equality was initiated by these time-bound third-party-funded projects.

A similar proportion of women and men that submit applications to for example the European Research Council are successful in receiving funding. However, in this article we show that in all countries women are applying to a lower extent than their proportion of the workforce of researchers in the higher education sector would suggest, and men are therefore allocated disproportionally more research funds. We speculate on potential causes and hope to stimulate future investigations on this topic.

The geosciences are one of the least diverse disciplines in the United States, despite the field's relevance to people's livelihoods and economies. Bias, discrimination and harassment present serious hurdles to diversifying the field. We summarize research on the factors that contribute to the persistence of hostile climates in the geosciences and other scientific disciplines and provide recommendations for cultural change through the role of mentoring networks and professional associations.

Between 1800 and 1929, female earth scientists existed in significant numbers: 210 are presented here, including newly discovered hydrogeologist Norah Dowell Stearns. Gender discrimination made access to university difficult and access to scientific careers even harder. They found several ways to overcome these difficulties thanks to the support of their parents or to the more ambiguous support of husbands or academic male mentors, through staying single, and through teamwork with other women.

This work provides updated scenario on the underrepresentation of women in the Italian university system in the area of geosciences in the last two decades. Data highlight an increase in the number of female full and associate professors whereas the low number of female non-permanent researchers raises strong concerns. Over different areas of geosciences, Paleontology represents the only field in which the gap is filled whereas all the other disciplines suffer a gender imbalance.

As a way of measuring success in planetary science, we analyzed the participation of female scientists in ESA Solar System missions: we counted the original science team members of 10 missions over a period of 38 years and determined the percentage of women within each team. Although the number of female scientists in the field has been constantly increasing in Europe, we found that gender gaps that existed 38 years ago have persisted into the present.

Field courses can present significant challenges for students with disabilities. To better understand how to overcome these challenges we ran an accessible and inclusive residential field course for a diverse group of students. The most effective mitigations were the simplest and benefited the whole group: good communication of detailed information reduced anxiety, and alternative exercises for those unable to visit outcrops were designed to contribute unique data to a group enhanced inclusion.

A slow improvement in gender equality has occurred in Japan during the last 45 years. Only 16.7 % of academic staff in national universities were women in 2018. The percentage of female staff remains particularly low in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), accounting for 12.3 % in agriculture, 8.7 % in science, and 6.2 % in engineering. Japanese statistical data in academic and geoscience fields are described, with a discussion of possible causes such as unconscious bias.

We interviewed 12 female students to examine their experiences in geosciences at the male-dominated Universidad de Chile. The experience moved from negative to positive in the transition from the early years of college, during which they experienced gender-based discrimination, to the geoscience major within which the presence of more women improved the environment. We discuss some strategies to increase the satisfaction of female students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).