A quarter of a century: The EMS@25

2nd EMS Council, 3 March 200, Vienna; left to right: Tage Andersson (Sweden), Miroslav Ondras (Slovakia), Tanja Cegnar (Slovenia), Fritz Neuwirth (Austria, Vice President), Rene Morin (President, sitting), Werner Wehry (Germany), Jon Wieringa (Netherlands, Vice President) and Stanley Cornfold (UK, Vice President and Treasurer).
2nd EMS Council, March 2000 in Vienna

The European Meteorological Society (EMS) was formally established on 14 September 1999 in Norrköping, Sweden, during the European Conference on Applications of Meteorology. The initial driver was to connect all the meteorological societies that existed at the time in various countries in Europe, to learn from each other and address issues that require a pan-national approach. One such goal was to connect all stakeholders of meteorology on a European level. Today, the network consists of 38 Member Societies and 30 Associate Members.

The EMS flagship: EMS Annual Meetings

Graphic - EMS - Annual Meeting 2021 squareThus, the first objective of the young organisation was to establish an EMS conference in the area of meteorology, climatology and related disciplines and with the aim to bring the entire community together: researchers, people working in operational area and service providers. The programme of the Annual Meetings has always tried to incorporate opportunities for all sectors and stakeholder; it has evolved over the years, and with the new framework of Programme Streams – developed and first implemented in 2017 –  a coherent structure that should facilitate interactions and convergence of science branches, applications, and actors as the core objective of the EMS Annual Meetings was set up.
This year’s Annual Meeting marks a milestone, as for the first time we expect more than 1000 participants at EMS2024 in Barcelona.

Recognizing achievements and supporting early career scientists

Also, an EMS Awards Programme was set up as one of the first initiatives, that already at the time covered many different aspects, such as supporting young scientists, or honouring outstanding achievements in the area of communicating meteorological knowledge and the challenges of climate change to the public. In 2008, the EMS Silver Medal was established to highlight personalities who have made crucial contributions to the development of meteorology in Europe.

 

The past year has been a very exciting one for EMS, with new initiatives developing, and we look forward to celebrate this in Barcelona. Join us for the opening icebreaker and celebrate with us the 25th anniversary on Sunday 1 September 2024. A number of activities over of the next couple of months will provide more opportunities to celebrate, to look back and plan for the future.

25 years EMS – the past, the present, the future: a panel discussion

At the EMS2024 opening session we will use the opportunity to look back at what the EMS has achieved, what role it plays today within the European meteorological community and where its future lies. We have invited personalities who have been involved in the development of the EMS and its flagship, the Annual Meeting, over the last quarter of a century, and also young scientists whose perspective on the organisation will be crucial to define the roadmap for the future. All panellists have been given two questions in the preparation and will be invited for an initial 2-minute statement. The panel will be chaired and moderated by Liz Bentley, the President of the EMS.
Former Presidents of the EMS have also been invited to attend this milestone of the organisation they helped to shape.

Launch of the Journal of the EMS – 25 year anniversary special issue

This anniversary year also finally sees the launch of an EMS Journal. Such a project has been discussed essentially since the foundation of the EMS, various market studies were carried out, many options were considered and discarded over time, and the point came up again when the EMS was developing and discussing a new strategic plan in 2019 and 2020. As always, for a project to eventually be successful it needs people who are committed and take the project forward, and these people were Johannes Schmetz and Bert Holtslag. And here we are: JEMS! .
The two Editors-in- Chief – Johannes and Gert-Jan Steeneveld – and the Project Manager at Elsevier B.V. Sandra Broerse will be available for two Meet-the- Editors sessions in Barcelona on Tuesday (3 September) afternoon. The first special issue of JEMS will highlight the development of meteorology over the last 25 years.

Webinar event on 25-year anniversary

Announcement EMS Webinar on Starry night; picture: Vincent van Gogh , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg"Another new initiative in 2024 was the launch of the EMS Webinar in spring, with a series of five very interesting topics and speakers. The Webinar group already plans for future topics and one of these will be on EMS@25 with people who helped shape the EMS. Stay tuned.

 


Would you like to learn more about the history of EMS?

A detailed account of the developments leading to the foundation of the EMS is given in two papers by René Morin and the late Jon Wieringa in the RMetS Journal Weather, 2018:


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