Outreach

I am an enthusiastic science communicator particularly skilled at writing and presenting. I have written extensively on topics in geodynamics and seismology on the European Geosciences Blogs and I maintain my own YouTube channel on life as a researcher in the Earth and planetary sciences. I have also given several lectures for secondary school students and I have a few media appearances under my belt. Because of my experience as a science communicator and my expertise in geophysics, I am currently an informal consultant for the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) on geophysics outreach and science communication.

Educational games


I am currently developing QUARTETnary - the card game about the geological time scale in collaboration with Lucía Pérez-Díaz (illustrations & graphic design) and Ronnie Peskens (business & marketing). I am responsible for the game design and scientific content. To help with the development of the game, we received a public engagement grant from EGU in 2021. Through playing QUARTETnary, players will gain an intuition on when major events in the geological time scale occurred.

YouTube


I maintain my own YouTube channel where I post sketches and vlogs on life as a researcher in the Earth and planetary sciences. Since its conception in 2021, it has a steadily growing audience of over 300 subscribers and has over 22,000 views spread over 63 videos. My YouTube channel is also the place where I host the series Science Sisters, where I interview a set of diverse guests to explore different career paths and address current issues in academia. Due to its connection with Venus science, the Science Sisters series is now also supported by ESA's EnVision mission as part of their outreach programme.

Popular science writing


I founded the EGU Geodynamics Blog in 2017 and have been its Editor-in-Chief from then on. In my capacity as Editor-in-Chief, I lead a team of over 10 editors, columnists, and illustrators including PhD students, postdocs, and senior scientists. Under my direction, we upload blog posts aimed at the general public and fellow Earth scientists alike twice a week. I also write blog posts and editorials myself and invite and edit posts for guest authors. Over the years, this has accumulated to over 70 published posts as the main author or editor. We average over 3500 monthly views and publish more than 100 blog posts per year. I have also occasionally guest written for other EGU Blogs, including the Seismology and Natural Hazards division blogs.

Author - EGU Blogs

2022 Catching up with Iris van Zelst on everything outreach, science communication,
and vlogging
EGU Geodynamics Blog
2022 The toxic and wondrous world of academia with Science Sisters EGU Geodynamics Blog
2022 Geoscience communication series: the perfect vlogging recipe EGU Natural Hazards Blog
2021 Getting to the core of The Core EGU Geodynamics Blog
2020 How to fall in love? EGU Geodynamics Blog
2020 Top 5 geodynamic movies to watch during lockdown EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 Presentation skills – 2. Speech EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 Presentation skills – 1. Voice EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 CIDER summer school EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 EGU GD whirlwind Wednesday: Geodynamics 101 & other events EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 EGU GD informal lunch EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 Live reporting from EGU GA 2018 EGU Geodynamics Blog
2018 Convection in eggs EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 The fluid dynamics of wine EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 Planting seeds of deformation in numerical models EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 Why there should (not) be more women in geodynamics EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 NetherMod day 4 & 5 – Secret summary EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 NetherMod day 3 – Secret summary EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 NetherMod day 2 – Secret summary EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 Karaoke, geodynamics, and a bit of history EGU Geodynamics Blog
2017 Earthquakes felt by Eyeore EGU Seismology Blog

Editor - EGU Geodynamics blog

2022 Happy blog birthday! Editorial
2022 Introducing the new blog team! Editorial
2022 Join the EGU GD Blog Team! Editorial
2021 Happy blog birthday! Editorial
2021 Introducing the new blog team! Editorial
2021 Join the EGU GD blog team! Editorial
2021 Announcing: The PhD Chronicles Editorial
2020 Bring on 2021! Editorial
2020 A love letter to science fiction Maeve Murphy Quinlan
2020 Baking geological cakes! Ruth Amey
2020 Happy blog birthday! Editorial
2020 Introducing the new blog team! Editorial
2020 Join the EGU GD blog team! Editorial
2020 Geodynamics – What does it really mean? Colin Hardy
2020 Introducing the social media team! Editorial
2020 Should we still study LLSVPs? Jamie Ward
2020 New Year’s resolutions Editorial
2019 We wish you a merry Christmas! Editorial
2019 Dancing on a volcano – the unspoken scientific endeavour Dan Bower
2019 EGU GA 2020 call-for-sessions deadline Editorial
2019 Happy blog birthday! Editorial
2019 Introducing the blog team! Editorial
2019 A belated happy new year! Editorial
2018 Get conference ready! Editorial
2018 An industrial placement as a geodynamicist Nico Schliffke
2018 Inversion 101 to 201 – Part 3: Accounting for uncertainty – Bayes and friends Lars Gebraad
2018 Inversion 101 to 201 – Part 2: The inverse problem and deterministic inversion Lars Gebraad
2018 Inversion 101 to 201 – Part 1: The forward problem Lars Gebraad
2018 Holiday recommendations – blog break summer 2018 Editorial
2018 The rock whisperers... Manar Alsaif
2018 50 years of plate tectonics: then, now, and beyond Marie Bocher
2018 Let’s talk about disability in geosciences Katy Willis
2018 Happy blog birthday! Editorial
2018 The art of the 15-minute talk Matthew Herman
2018 EGU 2018: Experience of a first time attendee Jyotirmoy Paul
2018 New faces for 2018 – 2019 Editorial
2018 Help us fight patriarchy, one comic strip at a time! Marie Bocher &
Alice Adenis
2018 Subduction through the mantle transition zone: sink or stall? Saskia Goes
2018 Work-life balance: insights from geodynamicists Jessica Munch
2018 Happy new year! Editorial
2017 Conferences – so near and yet so far Suzanne Atkins
2017 Alaska: a gold rush of along strike variations Kirstie Haynie
2017 The quest of a numerical modelling hero Cedric Thieulot
2017 The jelly sandwich lithosphere: elastic bread, the jelly, and gummy bears Vojtěch Patočka
2017 Poster presentation tips Charitra Jain
2017 The Venus enigma: new insights into ‘Earth 2’ Richard Ghail
2017 NetherMod Day 4 – A typical day Ági Király
2017 NetherMod day 3 – Karaoke fun! Manar Alsaif
2017 The world’s largest magnet Maurits Metman
2017 Don’t be a hero – unless you have to Cedric Thieulot
2017 Too early seen unknown, and known too late Editorial
2017 Our geodynamission Editorial

Lectures & events


2015 Volunteer at Scientifica Swiss Seismological Survey, Zürich, Switzerland
2015 Lecture 'Seismische tomografie' (NL) Beta Plus lecture for prospective students, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2014 Lecture 'Aardwetenschappen' (NL) ANW (General Natural Sciences) lecture for high schoolers,
Dr. Mollercollege, Waalwijk, The Netherlands

Media appearances


2023 Podcast Stairway to Space Postdoc life
2023 Radio De Nieuws BV (NL) Waarom we juist NU naar Venus moeten
2023 Newspaper NRC (NL) We moeten juist nu naar Venus
2023 Newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (NL) 'Een grote doorbraak', noemen wetenschappers de ontdekte actieve vulkaan op Venus
2016 YouTube InsideHPC Report Interview at the PASC 2016 conference on my poster on 'Coupling geodynamic seismic cycle and dynamic rupture models'
2009 TV Mooi! Weer De Leeuw (NL) Entertainment show with a segment on a competition I participated in to attend a space science summer school in the USA
2004 TV Nederlands Kampioenschap
Sparen (NL)
Final of the competition for the best hobby collections where I presented my collection of minerals and fossils