The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is excited to announce this year’s Science Journalism Fellowship awardees: Tim Hornyak, Marta Abbà, and Alejandro Munoz. The funding will allow Timothy Hornyak to report from Japan on the monitoring of solar storms and geomagnetic instability threatening modern infrastructure. It will enable Marta Abbà to follow research on the Po River in Italy to create a new, comprehensive model for studying the effects of human activity on entire river systems. Finally, the support will facilitate Alejandro Muñoz in his international investigation into how organisms extract water from gypsum rocks as he explores the implications for life and resources on Mars.

Timothy Hornyak, a journalist based in Japan, was awarded 920€ EUR for his project, ‘Magnetic Drift and Solar Storms: In Japan, Scientists Track Earth’s Invisible Threats’. His work will focus on the growing vulnerability of modern infrastructure to space weather and geomagnetic instability.

“Amid the growing threat of extreme solar activity and geomagnetic instability, public awareness of the science behind space weather and magnetic fields remains limited,” Hornyak explains. 

His project will center on immersive reporting at the Kakioka Magnetic Observatory (KMO), one of Asia’s most advanced geomagnetic research facilities. Hornyak aims to tell the story of Japan’s scientific contributions: from the long-term monitoring of the Earth’s pole drift to the real-time detection of magnetic storms that could paralyse global communications and power grids. The findings will be shared through a primary feature article in outlets like Nature or Science, a multimedia short video, and a social media series simplifying space weather for the public.

Marta Abbà, an investigative journalist and environmental physicist from Italy, received 1350€ EUR for her proposal, ‘A River Like You’ve Never Seen Before’. Her project will focus on the Po River, one of Europe’s most anthropized rivers, by conducting a comparative and combined analysis of its hydrogeological area in relation to surrounding human activities, particularly agriculture.

“I will change the minds of those who think there is nothing original in studying a river,” Abbà states.

Her mission is to follow a pioneering research project that will, for the first time, study the comprehensive interactions between all the different geo-natural aspects of the river, and it does so from the mountains to the delta, as well as the anthropogenic factors influencing it. The goal is to create a replicable, scalable standard model for river study worldwide.

Abbà plans an extensive approach, personally following fieldwork, soil and laboratory analysis, and sociological analysis with local communities and public administrations. Her work will be developed into reportages for multiple outlets, including Wired Italia, VoxEurop, and Radio Popolare, offering diverse angles on technology, environmental policy, and the human impact on the river.

Alejandro Muñoz, a science journalist and documentary filmmaker from Spain, was awarded 3000€ EUR for his project, ‘Could Gypsum Be Our Water Source on Mars?’ He will explore how organisms in extreme environments use gypsum rocks as a hidden water source, a strategy that has profound implications for the search for life on Mars. Muñoz’s project bridges life sciences, geology, and planetary exploration, noting that gypsum contains up to 20% of its weight in crystallised water. 

“The possibility that plants and bacteria extract water not from the ground or air, but from minerals themselves, is both poetic and scientifically provocative,” he notes.

He plans to report from Spain, profiling the work of ecophysiologist Sara Palacio on gypsum-specialist plants, and will also feature the work of David Kisailus on cyanobacteria in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The story will be contextualised for planetary science with astrobiologist Alberto González Fairén, assessing the hydration strategy’s potential on Mars, where gypsum is abundant. Muñoz will use the fellowship to report across these locations, developing the story into a long-form article and photo reportage for outlets like National Geographic España, and a short documentary for Mongabay.

The EGU Science Journalism Fellowship is an annual competition open to professional journalists wishing to report on ongoing research in the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The winning proposals receive up to €5000 to cover expenses related to their projects. This support is intended to allow the fellows to follow geoscientists on location and to develop an in-depth understanding of their questions, approaches, findings and motivation.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It is a non-profit interdisciplinary learned association of scientists founded in 2002 with headquarters in Munich, Germany. The EGU publishes a number of diverse scientific journals that use an innovative open access format and organises topical meetings plus education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting more than 20,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources. For more information, follow the EGU on our social media.