The first hybrid meeting of the WATSON COST Action has come to an end, washed away by the heavy rain that flooded the streets of Ljubljana.
The event took place in the fascinating building of Department of Geology (Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering) of the University of Ljubljana. During two days, the delegates had the chance to plan the activities for the second year of the network, engage in technical and scientific discussions, and to network over (virtual) coffee and meals. The parallel meetings of each working group were bracketed by the Core Group meeting that opened the event, and the Management Committee meeting that ended it.
On the second day, the delegates were welcomed by the vice Dean of the Faculty Prof. Andrej Šmuc, the Head of the Department of Geology Prof. Boštjan Rožič, and the Slovenian COST National Coordinator Ms. Mojca Boc.
The participants also had the chance to listen to two inspiring presentations about the importance and value of science communication and promoting public and stakeholder interest in our research. The two speakers were Prof. David Budtz Pedersen (Professor at the Aalborg University, Denmark, and Chair of the COST Cross Cutting Activity on Science Communication) and Prof. Helena Gabrijelčič Tomc (Chair of Information and Graphic Arts Technology, University of Ljubljana). The Action website is now operational, and complemented by our WATSON ResearchGate project page, Twitter account, YouTube page and Facebook channel. Thus, we now have many opportunities to inform the public and stakeholders about the scientific progress of the network and will continue to add content to these pages.
The participation to the meeting was numerous, both in person and online. The initial concerns about this hybrid experience have been disproved by the facts: the interactions were lively and fruitful. Moreover, the rare high-intensity rain event on the last evening was a good reminder that our scientific work on water flow paths is timely and highly relevant!
