Draw me an observatory: Second OZCAR summer school

The second OZCAR summer school ("Draw me an observatory") was held from 3 to 8 July 2022 at the Séolane Centre located in Barcelonnette. This summer school pursues one of the objectives of the OZCAR Research Infrastructure (RI) to promote training to and through research on the knowledge of the Critical Zone and to train the new generation of scientists to approach the study of the Critical Zone in a multi- and interdisciplinary way.

The school was an undeniable success, bringing together nearly 55 participants (28 early career researchers, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, lecturers and engineers from a wide range of backgrounds) and 26 speakers from the field of Critical Zone field, including not only scientists from the “OZCAR” RI and Zones Ateliers RI networks, but also, as a new feature of this school, personalities from the humanities and social sciences (anthropology, philosophy, sociology, history and literature) as well as artists. A varied and complete program kept participants and speakers on their toes with the discovery of OZCAR RI sites and observatories, as well as an observatory of the American Critical Zone network during the morning classes.

The summer school included ractical workshops on three themes - geochemistry, geophysics, evapotranspiration - as well conferences and poster sessions during the evenings. New for this school, and proving very successful, was the "artists' curiosity cabinet" where participants were asked to provide and present an object they felt represented the critical zone, or to write poems highlighting their perception of the critical zone. Find the synthesis report of the OZCAR summer school on the OZCAR website.