Athina Trakas
As an Innovation Action and Partnerships Specialist at ECMWF (European Centre of Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) I am co-ordinating Code for Earth, an innovation action run by ECMWF.
I have always been interested in networking and connecting people. I am grateful that, with my work, I can exactly do this, and help foster a culture of continuous learning, mutual support, and shared success.
In the past I presented internationally on geo-information management topics, mainly in the areas of OGC processes, interoperability and standards.
With a diploma in Geography I started working in the field of GIS in 1998. In 2006, I joined OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium), and worked as OGC’s Director for Member Success and Development for Europe, Central Asia and Africa. In December 2022 I joined ECMWF.
Since 2006 I am a member of OSGeo.
Sessions
In this keynote I want to share my journey from the world of Geoinformation - specifically the FOSS4G and open standards community - to the Meteorology community. What are the lessons learned, the challenges and the rich and manifold opportunities available at the intersection of these dynamic fields. I want to share with you my personal perspective on how collective efforts as Earth Sciences community in fostering interdisciplinary bridges can lead to innovative solutions for our planet’s challenges.
In sharing my story, I intend to highlight the synergies between geoinformation and meteorology, illustrating how these interconnected disciplines can complement and enhance one another and how we as a Earth Sciences community can benefit as a whole.
Code for Earth, an ECMWF-run partnership programme, fosters innovation and collaboration and supports advancements in weather, atmosphere and climate research, including in the Copernicus programme and the Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative, which are both EU-funded. Since its first edition in 2018, the programme has brought together talented individuals and developer teams with experienced mentors from ECMWF to work on cutting-edge projects covering a wide range of topics. In 2023, ten developer teams participated in Code for Earth.
This presentation will give an insight into the programme and the current 2024 edition. It will also explain how interested people can join Code for Earth and make an impact on real-world challenges.
Each summer, several individuals and developer teams from different backgrounds test, explore and/or develop open source software solutions supported by ECMWF’s mentors. Their projects tackle topics such as data science in Earth-, weather-, climate- and atmosphere-related challenges, including visualisation, machine learning/artificial intelligence, user support tools and data analysis. By encouraging multidisciplinary collaboration and embracing open source principles, Code for Earth facilitates the development of cutting-edge solutions and advancements in Earth system sciences.
Since its start, the programme has produced 45+ open-source software developments highly beneficial to activities at ECMWF.