AGU26

December 7-11, 2026 in San Francisco, California USA

Academic conferences (also called meetings) are important opportunities for scientists to share their research through presentations, talks, and posters. They will receive valuable feedback, critiques, and suggestions from their peers. It also serves to inform the larger community about important findings and approaches. These events have grown over the years to include more than just formal research presentations, however. Conferences are places to network with peers, find jobs, grow skills, and discuss important issues.

AGU’s annual meeting started in 1920 and today it regularly has over 20,000 attendees. Our annual meeting this year will be in San Francisco, California USA from December 7-11. Read on to learn additional information about the conference, suggested itineraries and useful links to support your attendance. Please note that the official AGU26 website will always have the most up to date information. Please bookmark: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting.

Registration for AGU26 opens August 2026

Community Engaged Science at AGU26

Join us in San Francisco to celebrate community engaged science through Thriving Earth Exchange and beyond. Below are a few particular sessions to consider submitting abstracts to.

SY002: Addressing Flood Risk and Impacts Through Researcher-Community Collaborations

Across the world, the frequency and impact of flooding is intensifying due in part to climate change, development and land use changes, and other factors. Impacts are felt most strongly by vulnerable communities that may not have the resources or support necessary to mitigate and adapt to these ongoing hazards. Flooding events can cause ecological and economic harm, and impact infrastructure and human health. Mitigation and prevention strategies must address the vulnerabilities of communities living in flood-prone areas in order to affect lasting change and build resiliency. This session explores collaboration between researchers and communities to address the complexities of flood risk and impacts. We welcome contributions describing collaborations between researchers and communities, tools or models that could be used by communities experiencing flooding, health assessments, disaster planning, outreach materials or other examples of applied science that incorporate the needs and perspectives of residents whose lives are affected by flooding.

SY035: Science and Society: Community Science and Citizen Science

This session explores the intersection of Community Science, Citizen Science, and other co-developed or co-produced efforts that bridge research, practice, and community. In Community Science, communities and scientists collaborate to address shared priorities, fostering mutual learning and achieving recognizable outcomes of benefit to the communities. Citizen Science engages the public in research and monitoring on local to global scales. Co-development or co-production efforts, such as AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange, are “bottom-up” approaches to ensure science is developed and conducted with all relevant stakeholders involved, emphasizing the collaborative nature of science, where diverse voices across disciplines, sectors, and lived experiences, are equitably integrated into the scientific process. We welcome contributions that demonstrate the value of Community and Citizen Science, showcasing effective co-production, innovative methods, educational activities, and research linking these practices to policy, management, and participant outcomes. This session is a platform for dialogue on their transformative potential in the geosciences.

SY043 – The MacGyver Session: The Place for Novel, Exciting, Self-Made, Hacked, or Improved Sensors and Software Solutions to Contribute to Participatory and Community Science

This 18th edition of the MacGyver session invites innovators, tinkerers, community scientists, and everyone who is passionate about making science more accessible from across all AGU sections! With hands-on demonstrations and presentations, this might be the most exciting set of poster-only sessions of the AGU Fall Meeting, featuring: -Open-source or do-it-yourself solutions for public participation in science. -Sensor/human networks designed for community-engaged research. -Community-centered data dashboards, data storage, or transmission solutions (e.g., LoRa, WIFI, or GSM). -Community initiatives facilitating the creation and sharing of novel sensors, data-acquisition, and data-transmission technologies. This session shares Science & Society Section innovations with the broader AGU community. If you are interested in the societal impacts of developing and applying sensing methods, integrating or building sensors with communities, or transmitting, sharing, and using data for participatory science or other applications, then this session is for you! All case studies, methods, or approaches are welcome.

SY030 – Public Participation Required: Showcasing Scientific Results Achieved Through Participatory Methods, e.g., Methods that Rely on Contributions to Research Efforts by Members of the Public.

This session celebrates science that could not have happened without a wholly or largely public process or platform that enabled volunteers to participate in scientific work. From gaming to data analysis to fieldwork, public participation has pushed science forward in interesting, unexpected, and productive ways. From questions tiny to gargantuan, local to global to universal investigations, and across the full spectrum of geoscience research and beyond, participatory methods are generating new knowledge, identifying new species and objects, and helping explicate natural processes. This includes research drawing on volunteer contributions in conjunction with machine learning, from refining training data to validating outputs, surfacing anomalies, revealing bias, enabling serendipitous discovery, and framing new questions. We invite submissions from all disciplines describing research findings made possible by the contributions of members of the public. In addition to the science, we welcome submissions sharing other impacts of participatory methods on science and society.

No-Cost Registration

AGU offers free registration and abstract submission waivers to non-scientist community representatives worldwide for the AGU26 annual meeting. The no-cost registration applies to both in-person and virtual attendees. To be eligible, you must be a non-scientist/non-academic representing your own community’s interests in environmental, Earth, geoscience, or related fields. Community representatives can be Indigenous or non-Indigenous and do not need to be AGU members.  You may also request an abstract fee waiver to submit your conference abstract. To request no-cost registration or an abstract fee waiver, fill out this form.

Moscone Center
747 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Coming soon!

When you register for AGU26, there will be an option to book housing. You can also do this independent of your registration by going here: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting/attend#in-person#housing . AGU has negotiated rates with local hotels so it is often much cheaper to purchase your room through this process. The hotel options should show you how far away each hotel is and average price for a basic room allowing you to balance convenience and cost. You can also sort and filter based on factors like price, distance, wi-fi access, etc. Housing registration will open with meeting registration in mid-August.

  • Download the App: AGU Meetings has an app that will have the most up to date information about sessions, search features to find talks/events, maps, and lots of useful information. The meeting usually gets loaded into the app about a month ahead of the conference. You can download the Apple version here and the Android version here.
  • Build a Schedule Ahead of Time: The conference can be huge and overwhelming with all of the options offered. But the App and resources like session finder can help you identify activities worth attending. Having a schedule will help you make the most of your time and plan your day. Thriving Earth will share some recommended sessions and talks related to community science, too. You can access the session finder here, which allows you to enter keywords and will pull up related activities: https://www.agu.org/session-finder
  • Find a Conference Buddy: Thriving Earth Exchange will share some opportunities to connect to other community science participants who will be attending. Don’t hesitate to suggest pairing up and attending talks, receptions, poster sessions, etc. together. Conferences are more fun with friends!
  • Be Kind to Yourself: The conference is huge and the convention center is gigantic. It can feel overwhelming and at times exhausting. Build in breaks, time to rest, meals and time to socialize. The value of conferences is in more than just the formal sessions. But you also can’t get everything out of a conference if you’re worn out.
  • Embrace the Unpredictable: Sometimes the best moments at conferences happen in the hallways between sessions. Schedules are great but it is also OK to take advantage of the moment. Grab a coffee with a new connection, check out a talk you just found out about, stop in on a social activity or reception.
  • Explore the Exhibit Hall: Vendors, universities, non-profits, government organizations, and more can all have a booth in the exhibit hall. Your registration will get you free entry and it is worth wandering around the hall. You can learn about great resources that could benefit your own projects, connect to potential partners and funders, pick up some fun swag, and even cuddle some puppies that are up for adoption.
  • Professional Development: Learning sessions, workshops, resume reviews, career sessions, and lots of other resources are available at the conference to support professional development. Much of this is free for registered attendees so sign up, attend, and grow! There are even free headshots offered at AGU Central where a professional photographer will take your picture and you’ll receive them via email.
  • What to Wear: AGU’s conferences attendees typically wear “dressy casual.” This can look like a nice office appropriate work-shirt and slacks, a dress, or a button-up shirt with a jacket and nicer jeans. Attendees are also invited to wear clothing that is culturally important such as a sari, throbe, an agbada, regalia, huipil, etc. Additionally, religious clothing and accessories such as a hijab, niqab or burqa, turbans, a kippah, habit, or bindi are warmly welcomed. Community members and members of organizations may also wear shirts or other garments indicating their organization/group. Whatever clothing you pick, make sure to wear comfortable shoes. The conference will include a lot of walking so you’ll see even people in formal suits wearing tennis shoes!
    Note: check out the AGU26 attendee resources if you need a scooter, chairs, or other supports.

First time attending AGU Annual Meeting? It can feel overwhelming but don’t fret – we’ve got you covered. Below are some internal and external resources.

  • Accessibility: Whether you need ASL interpreters, mobility devices, assurances that there will be a chair next to your poster, a place to pump, or other accommodations AGU is happy to help. You can find out more including how to let the meetings team know what would help by going here: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting/attend#accessibility
  • Prayer/Meditation Rooms: AGU always arranges a space where people can pray or meditate as needed. The room location will be noted in the final program.
  • Safe AGU: AGU is dedicated to a safe and supportive experience for all attendees. You can read the code of conduct here: https://www.agu.org/plan-for-a-meeting/agumeetings/meetings-resources/meetings-code-of-conduct . There will be staff walking around with large green buttons on their shirts that say, “Safe AGU.” If you ever feel unsafe, witness a code of conduct violation, or need help you can flag down one of these staff. You can also go to any security person or find staff at the registration areas or AGU Central. We are here to help.
  • Forget Something?: If you’ve lost something, you can call the convention center’s lost and found line at 415-974-4021.
  • Food: The convention center has restaurants, though they are mostly fast food and do not always accommodate all of the dietary requirements that individuals may have.
  • Childcare: AGU partnered with a local childcare provider to offer hourly options. You can learn more and register a child age 3 months to 12 years after registration opens.

If you’ve been invited to be part of a presentation or panel or submitted an abstract, here are a few tips and resources.

  1. Posters: You can find the guideline for poster sizes and best practices here: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting/present#presenter-resources#poster-requirements. Printing can be done at the conference center. AGU usually shares information about poster printing via emails leading up to the conference so be sure to check your email.
  2. Presenters: If you are giving a formal talk or presentation, this site has useful information about requirements, process, and tips: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting/present?tab=abstracts#resources
  3. Invited Panelist: Some conference activities are more relaxed in that you are not expected to present a formal talk. Panels, for example, often ask participants to briefly share about who they are and their perspective or insights on a topic and then open things up to questions from the audience. If you have questions, speak to the person who invited you to ensure you know what is required.
  4. Promoting Your Work: AGU has some social media tools for promoting your activities at the conference. This site has logos, fun zoom backgrounds, PowerPoint templates, and a social media guide with a link to a set of templates . If you’re sharing about your Thriving Earth Exchange activities feel free to tag us on social media and we can reshare!