Division VI
International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA)

Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth

With over 1,000 people on the MTNet emailing list, the prior Working Group I.2 of IAGA was by far the largest and most active of all WGs in IAGA. Accordingly, at the Prague IUGG Assembly in 2016 IAGA elevated WG I.2 to division status, namely Division VI. The main activity of the Division is the biennial Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth Workshops, initiated in 1972 in Edinburgh by Drs. Rosemary Hutton and Bruce Hobbs at the suggestion made by Professors Ashour and Kertz at the IUGG in Moscow in 1971. A brief personal retrospective by Rosemary Hutton of the workshops from 1972-1990 can be found here.

The activities of the Division are organized by the Division Committee. Scientists are nominated for vacant positions on the committee, and, if there are more nominations than vacancies, a ballot of all attendees at the Division business meeting is held. Nominations by the committee for vacant positions take into account primarily scientific expertise as well as geographic distribution and gender of members.

A member normally serves on the committee for a term of eight (8) years. From the committee a member is chosen to be the Co-Chair for a period of four (4) years. Normally, the Co-Chair is elected to the Chair of the Division Committee, and holds that position for four (4) years. In addition, there are non-voting observer positions on the committee. The four ex officio standing ones are the position of Past Chair, and the positions of Chairs of the Local Organizing Committese for the previous, next and subsequent workshops. Others may be appointed as Observers when deemed necessary by the Committee.

From the perspective of the IAGA Executive Committee however, the only "officials" of the Division are the Chair and Co-Chair. The Division structure and membership are internal matters for the Division, in accordance with IAGA's bottom-up policy, as stated in the IAGA statutes (see Section 1, Sub-Section 1.1 of Guidelines for IAGA Officers ).

At the WG Business Meeting of the 2000 EM Induction Workshop it was decided to move the election of the WG Committee members to the Business Meetings of the WG at the EM Induction Workshops on even years, rather than at the BMs during IUGG General Assemblies on odd years. (Hence, Pascal Tarit's term as Chair was 5 years, not 4.) This was because the BMs at Workshops are attended by 250+ delegates, whereas those at IUGG General Assemblies are usually attended by 20-30 at most. Thus, the move was made in order to give far more WG members the opportunity to participate in the democratic election of the WG Committee members.

This decision though brought the WG out of alignment with IAGA and IUGG, who elect their officials during the IUGG Assemblies. Pressure was brought to bear on the IAGA WG I.2 officials (Chair and Co-Chair of the WG) during the period 2003-2009 by the Executive Committee of IAGA to bring the WG back into alignment. This was resisted by the WG, who made the arguments about greater democracy being exercised at Workshops rather than at IUGG Assemblies. (The May, 2009 email exchange, leading up to the 2009 IAGA Assembly, between Alan Jones and Bengt Hultqvist, then Secretary-General of IAGA, that outlines the issue and gives arguments for remaining with elections at Workshops can be read here.)

At the Sopron IAGA Assembly in 2009 a compromise process was agreed at the WG BM, and accepted by IAGA, whereby there is a separation in terms of office between the Chair and Co-Chair of IAGA WG I.2, and those of the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee. From 2010 forwards, the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee (now Division Committee) are elected at the BM of the Workshop in the year preceeding an IUGG, and take their place as Chair and Co-Chair of IAGA Division VI at the IUGG the following year, and become the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee the year after that. The process is described in the Minutes of the WG I.2 BM held at the Sopron IAGA in 2009.

The procedure and timing is thus:


Division Committee Members: 2018-2020

Name Position Region Country Term Email
Nick Palshin Chair Europe Russia 2004 - 2020palshin@ocean.ru
Ute Weckmann Co-Chair Europe Germany 2008 - 2024uweck@gfz-potsdam.de
Stephan Thiel Treasurer Member-at-LargeAustralia 2016 - 2024Stephan.Thiel@sa.gov.au
Kiyoshi Baba Publications coordinatorAsia Japan 2012 - 2020kbaba@eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Paul Bedrosian North America U.S.A. 2019 - 2026pbedrosian@usgs.gov
Ana Curcio South America Argentina 2018 - 2026anitacurcio@gmail.com
Shimeles Fisseha Africa Ethiopia 2016 - 2024wmikel99@gmail.com
Wiebke Heise Oceania New Zealand2016 - 2024W.Heise@gns.cri.nz
Anne Neska Europe Poland 2018 - 2026svk@ig.cas.cz
Yuguo Li Asia China 2012 - 2020yuguo@ouc.edu.cn
Pilar Queralt Europe Spain 2012 - 2020pilar.queralt@ub.edu
CK Rao Asia India 2016 - 2024ckrao@iigs.iigm.res.in
Martyn Unsworth North America Canada 2016 - 2024unsworth@ualberta.ca
Observers - ex officio
Ian Ferguson Past Chair Canada 2000 - 2020ij_ferguson@umanitoba.ca
Toivo Korja Chair, LOC past workshop (2018) Sweden 2014 - 2020toivo.korja@ltu.se
Ahmet Basokur Chair, LOC next workshop (2020) Turkey 2016 - 2022basokur@ankara.edu.tr
Kiyoshi Baba Chair, LOC subsequent workshop (2022)Japan 2012 - 2024kbaba@eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Oliver Ritter Division VI webmaster Germany 2016 - 2020oritter@gfz-potsdam.de
Steve Constable Funding coordinator, Industry liaisonUSA 2016 - 2020sconstable@ucsd.edu
Eduard Petrovsky IAGA EC liaison Czech Republic2015 - 2019edp@ig.cas.cz
Mioara Mandea IAGA EC liaison France 2019 - 2023mioara111@gmail.com

2018-2018 Division VI Committee & IAGA members
2014-2016 Working Group Committee & IAGA members
2012-2014 Working Group Committee & IAGA members
2011-2012 Working Group Committee & IAGA members
2010-2011 Working Group Committee & IAGA members
2008-2010 Working Group Committee
2006-2008 Working Group Committee
2002-2006 Working Group Committee
1999-2002 Working Group Committee
1995-1999 Working Group Committee


IAGA WG I.2/Division VI Chairs and Past Chairs, and their official terms

Term Name Country
1971 - 1975Ian Gough Canada
1975 - 1979Ulrich SchmuckerGermany
1979 - 1983Antal Adam Hungary
1983 - 1987Bruce Hobbs U.K.
1987 - 1991Sven-Erik Hjelt Finland
1991 - 1995Al Duba U.S.A.
1995 - 1999Alan Jones Canada
1999 - 2004Pascal Tarits France
2004 - 2008Andreas Junge Germany
2008 - 2011Yasuo Ogawa Japan
2011 - 2015Ian Ferguson Canada
2015 - 2019Nik Palshin Russia
2019 - 2023Ute Weckmann Germany

Division VI is one of six Divisions within IAGA - International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy

Division Title Chair Co-Chair
I Internal Magnetic Fields Cathy ConstableHarald Boehnel
II Aeronomic Phenomena
IIIMagnetospheric Phenomena
IV Solar Wind & Interplanetary Field
V Geomagnetic Observatories, Surveys & Analyses
VI Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth & Planetary BodiesUte WeckmannTBA

IAGA is one of eight Associations within IUGG - International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics

Acronym Name President Secretary General
IACS International Association of Cryospheric Sciences
IAG International Association of Geodesy
IAGA International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy Dr Eduard Petrovsky Dr. Mioara Mandea
IAHS International Association of Hydrological Sciences
IAMASInternational Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
IAPSOInternational Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans
IASPEI International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior Thorne LayJohannes Schweitzer
IAVCEI International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior Donald Bruce DingwellRoberto Sulpizio

IUGG is one of thirty unions within ICSU - International Council for Science


IAGA Home Page

The President of IAGA for 2015 - 2019 is Dr. Eduard Petrovsky of the Institute of Geophysics, Acad. Sci. Czech Republic.
The Vice-President for the same term is Dr. Monika Korte of GFZ, Potsdam.
The Secretary-General of IAGA for 2009 - 2019 is Dr. Mioara Mandea Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales, Paris.

IAGA publishes the IAGA News (irregularly). To get on the distribution list, contact Dr. Mioara Mandea.


IUGG Home Page

IAGA is one of the five Associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).
The President of IUGG for 2015 - 2019 is Professor Michael Sideris of the University of Calgary, Canada.
The Vice-President for the same term is Professor Kathy Whaler of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Secretary-General is Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh, of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

IUGG electronically publishes the IUGG Chronicle. To get on the distribution list, contact Alik Ismail-Zadeh.