APECS Council Report – Oct - Dec 2011

Council co-chairs: Tosca Ballerini - USA/Italy and Penelope Wagner-USA;

Council members: Alexandre Bevington - Canada, Punyasloke Bhadury - India, Erli Costa - Brazil, Eleanor Darlington - United Kingdom, Pedro Echeveste - Spain, Nadezhda Filimonova - Russia / Sweden, Jenny Fisher - United States, Gerlis Fugmann - Germany / Canada, Jolie Gareis - Canada, Meagan Grabowski - Canada, Rebeca Zapata Guardiola - Spain, Tiphaine Jeanniard-du-Dot - Canada / France, Silje-Kristin Jensen - UK / Norway, Antony Jinman - United Kingdom, Daleen Koch - South Africa, Lisa-Marie Leclerc - Norway / Canada, Maja Lisowska - Poland, Sílvia Lourenço - Portugal, Candice Lys - Canada, Heather Maraish - Finland / Canada, Sanna Markkula - Finland / Norway, Oliver Marsh - New Zealand / UK, Claudia Maturana - Chile, Inga May - Germany / Canada, Benjamin Merkel - Norway / Germany, Pablo Nicolás Núñez Pölcher - Argentina, Ana Salomé - Portugal, Julia Schmale - Germany, Nikolas Sellheim - Finland / Germany, Philipp Semenchuck - Norway / Germany, Paloma Serrano - Germany / Spain, Rosa Rut Thorisdottir - France / Iceland, Tristy Vick-Majors - United States, Mariette Wheeler - South Africa, Christie Wood - United States

Organization

-      Council calls, RAC calls, MIC calls

-      Ingress of 2 new council members

-      Skype call with Spanish / Portuguese speaking APECS members

-      Soliciting contributions from the atmospheric sciences to Antarctica month;

-      Posting jobs from various listservers, posting news

-      Posting news articles to the APECS Polar News site;

-      Update website with info to the confereces where

-      organizing IPY Montreal workshop

-      updated the Travel Award website

-      working on moving our APECS files from Dropbox to google docs

-      working Barents 2020 application and sent it to Jenny

-      working on Fram Report

-      drafted a timeline for the Hiring process of the new director; updated the job description

-      FrostBytes stuff ... Jenny and I had a call for volunteers and now seem to have a good group added various stuff to the publication database (still need to update a few things in there)

-      finalizing the draft for the workshop paper (with Inga)

-      Updating the “Who’s Who in Polar Science” online database as required. 

-      APECS funding workshop being held as part of the Arctic Frontiers Conferene in Tromsø January 2012.

-      Updated APECS internal mailing lists

-      Training GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting web-conferencing systems

-      Working on Barents 2020 application

-      Drafting Strategic Plan

-      Negotiations with Northern (Arctic) Federal University about joint summer field school around Russian Polar and Subpolar unique territories (budget, programme, potential partners)

-      Standing in the Programme Committee (represent APECS there) of the conference for young scientists that will be held in Russia, Arkhangelsk, June. Collaborative work with Arkhangelsk Scientific Centre of RAS and NarFU

-       Negotiations with EGEA as potential partner to organize joint event (e-lecture/webinar)

-       Drafted several APECS contributions to different partners’ newsletters

MIC activities

-      Setting up of the Facebook and Twitter account for APECS-India National Committee. The response has been good. APECS-India related activities are being posted through Facebook. Initiated discussion to hold the APECS-India Workshop in 2012.

-      creating APECS-Spain in an officially sense, with full legal background here in Spain, to try in the future to get funds and all those stuffs to organize events, seminars, etc.

-      Working on a new picture for the chain letter member reactions

-      Sending the Welcome letter and membership card to 24 new members each week

-      Working on a strategie to recrute member to give the presentation to their university to bost up the number of bachelor student (email by country/universities.... working on a list???? )

-      developing of outlines for APECS Sweden members enlargement. I met with a representative of APECS Sweden and we arranged to organize a seminar in Sweden in the year 2012 to attract new members and to share idea and experience on the Arctic and Antarctic research in various fields.

-      -organize a meeting/brainstorm of local ideas of current/potential APECS members in Whitehorse Yukon, Canada

-      Working on establishing of an Northeast US regional chapter of APECS regional group.

-      Working with proposers of APECS Canada chapter

-      APECS Portugal, informing both groups about the upcoming activities. We have been carrying out a process of attract new members and presently counting 13 members. We are now starting to organize the APECS PT annual workshop.

-      developing a APECS Finland national commitee

-      Updating APECS Poland website

-      Correspondence with APECS members in South America on potential VPS or webinars held in Spanish/Portuguese

RAC activities

-      Updated the RAC webpage to present all new members

-      APECS Microbial Ecology VPS held on 29th November, 2011.

-      DOMs: October – Permafrost (helped initially to set up the VPS), November – Microbial Ecology (minimal input from my side), December – Antarctica (see following point), January – Limnology (motivated people to start organizing). The plan for February is to do a Contaminants session and in March to have an interdisciplinary DOM on the Siberian Arctic.

-      December Antarctica Day webinar: initiation and organization by APECS council member together with Jenny B., chairing of the session, during the webinar 64 people participated altogether; participation in the webinar as one of the speakers of one APECS council member; correspondence to Julie Berkman from Our Spaces to make a worldwide Antarctica Day resume

-      Planning and co-organization of the January Discipline of the Month on Limnology, We will also co-ordinate a Limnology Virtual Poster Session, to take place during the last week of January.

-      working group to redefine the structure of the APECS research fields and sub-fields;

Participation to past conferences and organization of APECS events / workshops

-      Assisted in arranging the virtual workshop on Climate Justice in preparation for COP17 with York University on 26 October 2011.

-      Attended COP17 in Durban, South Africa, as APECS representative.

-      APECS Representation  and Presentation at 2^nd UArctic Student Forum, Inari, Finland and Kautokeino, Norway, March 19-25, 2011;

-      APECS Representation and Presentation at ARKTIS Graduate School Annual Seminar, Rovaniemi, Finland, April 4 and 5, 2011

-      Informal APECS representation at UArctic 14th Council Meeting and 10th Anniversary, Tornio and Rovaniemi, Finland,  June 6-11, 2011(I tried to do it officially, but official APECS representation by myself was declined)

-      APECS workshop at the AWI

-      Organized and moderated the APECS Mentor Panel Discussion: Careers in polar extremophiles- research and opportunities at the CAREX Life in Extreme Environments Conference held in Dublin from 18th-20th October, 2011.

-      Preparing APECS activity at AGU San Francisco 2011

Planning of APECS events/ workshops at meetings and conferences in 2012 and contributions with poster / presentations related to APECS activities

-      Many APECS council members are involved as co-conveners in sessions of the Montreal IPY 2012 and participated to the review process of submitted abstracts

-      Arctic Frontiers 2012 (poster)

-      APECS Tromso Funding Seminar (presentation)

-      International Symposium on Seasonal Snow and Ice (Lahti, Finland, May 28 – June 1, 2012) (APECS Panel)

-      APECS Representation and Presentation at Jokkmokk Winterconference, Jokkmokk, Sweden, January 31 – February 3; (included an unofficial and informal ‘presentation’ of APECS to the Swedish Crown Princess)

-      potentially set-up an APECS panel during the SETAC meeting in May in Berlin.

-      Participated in two conference calls on the ASSW 2013 Symposium in Poland as APECS representative. For each session there will be one ECR selected by APECS. The set-up of a webpage is under way.

-      The Arctic Council: Its Place in the Future of Arctic Governance, Toronto, Canada, January 17 and 18, 2012

-      Jokkmokk Winterconference, Jokkmokk, Sweden, January 30 – February 3, 2012, (APECS presentation)

-      6^th Pan-European Conference European Consortium for Political Research, Tampere, Finland, September 13-15, 2012 (possible APECS representation)

-      Oceans of Changes, 24-27 April 2012, Majorca Island (Spain) (APECS event)

-      In March 2012 a Polar Secretariat will hold a workshop with the participation of APECS Sweden members

-      Submitted 1 poster about APECS at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2012

-      APECS Panel "International Collaborations in "Cool" Sciences" 

-      in physics conference  

-      NZ annual branch meeting of the International Glaciological Society, February 2012

-      Ocean Sciences Meeting, Salt Lake City 2012,

-      IPY Montreal 2012,

-      SCAR Portland 2012,

-      IASC Glaciology Workshop in January
IGS Symposium, June 2012, Fairbanks, Alaska

-      AGU Fall Meeting 2012, San Francisco – parterning with Cryosphere division to have a mentor panel, publicize opportunities to be more involved & get funding, and we can recruit a whole bunch of new members 

Our first council call of this new term was full of energy and enthusiasm from council members new and more experienced.  We were all very excited to have 28 people on the call, and although it made it a challenge for everyone to speak we had a great time as everyone introduced themselves (briefly), and then we got down to business. New co-chairs were appointed, committees and working groups reviewed and the council jumped into action while still on the call with listserve duties already being claimed on shared online documents as we were still on the line chatting about roles and responsibilities.

To listen to the call recording, click here.  To read the minutes of the call click here.

Do you want to know what our current Council members are doing?

The Associaion of Polar Early Career Scientists Council met for a Council meeting in April. The Council members are involved in many activities. To read about the call please click here. It is also possible to listen to the call, please click here to get connected. Next Council meeting will be in June 2011.

There has been APECS representation and participation by Council members at numerous international conferences and symposia, including:

• The International Whale Watching Conference in Tokyo, Japan (APECS Presentation)
• Research Funding Workshop in Tromsø
• The IV International Workshop on Micropollutants in the Environment at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (presented poster on APECS)
• The XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Paleobotânica e Palinogia (presented poster on APECS)
• The 3^rd Annual Polar Law Symposium (APECS Workshop and Mentor Panel)
• II International Symposium on “Reconstructing Climate Variations in South American and the Antarctic Peninsula Over the Last 2000 Years” (APECS Mentor Panel)
• LIII Annual Meeting of Chilean Biology Society IV Chilean Annueal Meeting of Evolution (presented poster on APECS)
• International Glaciological Conference Ice and Climate Change: A View from the South (Mentor Panel)

Some of the highlights from various countries and discipline groups include:

• An APECS Norway trainee program is in development with the Career Center at the University of Tromsø.
• APECS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Artic Council Working Group, Conservation of Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and preparations are under way to facilitate APECS involvement in the new CAFF project, Arctic Sea Ice.
• APECS Chile is working to establish formal relations between APECS and the Chilean Antarctic Research Council.
• The first APECS Brazil Workshop was organized, and APECS Brazil and APECS Portugal have been cooperating to facilitate phenomenal workshops.
• APECS Portugal is working with the Organizational Committee of Portugal Polar Science (Structure and Logistics), and is working to increase communication and interaction with the Minister of Science and Technology. APECS Portugal has also been busy with an E&O project, “Researchers Night”.
• The APECS brochure and the APECS Mentor Form have been translated into Russian, greatly extending the reach of these documents. On a similar note, APECS Italy and the Climate Change Answer Working Group is working to translate materials into Italian.
• APECS Russia is working to establish a connection with the Russian Union of Young Scientists and has initiated work on the Funding Bodies Data Base Working Group.
• APECS USA organized a mentor panel for “Alternative Careers in Polar Science” and has helped to arrange the Gordon Research Seminar and the accompanying APECS Workshop. Additionally, APECS USA is developing the agenda for a proposed IMPETUS Sea Ice Workshop. Additionally there is an initiative to establish a relationship with the AMS Committee on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography.
• APECS Poland organized an APECS Discussion Panel at the XXXIII International Polar Symposium, organized promotional events at the 5^th SEDIBUD Workshop the Lublin Geopolitical Conference, and a special conference on “Global Climate Change and its Implications on Polish Landscape Transition” organized by the Committee of Geographical Sciences, and the Polish Academy of Science and National global Change Committee. One of the outcomes of this activity has been the creation of the new APECS Working Group of Sediment Budgets in Cold Environments.
• APECS India has established an outreach program on polar science that involves the participation of students from forty (yes – 40!) schools. Plans are under development to provide opportunities for some of the students who have expressed interest in polar research can participate in research activities in polar biology. Outreach activities have also been undertaken at various universities, and there is now the possibility for a polar workshop in India, along with an APECS India webpage.

Upcoming activities include:

• APECS representative for the University Antarctic Expedition of Students on Ice.
• The Arctic Law Thematic Network is being developed, and APECS participation is welcomed.
• There will be an APECS Workshop in conjunction with the International Congress of Arctic Social Scientists (ICASS) in Akureyri, Iceland in June.
• Francisco will attend the AGCS meeting as the APECS representative during the IUGG Conference in Melbourne.
• APECS Portugal meeting will be in March/April.
• APECS presentation at the PPS Arctic Meeting, the “Present day processes, Past changes, and Spatiotemporal variability of biotic, abiotic, and socio-environmental conditions and resource components along and across the Arctic delimitation zone”
• APECS presentation at the Avalanches & Related Subjects – IV International Conference
• APECS presentations at Kola Science Center of Russian Academy of Sciences and Polar Geophysical Institute
• APECS Career Development Workshop, presentation, and convenor at Arctic Science Summit Week
• Gordon Research Seminar – APECS Workshop
• APECS Panel at the 10^th AMS Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography
• APECS Funding Workshop with Saint Petersburg State University of Service and Economics
• Career Development Symposium at the Baltic Sea Conference

Click here to read the full Council term report

In February the Council met for a meeting. The meetings will occur evey second month. To read about the call click here.

To listen to the call click here

On December 14th the APECS Council had another productive call. Read about the updates from the call here.

You can also listen to the call here.

The APECS Executive Committee have drafted a document outlining the procedure for APECS members express any grievances or concerns with APECS members, leadership or working groups.  Please review this document, and vote on whether or not you wish for this document and procedure to pass.

Voting is mandatory for ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS, and must occur BEFORE Monday, May 31 at 17:00GMT.

The APECS Council had a very productive call on the 22 March 2010, gathering 30 young scientists and guests to update on the latest news about APECS. The hightlights are the acceptance by the council of the APECS working groups programme, the highly welcomed need to keep boosting the Research Activities Committee (RAC), the brilliant work that national committees are doing, namely from Chile, Norway, Poland, PORTUGAL and UK, and discussions on the new Charter for Council members. Great meeting! Check out the notes for more information.

APECS is growing and growing and there are a lot of projects going on and a lot of new members who want to get involved in our organization. The working group proposal is intended to create another opportunity for members to get involved and work on their ideas or projects in smaller groups. We had discussed this proposal in the last few weeks and it is now up for all of you Council members to vote on it!

The final version of the proposal is available here for you to read through.

Voting deadline will be February 26, 2010 at 2000 GMT!

ALL council members MUST vote!