APECS International Mentorship Award

In this category we ask APECS members to nominate a mentor who has been an outstanding mentor to them during their career.

• Who can nominate?

  To be considered, a candidate must be nominated by one or more current/former student(s), peer(s) and/or colleague(s). Self-nominations will not be accepted.

• Who can be nominated?

  To be eligible for this award the candidate must have contributed significantly over a period of several years to the mentoring and fostering of early career researchers involved in research in the Polar or Alpine regions or the wider Cryosphere. This award may be awarded to mentors from a variety of sectors, including academia, industry, the public sector, etc. Eligibility is not limited to those that are directly connected with APECS.

• What needs to be included in the nomination and how to submit your nomination?

  All nomination packages must be provided in English. Nomination packages must be submitted via the online nomination form and must include as supplementary material (to be uploaded via the form): 

  • CV of the nominee
  • Photo of the nominee (to be used on the APECS website)
  • Nomination letter highlighting the nominee’s mentoring to you and other early career researchers addressing questions such as (it is not required that the nomination letter address every question on this list):
    • The commitment of the nominee towards early career researchers (e.g. time commitment, length of service, personal motivation, how many mentees has he or she supported)
    • Examples of the types of mentoring activities the nominee did (e.g. field work, conferences, meetings, leadership opportunities, community interactions) and how the nominee engaged with early career researchers to provide meaningful training and career development?
    • What has been particular/original in the nominee’s support/mentoring?
    • Has the nominee contributed to building connections among early career polar researchers? And if yes how?
    • Examples of how the mentoring impacted you or other early career researchers that worked with the nominee.
    • If you know, has the nominee participated in APECS activities ((via mentor panels, workshops, webinars, through the mentor database, etc.)?
    • Any other relevant info about why the nominee should be awarded the APECS Mentor Award.
  • Minimum of two support letter from another member or colleague (e.g. students / faculty / colleagues who have also benefitted from the support of the nominee).

In this category, we specifically encourage APECS members, committees (including National Committees) and project groups to nominate a mentor who has made an outstanding contribution to their APECS committees, activities or the organization as a whole.

• Who can nominate?

  To be considered, the candidate must be nominated by an APECS member, committee (e.g. National Committee) or project group. Self-nominations will not be accepted.

• Who can be nominated?

  To be eligible for this award the candidate must have contributed significantly over a period of several years to the mentoring and fostering of early career researchers in APECS activities (e.g. in APECS project / workshops / webinars). This award may be awarded to mentors from a variety of sectors, including academia, industry, the public sector, etc.

• What needs to be included in the nomination and how to submit your nomination?

  All nomination packages must be provided in English. Nomination packages must be submitted via the online nomination form and must include as supplementary materials (to be uploaded via the form):

  • CV of the nominee
  • Photo of the nominee (to be used on the APECS website)
  • Nomination letter highlighting the nominee’s mentoring towards APECS activities, projects and/or committees and covering the questions such as:
    • The commitment of the nominee towards early career researchers and APECS activities (e.g. time commitment, length of service, personal motivation)
    • In which APECS activities has the mentor been participating in?
    • Examples of how the nominee helped your activities / projects / committees / APECS as a whole
    • What has been particular/original in the nominee’s support/mentoring?
    • Examples of how the mentoring impacted you or other early career researchers that worked with the nominee.
    • Any other relevant info about why the nominee should be awarded the APECS Mentor Award.
  • Minimum of two individual support letter from other members or colleagues who have also benefitted from the support of the nominee. The letters can also be written by other members of e.g. your National Committee.

• Review

  All nominations under consideration will be reviewed by the Award Committee. The names and pictures of all nominees will be publicly posted on the APECS mentor award website and APECS News after the nomination deadline and will be available until the Award Committee has made its selection.

• Criteria

  Each of the below categories will be ranked for each candidate on the base of information included in the application package and letters of support. In each category a mentor acquires between 0 and 10. The maximum total number of points is 80 (8 categories).

  Categories:
  1. Demonstrated commitment to early-career scientists (i.e., time commitment, length of service, personal motivation, professional development)
  2. Participation within APECS activities (i.e., participated via Mentor panels, workshops, webinars, or through the mentor database etc.).
  3. Meaningful engagement with the early career researchers to shape the future of polar research
  4. Originality of support/mentoring
  5. Impact of the support/mentoring
  6. Variety of mentees the mentor has supported
  7. Variety of mentoring opportunities provided (field work, conferences, meetings, leadership, community interactions)
  8. Building connections among early career polar researchers

• Decision

  To fully recognise involvement of mentors in APECS activities, each year 2 awards will be given out, one in the "Member Category" and one in the "APECS Category". The award winners will be publically announced on the APECS website and via the other APECS communication channels (mailing list and social media). 

Each year the Award Committee will be made up of early-career scientists from the APESC Council and Executive Committee. The APECS Executive Director will support the committee as a non-voting ex-officio.

Award Committee (2018-2019):

• Jhon Fredy Mojica Moncada, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate
• Neelu Singh, Mangalore University, India / Norway
• Jennifer Cooper, University of Kansas, United States
• Gerlis Fugmann, APECS / Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Germany (ex-officio)

If you have any questions regarding this award please do not hesitate to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.