APECS News

APECS Denmark and APECS Iceland are involved in the organization of the Arctic Innovation Lab at the 2023 Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík, Iceland. Join the event, contribute to the discussion and pitch solutions to Arctic challenges!

World Mental Health Day is coming up on October 10th! With its start in 1992, the International Day is focused on raising awareness and education around social stigma and providing a space for open sharing of ideas, experiences, and resources directed at mental health issues. Mindful of this, the APECS Mental Health Resources Project Group would like to bring light to the Mental Health Database that is already available on the APECS Website. The Database provides easy access to information on the understanding of different issues, how to improve one's mental health, and how to know when to reach out for professional help; the resources are not limited to STEM fields and academics. Additionally, there is a short survey available regarding the use of Mental Health Apps, and we kindly ask you (and greatly appreciate it!) if you could spend about three minutes filling it out. You can find the survey here. Thank you! Please help us spread the word and raise awareness.

APECS, APECS Norway and SIOS have teamed up to offer two ECR workshops at the Svalbard Science Conference 2023:

• 30 October: Research in Svalbard: An APECS Workshop (APECS Norway)
• 2 November: Shaping the future of polar research data (APECS / SIOS)

Guess what? Polar Week is around the corner, from September 18th to 24th, 2023! Early career researchers, established scientists, and everyone with a deep interest or passion for Polar Regions are welcome! Do you have a project, event, or idea to highlight, or would you like feedback on your innovative proposal, or upcoming research? Share it with us! We're all about showing off the exciting things happening in the APECS polar community, and we want you to be part of the September edition.

The "Arctic Science to Art" contest organized by APECS Canada and ACUNS, with the support of ArcticNet calls for submissions. Through this contest, early-career researchers are encouraged to demonstrate their knowledge about an issue that affects northern communities and explain their work in plain language. One submission will be selected for an opportunity to work with a Canadian Graphic designer, Misha Donohoe to convert their research into a comic strip. 

In an extremely connected world like the one we live in today, mass communication has become the dominant drive in our society. Today's global digitalization makes possible the large-scale propagation of countless pieces of information and often, unfortunately, the propagation of false and non-fact-based news.

Within this framework, the scientific world is slowly realizing that in order to keep up with the new generation, it is essential to disseminate its scientific findings to a wider public. Today's scientists can no longer afford to remain within the four walls of their laboratory, with their nose in Excel tables or in the microscopes, but must learn to communicate.

Most young scientists, and fortunately many of their supervisors, have understood this. Today, most researchers spend countless hours on different social media platforms or personal websites (and/or blogs), disseminating the outputs of their studies and defending the importance of any small scientific progress in their own field.

In this context, polar research does not make a difference. The Arctic and Antarctic are ecosystems as remote from our society as they are important. Home to many species of organisms and important rare elements, the two poles are also the two regions most affected by dramatic environmental changes caused by climate change.

Since the Belgian expedition to Antarctica 150 years ago, Belgium has been at the center of international affairs concerning the South Pole. In recent years, like other countries in Europe, Belgium has also shifted its gaze towards the Arctic, where the compass of the technological future is now focused.

The 3rd China Polar Youth Forum Successfully Held in Beijing!
The 3rd China Polar Youth Forum, organized by APECS China and hosted by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, was successfully held at the Second Floor Conference Hall of the Meteorological Science and Technology Building of the China Meteorological Administration from June 13th to 15th, 2023. More than 200 experts, scholars, and students from over 50 universities and research institutions across China participated in the event. Representatives from the Polar Research Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration also attended the forum.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the Scientific Committee Antarctic Research (SCAR, https://www.scar.org/) are looking for an early career scientist (ECR) to join the SCAR Equality, Diversity, Inclusion Action Group (EDI-AG). While experience in EDI is not required for the position, applicants should have an interest in and enthusiasm for addressing EDI in SCAR and the wider community. The ECR participant will attend SCAR-EDI-AG meetings and will be responsible for assisting the group to achieve their goals. 

For specific questions on this position, please contact Inga Beck (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). The position will be for 2 years and is non-salaried.

We are now inviting all APECS members to join our activities as members of our Project Groups for the new APECS term starting 1 October! This is one of the easiest ways to get more involved in APECS and to contribute in a way that is best suited to your interests and skills. Hosting meetings, taking notes, research, writing, graphic design, social media posting, sending emails - these are just a few examples of the ways you can contribute to APECS project groups.