The Association of Polar Early Career Scientist has a long tradition in organizing events and activities for early career researchers (ECRs) at major scientific conferences and events. In this event, the National Committee (NC) of Colombia continues the line of polar networking between Latin American countries, in collaboration with some researchers that visualized the polar work during the first APECS Iberoamerican Online Conference 2019 in Spanish. Our aim was to show APECS to the Colombian Antarctic human sciences researchers community, come together Early Career Researchers (ECR’s) and establish the bases for future networking and professional relationships.
As part of the I Feria Antártica 2019, the NC APECS Colombia, organized a fascinating talk on Wednesday 30 October from 16:20 to 16:50 (local time). It was open for ECRs members and non-members of the association, as well as more experienced researchers in the mood to increase our networking. A total of around 100 attendants joined to enjoy the evening together.
A brief introduction to the talk by Jhon Mojica-Moncada (in video) initiated the evening (see left photo © Comisión Colombiana del Océano). The presentation on APECS association, aims, activities, and challenges was given by Dalia Barragán-Barrera (see photo below © Comisión Colombiana del Océano). During her presentation, we highlighted the importance of involving Human Sciences in Colombian Antarctic Research, and we invited all attendees to be part of APECS as a great opportunity to increase polar network in multidisciplinary areas. Several students from history, geosciences and education showed interest in APECS. Similarly, researchers from Colombia congratulated the APECS initiative, and researchers from other countries such as Argentina and Chile offered support to conduct collaborative research.
During APECS talk, we showed parts of four oral presentations presented during the first APECS Iberoamerican Online Conference 2019. Attendees highlighted the educational initiatives presented in these talks, as an important tool to create a polar culture in Latin American countries. Talks presented were:
1) “Parásitos bajo cero, una carrera Antártica”, presented by Leyla Cárdenas Tavie (Chile), in which she presented a game to teach about Antarctic parasites in the school.
2) “La Antártida como vasto recurso didáctico – pedagógico en el aula de enseñanza media”, presented by Candice Pérez Morales (Uruguay), in which she presented educational Antarctic initiatives for mid-school children and blind children.
3) “El rol de Ushuaia en la política antártica argentina durante el siglo XX”, presented by Valeria Analia Trezza (Argentina), in which she presented the role of the austral Argentinian city Ushuaia in the Antarctic policy of that country during the XX century.
4) “Desafíos de la preservación in situ de los vestigios arqueológicos loberos-balleneros en las Islas Shetland del Sur (Antártica), presented by Gerusa de Alkmim Radicchi (Brasil), in which she presented the challenges and methodology to conserve the archeological-whalers vestiges in the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica.
Written by Dalia C. Barragán-Barrera, Jhon F. Mojica-Moncada, Diego F. Mojica-Moncada, and Cristina Cedeño-Posso
All photos taken by Comisión Colombiana del Océano.
