Sign up for APECS Project Groups 2021/2022!

We are happy to let you know that the current APECS Leadership organized some training sessions for you! These shall be interesting for everyone who is very new to APECS or who considers taking a leadership role in the future or who really wants to learn how APECS works, as we really want you to take the most out of your APECS experience and involvement. A short presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session.

Getting ready for the new term in APECS

1. Full-Year Project Groups

• Alpine Cryosphere

  Project Group Leads: Jolanta Rieksta and Rajeev Rajak

  Potential group size: 4-10

  An increasing number of APECS members work in the mid-latitude and high-altitude environments: The Alpine Cryosphere. This project group was therefore created to improve APECS’ resources for non-polar researchers, e.g. in 2021 the first Alpine Cryosphere Newsletter was published! In recent years the Project Group celebrated the International Mountain Day on 11 December with graphical abstracts and photo entries in 2019 and 2020. New ideas for partnerships, webinars or other resources are welcome!

• APECS Arts

  Project Group Leads: Kirsi Keskitalo and Anastasia Deyko

  Potential group size: 4-10

  The APECS Art project group is promoting links between art and science and is looking for ways to raise the profile of interesting collaborative and inspiring Art-Science projects, as well as developing a networking framework to bring artists and polar researchers together. Projects and exhibitions were for example showcased in a Polar Art Blog or during the celebration of Polar Week in March. Any new initiatives, ideas and potentials for collaborations are welcome!

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Polar Research

  Project Group Leads: Lauren Thompson and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-12

  This project group is an umbrella group that facilitates discussion and action related to diversity, inclusion, and equity in polar research. It is guided by the broad aim of supporting APECS members to thrive in their professional endeavors regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic class, disability, physical appearance, age, or career status. This project group cannot address all aspects of these broad and challenging topics. However, many of the challenges polar ECRs face in their careers – including widespread and high-profile issues like harassment, assault, and implicit bias – are interconnected and affect a range of individuals and groups. Therefore, this project group takes the form of an umbrella group that supports its members to lead activities related to the specific issues about which members are most concerned or passionate. Activities may focus on a single/narrow issue or on broad/overlapping issues: e.g., activities on international approaches to promoting inclusive field cultures, broadly; on combating harassment, specifically; or on combating sexual harassment in the field, more specifically. The goals of the group are to: (a) Facilitate international, interdisciplinary dialogue around diversity, inclusion, and equity in polar research; (b) Provide necessary and often hard-to-find resources for APECS members facing identity-related challenges, as well as bystanders, allies, and leaders in our communities, see collection of DEI resources here; (c) Help ensure that the values of diversity, inclusion, and equity remain embedded in APECS and related communities now and in the future.

• T-MOSAiC Vlogs

  Project Group Leads: Sergio Raez Villanueva and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-8

  The public is increasingly aware of the Arctic and its relevance to climate and ecosystems, from local to global scales. While there is broad awareness of Arctic science, few people have experienced Arctic environments and scientific research, despite the interconnectedness that technology offers. Bringing the public on a journey into Arctic field research will foster a deeper appreciation for northern environments and science. Moreover, broader light in the community of Arctic researchers should be shed on current and proposed activities within T-MOSAiC project which is aimed to connect studies taking place throughout the Arctic and across disciplines in order to generate new insights into northern geosystems, ecosystems and human systems. See a map of T-MOSAiC Vlogs here. The objective is to coordinate a series of vlogs by Arctic researchers, exploring their fieldwork environment, science, and its relevance. The project was started collaborating with IASC through T-MOSAiC initiative to increase the awareness of Arctic ecosystems. Considering the APECS focus, which includes both Polar regions, as well as Alpine and Cryosphere, the project area extended to not only Polar regions, but also Alpine and Cryosphere-related places. Therefore, we highly encourage participants to share their works to help us inspire the general public with your valuable research!"

• Indigenous Collaborations

  Project Group Leads: Stanislav Ksenofontov and Charlee Heath

  Potential group size: 4-10

  This group is currently seeking to form partnerships with Indigenous organizations, Indigenous knowledge holders and Indigenous Early Career Scientists that could help to set the group's priorities. These partnerships would lay out mutual benefits of both APECS and our Indigenous partners. Within our activities, we invite Indigenous speakers to our monthly meetings, organize or co-organize webinars, and contribute to the APECS International Polar Weeks.

• APECS Podcast (Polar Times)

  Project Group Leads: Jack Buckingham and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-12

  This project is producing a podcast which takes the form of interviews, talking to anyone and everyone who lives and works in polar environments. The goal is to be informative and interesting but also entertaining - the episodes will appeal particularly to APECS members but should be enjoyable for everyone (from senior scientists to laymen) to listen to. Living and working in the polar world is exciting and adventurous but it can also be monotonous, lonely or logistically fraught. We would like to peel back the veil and reveal the polar world as people might not have seen it before. We would like to talk to literally everyone and anyone, from PhD students to institute directors to vessel captains to Indigenous peoples. The episodes could also be a platform to share APECS news or report from conferences, as well as celebrate events like International Polar Week. An effort is made to have not only English speaker episodes but a wider diversity of languages. The interviews are informal and just a chance to chat about the guest’s research or experiences (perhaps any fun fieldwork stories as well!).

  Listen to the Podcast here! https://polartimes.podbean.com/

• Remote Sensing Database

  Project Group Leads: William Harcourt and Hiral Jain

  Potential group size: 4-12

  This project (now into its 2nd year) aims to build a resource that can be used by Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and the wider Polar community to help understand the availability of satellite remote sensing data sets. There are three key goals to the project: 1. To generate a central database and website that summarises the key specifications of past, present and future remote sensing instruments and how to access their data sets. 2. Review applications of satellite remote sensing in key areas of Polar science (e.g. glaciology, ecology and climate sciences) and incorporate them into the online resource. 3. To help improve the understanding of Remote Sensing instruments, their capabilities and limitations, and the suite of data sets available for Polar research. Anticipated Project Outputs: 1. An online database which contains the key specifications of satellite remote sensing instruments and their applications. 2. An accompanying website that summarises this information more succinctly. 3. A journal publication that will summarise the creation of this resource and help advertise it to the wider Polar community. A journal such as Earth System Science Data may be suitable for this purpose.

• Mental Health Resources

  Project Group Leads: Lina Madaj and Fizza Maryam

  Potential group size: 4-8

  It is more and more clear that being an ECR in academia is stressful and challenging, especially with all the current uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this Project Group is to create and curate a database compiling information, online tests, tips, contacts, etc. from reputable sources on the issue of Mental Health and mental health issues in academia. APECS members and the entire community will be able to access this resource through the website, increasing the potential impact of this resource.

• Science & Diplomacy

  Project Group Leads: Nicholas Parlato and Chloe Scott

  Potential group size: 8-15

  Since the 1990’s, the Arctic has proven to be a robust space for open, diplomatic communication, unique multilateral governance structures, and strong international scientific cooperation. Through Arctic Council working groups, scientific observing networks, and critical research initiatives, a common commitment to science has served as the unifying force in Arctic relations and bears a substantial amount of the peacekeeping burden in the region, symbolically and materially. Much debate reigns on whether and how the “low politics” of science, cultural exchange, and environmental cooperation impact the “high politics” of great power competition, but what is clear is that social and natural scientists, as well as Indigenous people, are the best positioned actors to communicate humanitarian pan-Arctic values and thinking to policy-makers and representatives of national and regional governments. There is thus a need to highlight the diplomatic and cross-cultural work of scientists and Indigenous researchers, as well as empower early-career scientists to speak up for a sustainable and peaceful future. Successful multilateral collaboration between diverse actors will require that we foster an adaptive communicative culture and language to address an increasingly intersectional and interdisciplinary arena of action.
  
  This project group was formed in 2020 and aims to create Arctic-specific science diplomacy and communication resources for early career-scientists interested in the policy-application of their own research and the broader conversation about peace and cooperation in the Arctic. A recent example of the Project Groups activity is a webinar on Science & Diplomacy in Greenland-US relations in May 2021.

• Mentorship Database (New!)

  Project Group Leads: Meghan Helmberger and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-7

  The new project group aims to manage the mentorship database and start building a mentorship program using mentors that are on the list. These ideas are building off of previous work done and interest gathered from the existing list of mentors. This project group, if sustained throughout terms, would be responsible for maintaining the database every couple of years. Coupled with this, once established (in the first term), this project group would be responsible for connecting mentors/mentees each term. Individual tasks for project group members could be along the lines of: creating emails for mentee recruitment, developing text for the mentorship website hosted on the APECS website, creating a system for matching mentors and mentees (which could be updated every other term/or as needed), and/or creating collaborations with the DEI mentor subgroup. 

• Overcoming Language Barriers in Polar Research (New!)

  Project Group Leads: Élise Devoie and tbd

  Potential group size: 5-25

  Objective: Create a platform for Indigenous early career researchers to develop scientific communication skills with the aim of overcoming barriers to publication, presentation and career development

  This new group aims to establish a positive and safe learning environment where ECRs work together to develop and clearly communicate ideas. The first session of each term we will seek a mentor to give a seminar on effective practices for giving and receiving feedback. This group will be steered by the feedback from participants, and thus the objectives are flexible. Future work will aim to educate practitioners of western science about language barriers and how best to negotiate them inclusively. To begin, the objectives are:

  1.    Safe-space Science Socials: virtual meetings taking place approximately once every two weeks (depending on demand) where Indigenous ECRs are invited to come talk about their science, learn about others’ research projects, meet other Indigenous ECRs and practice science communication. 

  2.    Peer Abstract Review: written abstracts can be sent in for ECR peer review.

  3.    Glossary of Cold Region Terms: a glossary of terms will be hosted on the APECS website, each term will be defined in simple language, and translated into as many Indigenous languages as possible with the help of ECR social participants.

   If you are an ECR, a mentor, or have a passion for transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary science communication, please get in touch, we are excited to have you join us, shape our work, and are interested in your feedback and ideas! 

  This pilot project is aimed at Indigenous ECRs because they face a disproportionate number of barriers and are integral to the science benign studied on their lands, but in the future we hope to collaborate with the APECS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Project Group to identify and work to overcome barriers faced by any marginalized or under-represented group in polar science.

• Communication of Climate Change impacts in the Arctic (New!)

  Project Group Leads: Alexis Geels and tbd

  Potential group size: 8-15

  In the wake of the latest IPCC report, the topic of climate change can be seen as very complicated and inaccessible, especially to the non-scientific population and likely to many scientists too. The goal of this project group would be to inform about the consequences of climate change on the Arctic and its environments and how it would impact other regions.
  
  The first step would be the creation of a document/video/scheme/comic/... representing the climate-change threats on the Arctic and depicting the potential consequences of these changes to other regions. Of course, this should be understandable by all. The second step of this project would be to ensure the diffusion through relevant means to the targeted audience. As a way of diffusion, we can think of social media and press, but it can also be passed on to every local branch of APECS and they would arrange the relay to the relevant press.
  
  As it is a cross-disciplinary project, not only scientists from different fields are encouraged to join the group, but also proficient communicators, designers and others. This is a first shot at devising a project that should be adapted according to the group and co-leader.

2. Temporary Project Groups

• APECS International Mentorship Award 2022

  Project Group Leads: Maciej Mańko, Olivia Noeline Fernando and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-7

  The APECS International Mentorship Award is designed to recognize the time and energy that mentors devote to Early Career Researchers each year, and their efforts to build a community of support. This Project Group will prepare the call, collect nominations for the APECS International Mentorship Award 2022, organize the evaluation and announcement of the new recipient. See more information on the selection process and past recipients on the APECS Website.

• IASC Fellowship Review

  Project Group Leads: none, as coordinated by the APECS Office

  Potential group size: 15-25

  Timeline: October 2021-December 2021

  The IASC Fellowship Program is meant to engage early career scientists in the work of the five IASC Working Groups (WGs): Atmosphere, Cryosphere, Marine, Social & Human, and Terrestrial and additionally for Arctic indigenous. IASC Fellows are doctoral or postdoctoral researchers who actively participate in selected activities of the IASC WGs. We are looking for reviewers for the applications. Only people who are not applying for the IASC Fellowships that year are qualified to be reviewers. See more information on the IASC Fellows 2021 here.

3. Event-Related Project Groups

• Antarctica Day 2021

  Project Group Leads: Katharina Heinrich and Azamat Tolipov

  Potential group size: 4-10

  Timeline: October 2021-December 2021

  Antarctica Day is celebrated by the international polar community on 1st December 2021 in the meaning of its anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty (1959). ​During this time of the year, the group organises a series of activities (i.e. online workshops, flag activities, webinar series, photo/art contests, vlogs etc.) ​to celebrate with all APECS members, including inviting APECS National Committees and their activities towards raising awareness of the importance of Antarctica, especially in the changing world.

• APECS International Polar Weeks 2022

  International Polar Week March 2022
  
  Project Group Leads: Juliana Souza-Kasprzyk and Alexandra Filippova 

  Potential group size: 4-10

  Timeline: October 2021-March 2022

  
  International Polar Week September 2022

  Project Group Leads: Arnab Paul and tbd

  Potential group size: 4-10

  Timeline: April-September 2022

  
  The polar regions support a rich array of life, including northern communities. Whether it's in the Arctic or Antarctic, scientists from all over the world are working together to increase our knowledge of the cryosphere and its inhabitants. It is for this spirit of international cooperation and the excitement of scientific discovery that the APECS proudly organizes International Polar Weeks. APECS uses this opportunity to plan & develop polar science, education and outreach related activities alongside teachers, educators and those interested in polar education for the equinoxes of each year. The equinoxes in March and September are the only time when everywhere on earth the day length is 12 hours, a perfect opportunity to celebrate the poles on a global scale! Polar Week is organized in both March and September and internationally coordinated by an APECS Council Project Group. We set up two Project Groups as one for the planning of the March and one of the September Polar Week. The groups will work on both, developing the APECS international education and outreach activities for the week, and also working in close cooperation with the APECS National and International Committees to encourage them to contribute activities for a wider celebration worldwide! 

• APECS International Online Conference 2022

  Project Group Leads: Ljuba Günther and tbd

  Potential group size: 8-15

  Timeline: February-June 2022

  This group organises the annual APECS Online Conference held annually since 2015 and all associated activities. This includes defining a theme, the call for abstracts, shortlisting the abstract submissions, planning and executing the programme and chairing the event. In recent years, excellent presentations were awarded with a prize for which the conference organizers organized the judging of presentations. Please see the most recent 7th APECS International Online Conference here.

• APECS Workshop at the Arctic Science Summit Week 2022

  Project Group Leads: tbd

  Potential group size: 4-10

  Timeline: November 2021-March 2022

  We plan to hold online workshops to engage Early Career Researchers (ECRs) who will be attending ASSW2022, and others who are interested in Arctic research. The workshops are being organized by early career researchers from the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and potential partners. Interactive sessions will provide an opportunity for ECRs to engage with Arctic researchers and provide a community building for everyone who will be attending ASSW2022. Workshop topics are open for discussion for the Project Group.

• APECS Workshop at the UArctic Congress 2022

  Project Group Leads: tbd

  Potential group size: 4-10

  Timeline: January - October 2022

  The UArctic Congress 2022 will take place in Moscow, on October 4-7, 2022, hosted by Lomonosov Moscow State University. The Congress will be included in the general program of the Russian chairmanship of the Arctic Council for 2022 and it focuses the priorities as Arctic Peoples, Climate Change and the Arctic Environment, Socio-Economic Development in the Region, and Strengthening International Arctic Cooperation (including education and research) to become a top-of-the-line event in developing international scientific cooperation in the Arctic. APECS Project Group will take advantage of becoming a part of this Congress, which welcomes institutional leaders, indigenous representatives, academics, scientists and students from around the Circumpolar North and beyond, while creating its workshop series at the UArctic Congress 2022!