On 10 and 11 February 2014, a meeting of the extended Steering Group on a Long-Term Cooperative International Initiative took place in Paris. It was kindly hosted by the IOC of UNESCO in Paris, France. WMO supported travel of 4 participants in the meeting, including APECS representative Allen Pope. Other organizations represented included AMAP, IASC, IASSA, IHO, GRID-Arendal, UNESCO, ICSU/Future Earth, EPB, MRI, and more. The meeting was chaired by David Hik and the secretary was Vladimir Ryabinin.
The meeting reviewed polar interests and objectives of participating organizations and made a strong attempt to identify commonalities between them, in the process defining a concept document for an International Polar Partnership Initiative (IPPI). Please take a minute to look at the *draft* IPPI Concept Draft and send feedback on what you think back to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The IPPI group is currently consulting many people and organizations, and the draft will evolve with these discussions. APECS has been a part of the IPPI discussion since it began, and the IPPI is committed to making the voices of early career researchers of all polar disciplines heard now and into the future. Your comments will be heard and acted upon!
This is a good opportunity to also talk about being an APECS rep on a high-level committee like his one. My role was not only to present about APECS and what APECS does, but also use my early career perspective to feed in to discussions. As an early career scientist, I have just as many opinions as senior scientists on, for example, international and interdisciplinary research in a climate with reduced research funding. It is also my role to advocate for training and capacity building aspects to be integrated into any long-term polar initiative. After all, as the future is being planned, it is important to have the future in the room.
In addition, the group's secretary also gave me more responsibility and opportunity by appointing me to lead one of the breakout groups and put together the concept document draft! It was a bit daunting but also quite rewarding. Finally, I was able to connect with other committee members about ways they can work with APECS, as well as how we might collaborate on future research. The meeting was only two days, but it was an invaluable opportunity that I wouldn't have had without APECS.
If you're interested in being an APECS rep on committee like this one, get involved as soon as possible! Keep your eyes open for future opportunitites on the APECS email list, and also contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions about what you can do now and how APECS can help you shape the future of polar research.
