Recently the APECS Executive Committee (ExCom) had an in person meeting of the 2014/2015 committee members. The meeting took place in Trondheim, Norway (29th of November - 1st of December). This was a great opportunity for five ExCom members, the APECS Director and one ex-officio member to finally meet together and discuss face-to-face the most relevant organizational questions and needs of APECS.
All current executive members were able to participate in this important meeting. Members found the time in their tight schedules to come to Trondheim from Norway, Russia, Germany, Canada, Scotland and United States. The seven young enthusiasts worked hard for three days and created a basis for the future of the APECS, including organization priorities, strategy, partnerships, current and prospective projects, future plans and budget.
The agenda of the meeting was intense and numerous topics were discussed: mainly it was devoted to the future of the organization, but the current issues were not left out as well.
We prioritized activities of APECS, ExCom, council and national committees for 2014/15 term based on the needs of early career polar scientists. The key points for this year included conducting an organizational review of APECS with a subsequent 5 year strategic plan for the organization, APECS presence and role in international science and policy bodies and educational, career development, research and networking initiatives for early career scientists. In particular, we discussed ways of improving interaction between APECS and the National Committees including formalizing the relationships in Memorandums of Understanding (MoU). We aim to support, assist, advise and encourage our national committees in context of their successful activity and development. This point is of great relevance due to the "APECS world summit" which will take place in June 2015 in Bulgaria. The majority of the APECS projects are carried out in cooperation with other organizations and we recognise that strong partnerships lead to a healthy and prosperous organization, therefore we continue to look for ways to strengthen existing relationships and foster new ones.
The strategic plan was drafted but it will take its final form only after the organizational review. In the organizational review people with different background and level of expertise from inside and outside APECS will evaluate and consult the organization. The structure, effectiveness, goals and objectives, mechanisms and methods of organization will be evaluated.
Also, we carefully evaluated various ongoing APECS activities: what is good and effective and what requires support, adjustment or rethinking. Activities and priorities for the Council, sub-committees and our working groups were an important part of the discussion during the in person meeting.
As a result we enjoyed our meeting and had a good and productive time. Some of the ExCom members stayed in the Trondheim longer and joined the Arctic Biodiversity congress. We would like to thank the work of the previous ExCom and financial support from the APECS directorate. We highly appreciate the assistance of the Norwegian Environmental Agency and organizers of the Arctic Biodiversity Congress who helped us in the organization of in person meeting.
