Executive Committee Elections

APPLY for the APECS Executive Committee to help shape our organization and influence the future of polar research!

The elections for the 2023-2024 APECS Executive Committee will be held during May and June 2023 for the term from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024.

Application deadline: 24 May 2023 at 23:59 GMT

The APECS Executive Committee (ExCom) consists of five members, who are elected by the APECS Council to manage the day-to-day decisions of the organization. You can find information about the ExCom on the APECS website or in the APECS Handbook, including some general information, the list of current ExCom members, as well as summaries of their meetings.

2023 Elections timeline:

• 24 May at 23:59 GMT: Application deadline
• 30 May - 15 June: Review period within the APECS Council including Q&A with ExCom applicants
• 16 - 27  June at 23:59 GMT: Voting period within the APECS Council
• 30 June: Announcement of the 2023-2024 APECS Executive Committee
• 1 July - 30 September: Transition process

For any questions, the ExCom Election Coordinators 2023 (Susana Hancock, Élise Devoie, Gwen Gremion, Deniz Vural, Sarah Strand) can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Who is eligible to apply?

The Executive Committee is a rewarding, very high-paced and work-intensive committee, and its members must be willing and able to contribute actively throughout their term on an almost daily basis via emails (except during e.g. field work, exam periods, holidays) and attend the online ExCom meetings (~2 hours) every two weeks. For this reason, we require applicants to meet certain criteria:

• Eligible to apply

  You are eligible to apply for the APECS Executive Committee if you are a member of APECS and have prior experience in either ...
  ... the APECS Council (current or past) or
  ... one of the APECS National Committee leaderships.

• Eligible to apply with special permission

  You are eligible to apply with special permission from the ExCom Election Coordinators if you are an APECS member and do not meet the criteria above but have leadership experience from other activities/organizations. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to see if you are eligible to apply or have questions about the position.

• Not eligible to apply

  You are not eligible to apply if you ...
  ... are not an APECS member
  ... do not meet the eligibility criteria
  ... have been a previous member of the APECS Council and have been removed from it due to inactivity or other reasons.

Please note that to be a successful member of the APECS Executive Committee, a good background knowledge of APECS’ activities, projects and internal processes is required, as one of your roles will be to mentor and advise APECS Council members, Project Groups and representatives. If you have not been actively involved in APECS before, we strongly recommend that you gain some experience through our APECS Council, National Committees or Project Groups first before applying for the Executive Committee.

More information about how to apply to Council or get involved in Project Groups will be announced in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, note in your calendar the following dates!

• 20 June: Call for Council leadership candidate applications released
• 20 June: Call for Project Group Leader applications released
• 03 July: Deadline to submit an application to candidate for Council leadership
• 24 July: Deadline to submit an application to be Project Group Leader
• 22 August: Call for Project Group members released
• 12 September: Deadline to submit an application to be a Project Group member 

How to apply?

• If you have previously been part of ExCom or Council leadership

  If you have been involved in ExCom meetings, e.g. as a previous ExCom member, Council Co-chair, National Committee Coordinator, Social Media Coordinator, Representative Coordinator, or temporary replacement) you will have a good idea about the work of ExCom. You can submit your application at any time by filling out this application form by 24 May 2023 at 23:59 GMT. Feel free to contact the ExCom Election Coordinators with any questions you might have.
  
  Please note that you have to upload a short (maximum 120 seconds) video of yourself as part of the application form. To standardize submissions, all videos must be recorded using Zoom. Videos that do not conform to these guidelines will be discarded and will not be provided to Council. These videos will be made available in a “view only” folder for APECS Council. In your video, please include: your name and a bit about yourself, why you want to apply for ExCom, why you think you would be the perfect candidate, and why Council members should vote for you.
  
  Your application material (excluding the video) will be publicly posted on the ExCom elections webpage after the application deadline.

• All other applicants

  If you have never been involved in ExCom via the capacities indicated above, please follow these steps (all of them are mandatory to complete before the application deadline):
  
  Step 1: Contact the ExCom Election Coordinators to let them know that you are thinking of applying and arrange a call with them. This call is so we can discuss with you the work that you would have to do on the ExCom and answer any questions you might have. Only after that call will you be invited to submit your application.
  Step 2: Submit your application by filling out this application form by 24 May 2023 at 23:59 GMT.
  
  Please note that you have to upload a short (maximum 120 seconds) video of yourself as part of the application form. To standardize submissions, all videos must be recorded using Zoom. Videos that do not conform to these guidelines will be discarded and will not be provided to Council. This video will be made available in a “view only” folder for APECS Council. In your video, please include: your name and a bit about yourself, why you want to apply for ExCom, why you think you would be the perfect candidate, and why Council members should vote for you.
  
  Your application material (excluding the video) will be publicly posted on the ExCom elections webpage after the application deadline.

What is the process for applicants after the application deadline?

• Applications posted on the ExCom elections webpage

  Your application will be publicly posted on the ExCom elections webpage so that our Council members have a chance to review it. 
  The video you uploaded as part of your application will be made available in a “view only” folder for the APECS Council.

• Review period

  The APECS Council will be reviewing your applications from 30 May - 15 June. They will have the opportunity to ask you questions via email. We will collect the questions from Council members until 6 June, when we will forward them to the ExCom applicants. ExCom applicants will have until 13 June to answer them in writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. after which point the responses will be forwarded to the Council. ExCom applicants will have between 6 - 13 June to answer any questions that have been submitted. Remember that you want to convince the Council members to vote for you!

• Voting period / Announcement of results

  The Council will be voting on your applications from 16 - 27 June.
  The ExCom Election Coordinators will contact you on 30 June with the election results.

• Transition period

  The newly elected incoming ExCom will work with the outgoing ExCom in July, August, September and October to assure that an effective transition of leadership takes place. The incoming ExCom will be invited to sit in on the current term’s ExCom meetings; this term's ExCom meetings are held 16:00-18:00 GMT every other Tuesday (on the following dates during the transition period: 4 July, 18 July, 1 August, 15 August, 29 August, 12 September, 26 September). Newly elected incoming ExCom members are expected to attend most, but not all, of these meetings. In addition, one or more transition meetings will be scheduled between the incoming and outgoing ExCom. If you have fieldwork or other known conflicts during this period, please contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Further instructions will be sent to the newly elected ExCom members and the outgoing ExCom as soon as the election results are in.

What happens if I do not get elected?
ExCom applicants who are not elected are encouraged to apply for other APECS positions, including Council leadership (application deadline 3 July), Project Group Leader (application deadline 24 July), and Project Group member (application deadline 12 September).