Meeting Notes 2011-2012

The ExCom met again on September 19th. Although the group was a little reduced due to family emergencies, it was a very productive call. The 2011-2012 ExCom has had a lot on their plates this year, and there is still a lot that we want to get done before we hand over the reigns to the next ExCom! Discussion points included future support of the Directorate in Tromsø, collaboration with the High North Academy on webinars and website resources, a developing application to a seat on the Arctic Council, extension of various agreements that provide support for the APECS website and APECS webinars, APECS letters of support to collaborator projects, planning of a few future APECS events, and of course getting the wheels in motion to make sure that the imminent transition goes smoothly.

As always, we encourage all those interested in the Council and ExCom to let us know, and we will be happy to include you in our discussions and meetings when possible. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can always reach us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The recent Executive Committee meeting (held 8 May, 2012) followed up on many in-person discussions at the Montreal IPY 2012 conference. As the first meeting which included our newly-appointed Director, Alexey Pavlov, much of the discussion focused on the all-important topic of transitioning over this role. We talked about everything from managing email lists and workflow to managing budgets and developing Memorada of Understanding. Alexey is enthusiastic in taking on the Directorship, and while currently dedicated to fulfilling his research role, is looking forward to moving to Tromsø in early June.

Projects that the ExCom is currently working include an APECS Merchandise store, developing a 5-year strategic plan with our new Director, supporting upcoming APECS events (in Portland, Lahti, Fairbanks, and more!), and formalizing our video sharing policy.

As always, if you have any comments or questions for the ExCom, please do email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Present: Allen Pope, Angelika Renner, Jennifer Provencher, Gerlis Fugmann, Luís Guilherme Resende de Assis, Inga May, Julia Schmale, Tosca Ballerini, Yulia Zaika

APECS ExCom met together again on the 14th of March via Skype to discuss some of the strategic issues. Council and RAC Co-Chairs joined the Call to make great inputs and discuss particular points. ExCom has discussed autumn APECS activities and plans for career development webinars and virtual poster sessions with our partners - High North Academy and Fram Center based in Tromso. Some particular issues on how to use our new webconferencing system effectively rose lately due to growing number of APECS online events. We agreed to use the Google Doc - https://docs.google.com/a/apecs.is/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmryhLHk-YERdHBHTUtWc1FlTUtENGRFZWdSZWRZaWc#gid=0 to keep track of our events and make sure that we have more detailed instructions for all our members to avoid any concurrent meetings. Julia Schmale presented the idea to work on Encyclopedia of Antarctica. ExCom decided to announce this opportunity to the entire APECS membership and follow up with individual members. Current Council activity as it follows from mid-term Council Report shows that almost all Council members are very active and enthhusiastic but some of them decided to step down from the Council. In the mid of March the mid-term elections for RAC chairs will be organized.
APECS ExCom is working on longterm Strategic Plan for APECS activities and it was decided to have this plan as one of the points of agenda for the upcoming Council Meeting in Montreal this April. All the contributions from APECS members are very welcome.

As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

And just to remind you - any of the APECS members are welcome to participate in ExCom Calls.

As young researchers, we are constantly thinking about the next step in our careers, and the recent ExCom meeting focused on the future of APECS on many timescales. In the near future, we are making sure that everything is running smoothly in the planning of upcoming APECS events (like IPY 2012 in Montreal, a workshop at the SCAR conference in Portland, and an APECS Norge Board Meeting) as well as progress in the website realignment project. Slightly more into the future, we addressed plans for current grant proposals APECS has submitted to support activities like webinars and the virtual poster session. And further into the future, with a new Director in mind, the ExCom has started to make progress on putting together an APECS Strategic Plan for the upcoming years. The ExCom was also especially happy to have RAC Chair Julia Schmale join the call and provide some wonderful insight and advice.

As always, if you have any input/comments/questions/concerns for the ExCom or want to get more involved with APECS, please do contact us.

ExCom Meeting Details:
27 February, 2012 at 1700 GMT
Hosted on Skype

Attendees:
Allen Pope (note-taker), Angelika Renner, Jenny Baeseman, Julia Schmale, Yulia Zaika, and Gerlis Fugmann (except when discussing director interviews)

Apologies:
Jennifer Provencher
Luis Guillerme de Assis on leave of absence

Present: Allen Pope, Angelika Renner, Jennifer Provencher, Jenny Baeseman (Director), Luís Guilherme Resende de Assis, and Yulia Zaika (President)

The APECS Executive Committee 2011/2012 met for the first time in person two weeks ago in the city of Tromsø. The ExCom heads up APECS through leading action, strategy, and decision-making within APECS. Accordingly, the meeting days focused on planning for the upcoming APECS Director transition period as well as the future growth of APECS. This included many discussions about institutional knowledge transfer, hiring schedules, job descriptions, costs to be incurred, strategic plans, and many other administrative considerations. It might not all sound like an exciting job, but it was good experience for the ExCom members and hopefully will ensure smooth sailing for the rest of APECS in the coming years. And the Northern lights a few nights didn't hurt either!

While in Tromsø, the ExCom also took the opportunity to meet with local partners and advisors including the Arctic Council Secretariat, University of Tromsø administrators, Norwegian Polar Institute, ARCTOS, IASC, the High North Academy, and the APECS Norge Board of Directors. Look out for more collaborations with these folks in the future!

Moving into 2012, the ExCom is really excited that we all got the chance to meet in person! The main takeaway from the meeting is that we want to do all we can to make sure that APECS continues to move both move forwards and innovate. APECS has earned itself a worldwide reputation as THE organization for young polar researchers, and the ExCom will make sure we do all we can to sustain APECS.

In the coming weeks and months we will be posting the resulting job description, policies, and strategy documents and you will see the ideas we came up with turn into action. As always, if you have questions, comments, or want to get involved, just Contact Us!

On 15 December, the APECS Directorate and the ExCom had another online meeting via GoToMeeting system to discuss a number of important issues and test new webconferencing tool.

General gudelines and points about hosts of Directorate, Jenny's leave, the director transition process, financial status and strategy of the organization were discussed. A lot of exciting stuff to be done during the upcoming ExCom In-person Meeting in January in Tromsø: APECS budget, strategic plan, future activities; a lot of important people to meet. January will start with training sessions on GoToWebinar system with VPS, Council and MIC/RAC Chairs.

Present: Allen Pope, Angelika Renner, Jenny Baeseman, Luis Guilherme de Assis, Yulia Zaika
On 29 November, the APECS Directorate and the ExCom had another online skype meeting to discuss the progress of our organization and a number of important details. We have been looking into a new webinar conferencing tool as the agreement with the University of Canterbury is running out – and we are happy to report that we will be using – GoToWebinar for the next year thanks to an in-kind contribution from Bredbandsfylket based in Tromsø, Norway. GoToWebinar is rated as one of the best systems there is currently, and we are sure this will be great for us. We would like to thank Daniela Liggett and the University of Canterbury for letting us use their Adobe Connect system for so many great meetings. To revitalize Education and Outreach Committee we are planning to organize first EOC Call in January and update the mailing list (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). As APECS is growing really fast and now more than 3000 members, we are planning to develop a strategic plan for 5 years which will include main goals, objectives, timelines, financial statements and bullet points for advancing APECS over the next few years. This strategic plan will also include a renewal of the Directorate, currently hosted by the University of Tromsø and that Norwegian Polar Institute until Dec. 2012 On another note, we have been discussing the potential to create an APECS Mentor award and an APECS Educational and Outreach Award to honor the achievements of so many great people. A lot of exciting stuff to be done during the planning and preparing for ExCom In-person meeting in January in Tromsø, Norway and look for more fun things coming your way in regards to the IPY From Knowledge to Action Conference in Montreal this April – including the APECS 5 year Anniversary party!!!

present: Allen Pope, Angelika Renner, Gerlis Fugmann, Jennifer Provencher, Jenny Baeseman, Luis Guilherme de Assis, Tosca Ballerini, Yulia Zaika

It's busy times for APECS and the ExCom, and there was a lot to discuss during the call on 31 October. Again, council co-chair Tosca was able to join and reported back from her chat with the newest council applicant. We are happy to report that the ExCom approved the application and we welcome Pablo Nicolás Núñez Pölcher to the council! During this process we also discovered an unexpected passion of our fabulous director Jenny B for Argentinian purses...

Tackling some organisational issues, the current working groups and potential solutions for our online conferencing system were discussed.

During this term, it is more vital than ever for the ExCom to work on new funding for the directorate, and to this end, the in-person meeting will take place in Tromsø, Norway, on 18-20 January 2012. Until then and in preparation for the meeting, the ExCom is updating and starting to work their way through the list of priorities for the 2011/2012 term.

Attendance: Allen, Geli, Gerlis, Jennipro, Jenny B, Luis, Tosca, & Yulia

The ExCom met on 19 October via skype, and we are happy to report that we are getting to our feet and assigning tasks for the near future and the upcoming rest of the year. Happily, Council Co-Chair Tosca Ballerini was able to attend, too, and can carry back a bit of what an ExCom call is like to the Council. We addressed the scheduling of an upcoming in-person meeting (it's important that the ExCom get to know each other as well as possible, as well as see where our Director works in Tromsø!). The ExCom is also working on spreading the word about APECS (in a partner newsletter as well as an email to newly starting students), we are addressing a potential issue with our online meeting system, and continue to advocate for all active APECS members to be web-proactive. It's going to be a busy year!

present: Allen Pope, Angelika Renner, Gerlis Fugmann, Jennifer Provencher, Jenny Baeseman, Luis Guilherme de Assis, Mariette Wheeler, Suhas Shetye, Yulia Zaika

October is handover time in the APECS leadership and so the outgoing and the incoming ExCom met for a transition call on the 04 October. The old ExCom members shared their best advice and recommendations (communication is key and don't forget to have fun!), and the new ExCom people got a chance to get to know each other and ask their most urgent questions. After that, the key point of the call was the election of the new president for the 2011-2012 term and our congratulations go to Yulia Zaika from Russia who will lead us through the year!

The new ExCom is now busy figuring out how to best work together and coordinate efforts, and gets started on the jobs waiting for them. So stay tuned to hear more from us soon, and as usual, any questions, comments or suggestions, email us as This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!