International Directorate

Affiliation and Location: Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany

Contact:
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Phone (office): +49-331-2882214
Fax: +49-331-2882215

Bio: Heike Midleja is an experienced office manager and has a long history of working with the international Arctic science community.

As the former administrative assistant for the International Arctic Science Committee (2009-2016), she has cooperated with APECS on several occasions to promote and enhance opportunities for early career development.

She has managed the offices for both the IASC secretariat in Potsdam and the EU-Project office “Changing Permafrost in the Arctic and its Global Effects in the 21st Century” (PAGE21, 2011-2015). Heike started her career at the administrative department of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research.

Ready for new challenges, Heike is excited to join the APECS team. Starting February 2017, she will hold the position of the Administrative Assistant at the APECS International Directorate. In addition, she supports the German Arctic Office as the Administrative Officer. Both offices are hosted by the AWI in Potsdam, Germany.

Heike is happy to assist the APECS International Directorate regarding all administrative and organizational processes within the next years and is looking forward to make new collaborations with researchers working in the Polar Regions.

The main costs associated with running APECS comes in supporting our International Directorate Office. APECS is very grateful for the support provided by its current and past Directorate sponsors. Below is some information to help you learn more about these great organizations and the opportunities they have for early career researchers:

Main APECS Directorate Location

From February 2017 until January 2022, the APECS International Directorate Office with the APECS Executive Director and APECS Administrative Assistant are funded and hosted by the generous support of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research. The office is housed at the AWI location in Potsdam, Germany.

• Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research

  APECS International Directorate Host and Sponsor February 2017 until January 2022

  As the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, the Alfred Wegener Institute is primarily active in the cold and temperate regions of the world. Working together with numerous national and international partners, we are actively involved in unravelling the complex processes at work in the “Earth System”. Our planet is undergoing fundamental climate change; the polar regions and the oceans, which play central roles in the global climate system, are in flux. How will planet Earth evolve? Do the phenomena we’re observing represent short-term fluctuations or long-term trends? Polar and marine research has always been a fascinating scientific challenge; today it is also research into the future. For more information please visit: http://www.awi.de/en.html

Other Locations

From October 2017 until June 2019, an APECS Project Officer will be hosted by UiT The Arctic University of Norway at its Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics in Tromsø, Norway and funded through the two EU Horizon 2020 projects INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic) and APPLICATE (Advanced Prediction in Polar regions and beyond: modelling, observing system design and LInkages associated with a Changing Arctic climaTE). This position is responsible for UiT and APECS tasks as part of these two projects, and helping with other activities in the APECS International Directorate.

• UiT The Arctic University of Norway

  

  APECS International Directorate Host and Sponsor 2009 until January 2017

  UiT The Arctic University of Norway is the northernmost university of the world. Research and studies offered at our university focus on Arctic and northern issues: marine science, biomedicine, telemedicine, physics, linguistics, multiculturalism, and research related to the Saami and indigenous people. Our university shall contribute to the national Norwegian diversity of basic scientific research and for some research areas we shall be among the best international actors.
  Fore more information please visit the website of the University of Tromsø.

• INTERACT

  INTERACT is an EU HORIZON 2020 EU infrastructure project under the auspices of SCANNET, a circumarctic network of currently 77 terrestrial field bases in northern Europe, Russia, US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Scotland as well as stations in northern alpine areas. INTERACT specifically seeks to build capacity for research and monitoring in the European Arctic and beyond, and is offering access to numerous research stations through the Transnational Access program. For more information visit the INTERACT website http://www.eu-interact.org/

• APPLICATE

  APPLICATE is an EU HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation Programme-financed project involving 16 partners from nine countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The multinational and multidisciplinary consortium will work to enhance weather and climate prediction capabilities not only in the Arctic, but also in Europe, Asia, and North America, To develop adequate tools to predict when and how severe weather systems will affect Europe, Asia and North America is vital to inhabitants of these regions. For more information on APPLICATE visit http://applicate.eu/

We also want to highlight the organizations that have in the past funded our APECS International Directorate. Their contributions were essential for allowing our organizsation to grow and we very much appreciated their support! 

Main APECS Directorate Location

From 2009 until January 2017, the main APECS International Directorate was located in Tromsø, Norway hosted at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and funded by the Research Council of Norway, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Polar Institute. 

• Research Council of Norway

  APECS International Directorate Sponsor 2009 until January 2017

  The Research Council is Norway's official body for the development and implementation of national research strategy. The Council is responsible for enhancing Norway's knowledge base and for promoting basic and applied research and innovation in order to help meet research needs within society. The Research Council also works actively to encourage international research cooperation. Underlying all the Research Council's activities is the viewpoint that research expands the boundaries of what we know, understand and can achieve. Research adds cultural resonance to society and creates a viable framework for welfare, value creation and sustainable development. Through its efforts as an advisory body on research strategy issues, a research funding agency and initiator of meeting places and networks, the Research Council seeks to meet and constantly refine the objectives for Norwegian research policy.
  Fore more information please visit the Research Council of Norway website.

• UiT The Arctic University of Norway

  

  APECS International Directorate Host and Sponsor 2009 until January 2017

  UiT The Arctic University of Norway is the northernmost university of the world. Research and studies offered at our university focus on Arctic and northern issues: marine science, biomedicine, telemedicine, physics, linguistics, multiculturalism, and research related to the Saami and indigenous people. Our university shall contribute to the national Norwegian diversity of basic scientific research and for some research areas we shall be among the best international actors.
  Fore more information please visit the website of the University of Tromsø.

• Norwegian Polar Institute

  

  APECS International Directorate Sponsor 2009 until January 2017

  The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions. The Institute is the Norwegian authorities' consultant and supplier of knowledge, and contributes to the best possible administration of Norwegian polar areas. Through active participation in national and international bodies, the Polar Institute is central when it comes to protecting national interests in matters of research and the environment. Approximately 110 persons are employed at the Institute in Tromsø, Svalbard and Dronning Maud Land.
  For more information please visit the Norwegian Polar Institute website

Other Locations

From July 2016 to February 2017, the Murmansk Arctic State University funded an additional part-time APECS Officer for the APECS International Directorate located in Murmansk, Russia.

• Murmansk Arctic State University

  Support of one part-time APECS Officer for the APECS International Directorate July 2016 until February 2017

  Murmansk Arctic State University (MASU) is the northernmost university in Russia, the leading educational and scientific centre of the Russian North. MASU was founded in 1939 as a two-year part-time teacher institute. In 1956 it was reorganized into a classical higher educational institution - Murmansk State Pedagogical Institute, in 2003 - into Murmansk State Pedagogical University, in 2010 - into Murmansk State Humanities University and in 2015 - into Murmansk Arctic State University. Over the period of its existence the University has trained thousands of teaching staff for the Kola North.

  Training is conducted within the following areas: Physics and Mathematics; Natural Sciences; Humanitarian Sciences; Social Sciences; Education and Pedagogy; Culture and Arts; Economics and Management. MASU has 3 Faculties and 2 Institutes. The University offers Bachelor, Master and PhD Degree programs.

  MASU is one of the leading centers of research in the Murmansk region. For more information visit the MASU website. 

• Yulia Sultanbayeva - APECS Officer from July 2016 until February 2017

  

  hosted by and affiliated with Murmansk Arctic State University (Russia)

  APECS has become a part of my work in 2016. I consider that the joint collaboration with the APECS is an amazing experience of joint work to shape the future of Polar early career scientists.

  I am currently a Master degree candidate of Joint Master Degree program in Borderology, at the jointly both Universities: Murmansk Arctic State University (MASU), Russia and Nord University, Norway. My thesis focuses on the study of a ‘border’ of understanding within Norwegian - Russian dialogue through the communication of both cultures with a help of one ‘tool’ as a smile. I hope with a help of this research It would be studied a ‘bridge’ over cultural borders of representatives of the Northern countries in the Arctic zone.

  Also currently I am a Ph.D. candidate at MASU with the Russian language department and the linguistics, culture, intercultural communication focus area. My research focuses on the study of the cultural aspects of the modern russian language. This thesis is support of the research of Master dissertation that was completed in 2013 when I also earned Master in Pedagogy in MASU. I grew up in Kazakhstan, graduated the school there, and earned Bachelor in Pedagogy in 2009. In 2011 I moved to Murmansk for getting Masters and developing my scientific career. Now I am working at MASU with the extended education department. Also I have a joint work with my colleagues from the international department and participation in the international programs and courses.

  For me living and working in the Arctic zone is very interesting, because it is good to study and understand the features of living in the Arctic region.

• Dr. Pascaline Bourgaine - APECS Project Officer from June till December 2015

  Pascaline joined the APECS Office as part-time Project Officer from June until December 2015. She completed her PhD in physical Oceanography at the University Pierre and Marie Curie in France in 2012. As part of her research project, she went several times to the Arctic to study the evolution of the main features of the ocean, in the context of a drastic sea-ice reduction. In 2012-2013, she participated to an international expedition in western Greenland and overwintered on a sailing boat to study the interactions between the ocean and glaciers.
  Within this frame, with the help of french and greenlandic teachers, she set up an educational program for Science and Culture, "Angalasut" ("expedition" in Greenlandic) in order to strengthen interactions between scientists and people. For this purpose, she spent several months in the small greenlandic village of Ikerasak to work with the youth on scientific and cultural projects, and exchanged with the hunter-fishermen on their traditional knowledge about the environmental changes.
  Back in France in 2013, together with Anne-Mathilde Thierry, she created the french national committee of APECS, APECS-FRANCE now involving more than 50 young french polar scientists in activities of promotion of young polar researchers and polar knowledge dissemination. Deeply motivated by communication of sciences, she went back to university to pursue a master's degree in scientific and technical communication at the Stendhal University in France.
  Since 2014, she is self-employed in science communication, specializing on the topics of polar sciences and promotion of traditional knowledge. Still deeply involved in APECS-France activities, she now joins the APECS Directorate as a project officer.

• Karoline Paquin - APECS Project Officer from November 2014 until April 2015

  

  Karolina Paquin joined the APECS Office as part-time Project Officer from November 2014 until April 2015 and was employed to help with the coordination of the APECS Nordic "Bridging Early Career Researchers and Indigenous Peoples In Nordic Countries" Project generously funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. She completed her Master of Science at the University of Tromsø, working on the long term repercussions of intensified goose grazing and climate change on Svalbard plants. She aspires to build a career as a leading scientist and international representative of the Polar Sciences. The passion for the Poles took flight during a year studying the science, politics and people of the Arctic at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. Her alternative interests are diverse to say the least, and include learning everything from cooking to music. Her passion for the outdoors makes it nearly impossible to refuse any hike or ski trip.

• Dr. Alexey Pavlov - APECS Director from 1 June 2012 until 30 June 2013

  Alexey Pavlov is currently a sea ice and oceanography postdoc at the Oceans and Sea Ice group at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, Norway. Alexey is a dedicated researcher interested in the Arctic system, coupling between physical and biogeochemical processes, and their linkages to marine ecosystems. Alexey has a good experience in science communication and public outreach. In his spare time, he blogs about polar research on Twitter at @mvpgeo.

• Dr. Jenny Baeseman - APECS Founding Director until 31 March 2012

  Dr. Baeseman began her love of the cold growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, USA and has a B.S. in Water Chemistry from the University of WI - Stevens Point, M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota, a Ph.D. also in Civil Engineering with an environmental emphasis from the University of Colorado, and postdoctoral training in Geosciences from Princeton University. She has spent 4 seasons in Antarctica, 3 in the McMurdo Dry Valleys and 1 on the peninsula. Jenny was very involved in the planning of the International Polar Year (IPY) and through this co-founded and subsequently became the Founding Director of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) which grew to over 3500 members from 76 countries during her leadership. One of her main objectives in developing APECS was to help young researchers combine their interests in interdisciplinary polar science with education and outreach and gain international leadership through professional development activities. In April 2012 she turned over the reigns of the early career group to become the Director of the Climate and the Cryosphere Project (CliC), sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the International Arctic Science Committee. The CliC Project office is hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, Norway. She continues research in her spare time through an adjunct position at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska ­ Fairbanks. One of Jenny's personal goals is to make sure everyone she meets knows that polar bears don't eat penguins - as they live at different Poles.