Annual Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Annual Report October 2013 – September 2014 1 submitted by APECS Executive Committee 2013-2014 President Christie Logvinova Vice-Presidents Frigga Kruse, Russell Fielding, Jean-Sébastien Moore, Iglika Trifonova Ex-officios Jennifer Provencher, Yulia Zaika Director Gerlis Fugmann Special thanks to the APECS Annual Report 2013-2014 editor team: Gerlis Fugmann, Laura Ferguson, Pedro Echeveste, Ellyn Enderlin, Yulia Zaika APECS International Directorate UiT The Arctic University of Norway Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics 9037 Tromsø Norway APECS Annual Report 2013-2014 2 Executive Summary During the 2013-2014 term APECS has had another year full of exciting activities. Our membership continues to grow, with more than 4700 members from more than 80 countries. APECS has most of its members in Europe and North America, but we continue to diversify with our membership in Latin and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand constantly growing. Now Brazil, India and Australia are within the top 10 countries with the highest number of members! APECS and our national committees held more than 15 major workshops and events in conjunction with major polar conferences and meetings around the world. Some highlights were the “Connecting Early Career Researchers and Community Driven research in the North” workshop at the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2014 and the APECS – PEI (Polar Educators International) Science Communications Workshop at the 2014 SCAR Open Science Conference. In addition, APECS members and national committees organized many education and outreach events as part of the International Polar Weeks 2014 and Antarctica Day 2013. The APECS International Directorate in Tromsø, Norway had received renewed funding in summer 2013 from the Research Council of Norway, the UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Polar Institute. Our APECS presence in Norway has allowed us to con tribute to the career development of Norwegian students, enhance recruitment, promote Norwegian excellence in Polar Research and further establish international collaborations. APECS was again a major contributor to the Young Scientist Forum Events of Arctic Frontiers 2014 including a joint reception with the Fram Centre in Tromsø (“Arctic Games”), a Science Communications and Media Training Workshop, the organisation of outstanding poster awards for early career poster presenters. A new contribution was the co-organisation of the “Science for Schools” event together with the Nordnorsk Vitensenteret and Arctic Frontiers for schools in Tromsø. During 2013-2014, APECS also continued to work closely with our many international partner organizations to create new opportunities for our members to participate in international polar research meetings where they can meet and discuss their research with leaders in their field e.g. with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), the Conservation of the Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project of the World Climate Research Programme. APECS is also involved in the International Polar Partnership Initiative (IPPI) and is a partner to the Polar Prediction Projects and its activities for the Year of Polar Predictions (YOPP). The last year, also brought some particularly unique opportunities for our members. We teamed up with Cananda Goose® to give our early career polar researchers an opportunity to share their research with a broader audience and receive Canada Goose® expedition jackets. The participants will be writing blog entries throughout the year, highlighting their polar research, which will be posted along with photographs from the field on the Canada Goose® and APECS websites (and other relevant social media). Furthermore, one of our members had the amazing opportunity this year to go to the North Pole to participate in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay. The 8 arctic council states each sent one representative and Sweden wanted to send an early career polar scientist and chose the coordinator of APECS Sweden, Ylva Sjöberg. In 2013-2014, APECS launched its APECS Nordic project “Bridging Early Career Researchers and Indienous People in Nordic Countries” funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The project will identify ways to enhance engagement between early career researchers (ECRs) and Indigenous peoples and Northern community members in Nordic regions. Results will be published in 2014. In addition, APECS also began co-coordinating several projects as part of the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III) “Integrating Arctic Research – a Roadmap for the Future” process organized by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). APECS and the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project have teamed up with IASC to work with ICARP III participants to create APECS Annual Report 2013-2014 3 FrostBytes showcasing their contribution to ICARP III. APECS and CliC are also collaborating on the project “Where are they now?” which is investigating the career paths of early career researchers (ECRs) that received funding from IASC since the start of the most recent IPY (2007-2008). The goal of this project is to assess the impact of IASC support on their careers and to find ways to further enhance the support and training of ECRs. All of these activities would not be possible without all of our dedicated members and mentors which continue to help us shape the future of polar research. We want to thank everyone for their continuous support over the past year and are looking forward to continue working with all of you in the future. Also, we want to thank all of our partners for making these opportunities possible and for helping to train the next generation of polar scientists. Without your enthusiasm, opportunities for young researchers to get involved would not be possible. Last, all of the activities organized by APECS would not be possible without the support by various sponsors. A special thank you goes to our Directorate sponsors (the Research Council of Norway, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Polar Institute) but also to all other organizations that contributed to our activities over the last year. To learn more about our past and upcoming highlights and all APECS’ amazing activities, please read the full report or visit our website at www.apecs.is. Sincerely, Christie Logvinova Past-APECS President 2013 - 2014 APECS Annual Report 2013-2014 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................. 3 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: APECS in 2013-2014 ............................................................................... 7 1.1. APECS Leadership 2013-2014 .……………………….......................................... 7 1.2. APECS Membership in 2013-2014 ...……………………………………………… 11 Chapter 2: APECS News ......................................................................................... 13 Chapter 3: APECS Events ……………….................................................................. 26 3.1. Major Workshops, Panels and Networking Events during 2013-2014 ……....... 26 3.2. Upcoming Events in 2014-2015 ....................................................................... 39 Chapter 4: Norwegian Highlights …….................................................................... 40 4.1. Arctic Frontiers 2014 ........................................................................................ 40 4.2. Arctic Frontiers 2015 ........................................................................................ 42 4.3. Other Norwegian Highlights ………………………………………………………. 43 Chapter 5: APECS Projects ……………………………….......................................... 45 5.1. APECS Nordic Project “Bridging Early Career Researchers and Indigenous Peoples in Nordic Countries” ……........................................................................... 45 5.2. APECS and ICARP III ........................................................................................ 49 Chapter 6: APECS National Committees ................................................................ 52 Chapter 7: Education and Outreach Highlights ...................................................... 78 7.1. International Polar Week September 2013 ....................................................... 78 7.2. Antarctica Day 2013 ........................................................................................ 80 7.3. Polar Facts Segments – APECS Canada …………………………………………… 82 7.4. International Polar Week March 2014 ….......................................................... 84 7.5. International Polar Week September 2014 ………………………………………. 86 Chapter 8: Research Features ................................................................................. 89 Chapter 9: APECS Webinars ………………………………........................................ 91 9.1. Career Development Webinar Series ................................................................ 91 9.2. APECS Nordic Webinars …............................................................................... 91 9.3. APECS Canada Webinar Series ......................................................................... 93 9.4. APECS France Polar Week Webinars ...............................................................