APECS/YESS/YOPP Workshop at ASSW2021

Sunday, 21 March 2021 06:00 – 07:30 GMT 

We heard about different national and international surveys and experiences that were carried out to better understand the impact of the pandemic on academia. Following the talks, we invited early-career scientists to join us for a panel discussion on the impacts COVID-19 may have on their scientific work. 

• Kirstin Werner: YOPP survey “Expected COVID-19 Consequences to Polar Weather and Sea Ice Prediction Research – Early Concerns by the Polar Prediction Community”

  In July 2020, the WMO WWRP International Coordination Office for Polar Prediction (ICO) sought to better understand what the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been so far, and what is expected for the months to come. Therefore, a survey was designed to request feedback from the PPP/YOPP community working within the field of weather and sea ice forecasts in the polar regions. Outcomes of this survey show that during this early stage of the pandemic, major concerns included a gap in observations and data collection due to cancelled field work and maintenance. Other worries involved funding opportunities for polar programs that might be endangered in the future as well as networking opportunities – both could hit hard, in particular, for early career researchers.

• Valentina Rabanal: YESS survey on ECR impacts “Early Career Earth system scientists during COVID-19 crisis: lessons learned from an open survey”

  In my presentation, talked about the report created by the YESS Community, which summarizes the common challenges ECRs are facing and show some recommendations on how to build a supportive environment that facilitates sustainable development for ECRs in the post-pandemic world. This report is the result of a careful analysis of the 197 responses received between April and June 2020. Although the report focuses on ECRs, it is also relevant to the broad scientific community.

• Cara Nissen: “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Postdocs at the Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany)”

  In my presentation, I summarized the main outcomes of a survey conducted in November 2020 by the Postdoc representatives at the Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany), which aimed at identifying the difficulties faced by postdocs at the institute as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 65 postdocs who participated in the survey, a substantial fraction reported cancelled expeditions, laboratory work, conferences or other meetings, together worsening their ability to network, discuss research ideas, or share their findings. In my talk, I highlighted how, based on our survey results, the impact of the pandemic varies across the academic age of the postdocs, with recent PhD graduates expressing more worries regarding their future career prospects and experiencing a more severe deterioration of their mental health than experienced postdocs.

• Daniela Liggett: “Antarctic research during a pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 on the Antarctic scholarly community”

  In my short presentation, I discussed some of the results of an online survey that aimed at understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the Antarctic research community. This survey was undertaken in November and December 2020 and aimed at identifying who the most adversely affected Antarctic researchers were and what kind of additional support they might find most useful. The survey forms part of an interdisciplinary international research programme on the short-term and long-term consequences of a global pandemic on the Antarctic community of practice more broadly.

• Shridhar Jawak: “Svalbard science in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: an overview of impacts and responses from SIOS’s perspective”

  In my short talk, I focused on summarizing the impacts of COVID-19 on the Svalbard research community and how we responded to the changing situation. This included SIOS's survey on assessing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Svalbard science community and the variety of activities developed in response to the changing situation. I also focused on our upcoming activities to help field campaigns in Svalbard in 2021.

Sunday 21 March 2021 16:00 – 17:30 GMT 

Participants learned about the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), The Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) and The Young Earth System Scientists community (YESS). International collaboration is crucial these days to carry out polar research. In order to bring researchers together from all over the globe, the above-mentioned communities coordinated and fostered international and interdisciplinary studies in terms of related project groups, awareness-raising workshops, and many more collaborative activities on both Polar and Alpine regions, and the wider cryosphere via communication with early career researchers. After a presentation on communication with the public, the session touched upon some of the challenges of bringing the scientific community together. A panel discussion expanded on two short talks on Science and Diplomacy in the Arctic and insights about Indigenous collaboration. The session concluded by bringing these ideas together by showing what was done across the collaboration and communication spectrum by YOPP’s International Coordination Office.

Introduction to APECS, YESS and YOPP:

• Zack Labe: "Communicating Arctic climate change through data-driven stories"

  In this presentation, I discussed the power of sharing Arctic climate change information through accessible and engaging data visualizations. In particular, I focused on using social media (Twitter) as one tool for communicating science to broad audiences.

• Anja Sommerfeld (MOSAiC): “MOSAiC - International Coordination and Communication of the Largest Arctic Research Expedition”

  MOSAiC was the largest Arctic research expedition of our times and took place from autumn 2019 until autumn 2020. Here, we would like to explain the coordination on an international level, the comprehensive communication strategy to reach a broad audience and introduce the engagement of young scientists.

• Marylou Athanase (MOSAiC Ambassador): “A coordinated science communication effort led by the Early Career MOSAiC Ambassadors”

  In 2019, 20 early career scientists joined the MOSAiC School onboard the support vessel Akademik Fedorov. As MOSAiC Ambassadors with diverse backgrounds, they constructed a wealth of MOSAiC-related science communication projects. This talk will provide a brief overview of these outreach products and will underline their complementarity, which was instrumental in efficiently reaching a wide variety of audiences.

• Katia Kontar (International Global Change Science Lead, U.S. Global Change Research Program): “Understanding Effects of Global Change in the Arctic through Science Diplomacy”

  In the Arctic, there is strong evidence of the ongoing impacts of global environmental change on communities and ecosystems. At the same time, the rapid warming of the Arctic has global implications through processes such as glacier retreat, sea ice melt, and interrupted species migration. These vexing problems cannot be effectively addressed by any one discipline, institution, or community. They call for continuous collaboration between diverse knowledge holders, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Science diplomacy incorporates collaboration across all sorts of borders: country, institutional, cultural, and disciplinary. It promotes transdisciplinary cooperation instead of exploitive and extractive multidisciplinary research, where outsiders come in, complete their work, and then leave, with the areas researched gaining little from the knowledge.

• Kirstin Werner (Director YOPP International Coordination Office): “4Cs to 3Ps – Building a Community for the Polar Prediction Project"

  The Polar Prediction Project (PPP) is a ten-year endeavor initiated by the World Meteorological Organization to improve weather and sea-ice predictions in the Arctic and Antarctic. To ensure the success of PPP’s flagship initiative Year of Polar Prediction, the four Cs – communication, coordination, community engagement, and collaboration – have been essential for the International Coordination Office for Polar Prediction to build up a polar prediction community over the past years. Good knowledge on the mechanisms of communication, media and also science marketing can enhance the engagement and motivation by various stakeholder groups to become involved with PPP and YOPP.

APECS/YESS/YOPP Workshop at ASSW2021_Session 2 from APECS Webinars on Vimeo.