APECS News

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

The elections for the 2025-2026 APECS Executive Committee will be held during May, June, July and August 2025 for the term from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026.

Application deadline: 28 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT (deadline extended from 1 June)

From 22–24 March 2025, 120 polar early career researchers (ECRs) gathered for the Polar Early Career World Summit (PECWS) and developed 12 vision statements, 75 priorities, and 186 reasonings and actions. This material will guide international priority setting and coordination processes in polar research, like the 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning and the International Polar Year 2032-2033.

APECS and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) are seeking up to three Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to join the International Scientific Organising Committee (ISOC) for the SCAR Open Science Conference (OSC) 2026 in Oslo, Norway, from 10 - 14 August 2026.

APECS seeks to recognize and honor the efforts of its mentors within the international polar scientific community. The APECS Mentorship Award is designed to recognize the time and energy that mentors devote to Early Career Researchers (ECRs) each year, and their efforts to build a community of support. APECS will award a mentor who works with the ECR polar scientific community (including Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine areas).

APECS encourages ECRs around the world to nominate mentors who deserve this recognition. We ask APECS members, APECS National Committees and Project Groups to nominate a person who has been an outstanding mentor to them or their (project) group or committee throughout their career. In 2025 a single award will be handed out.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS, http://www.soos.aq) are looking for an Early Career Researcher (ECR) to join the SOOS Southern Ocean Indian Sector Regional Working Group (SOIS RWG, http://www.soos.aq/activities/rwg/sois; see map for regional details).

Building on the success of an earlier Collection, PLOS Climate is collaborating with APECS to invite contributions of Research Articles, Reviews, Essays and Opinions from the polar early career community, which will be specially highlighted to the journal’s broad and interdisciplinary readership.

APECS is excited to join a new global coalition bringing together youth and Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) working across marine science, policy, and advocacy. This new coalition will be officially launched during the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), which will take place in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June 2025. The coalition builds on years of youth-led engagement in ocean governance and unites a diverse group of networks to strengthen collaboration and representation in global ocean processes.

The coalition, among others, will include APECS, the UN Ocean Decade ECOP Programme, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), Youth4Ocean Forum, Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA), EarthEcho International, and many others. Its primary goal is to support youth and ECOP participation across regions and sectors.

In preparation for UNOC3, the coalition has been working to further increase youth and ECOP representation at the conference. The coalition also plans to launch a Youth Manifesto for the Ocean in collaboration with the French government.

APECS is currently looking for one APECS member to co-represent APECS in the coalition, together with an APECS Executive Committee member. This one-year volunteer position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the strategic direction of the coalition, ensure polar early career voices are represented in global ocean forums, and work collaboratively with peers from other networks.

Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) and the 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) were held from 20-28 March in Boulder, Colorado, USA. APECS and the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) collaborated to organize the Polar Early Career World Summit (PECWS; held 22-24 March) as a part of these events.

PECWS brought together early career researchers, professionals, Indigenous scholars and knowledge holders connected to the Arctic, Antarctica, and the wider cryosphere from across the world. The program and discussions were designed to gather early career voices to shape polar research priorities and the next IPY and strengthen polar early career networks and connections. Conversations at the summit and asynchronous input from the polar early career community will be synthesized into multiple output formats to influence polar science policy and decision-making processes – stay tuned for the release of these materials later in the year. For those who could not attend PECWS, please consider joining us at our online events in May.

During the Polar Early Career World Summit (PECWS), hosted 22-24 March 2025, 120 polar early career researchers (ECRs) came together to discuss and synthesize priorities for input to ICARP IV and IPY discussions. At the end of the third day, polar ECRs had discussed 12 priority themes (which had been determined ahead of time from polar early career input) and developed 12 vision statements, 75 priorities and 186 supporting reasonings and actions.

While this accomplishment is certainly reason to celebrate, it’s also important to acknowledge that there are many polar ECRs who were unable to attend the summit in-person to provide input to this process. With that in mind, the PECWS team is hosting three online events 27-29 May (depending on your time zone) that will provide an overview of what was discussed at PECWS and provide clear instructions for how polar ECRs from all over the world can provide input on these visions, priorities, reasonings and actions. These events are specifically intended for those who did not attend PECWS. Following the collection of this input, a final polar early career priorities synthesis report will be developed.

Are you preparing for fieldwork in the Arctic or Antarctic? Whether you're headed to land-based stations or embarking on polar research vessels, planning is key to a successful research campaign. Join us on 12 May 2025, 12:00 - 16:00 GMT, for the POLARIN fieldwork planning webinar to learn more about how to navigate permit processes and logistics challenges, understand risk assessment and field safety, implement ethical and sustainable research practices, and plan effective data management from the start. 

This training session is open to all — from early career researchers to experienced polar scientists. It is organized by the Polar Research Infrastructure Network (POLARIN), a project providing transnational access to polar research infrastructures and offering training resources for infrastructure users and the wider polar research community. Register through this link to attend.