Join APECS Project Groups 2023-2024!

We are now inviting all APECS members to join our activities as members of our Project Groups for the new APECS term starting 1 October! This is one of the easiest ways to get more involved in APECS and to contribute in a way that is best suited to your interests and skills. Hosting meetings, taking notes, research, writing, graphic design, social media posting, sending emails - these are just a few examples of the ways you can contribute to APECS project groups.

Project groups are working groups of APECS that are led by Council members. Some of the groups have been run over many years while others are newly developing. The duration of APECS project groups is usually for the full term 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2024, but temporary and event-based project groups may be of shorter duration. We strongly encourage everyone who is interested to apply during this application period, but late applications may be considered if the project group has capacity for additional members. If you want to apply for more than one project group, you must fill out the application form a second time. However, we recommend that you dedicate yourself to one or potentially two groups in order to contribute in a meaningful way. Project Group Leaders will evaluate your application and the APECS International Directorate will inform you of the result and provide you with more information as the term gets underway in October.

We are excited to offer the following project groups for the 2023-2024 term - we hope you will join in! Please fill out this form by 12 September to apply for being a project group member.

• APECS Art

  Project Group Leader: Anastasia Deyko

  APECS Art is focused on polar art and promoting links between art and science. APECS Art is not limited by specific disciplines of art, areas of science or territorial belonging of its members or collaborators. The main thing that unites APECS Art is a passion for polar areas, and curiosity about how modern art or cultural heritage reflect changes in polar regions. We want to enable more precise and targeted collaboration between polar artists and scientists as well as enhance visibility of art as a tool for scientific outreach. Our group has organized several polar art & science webinars, collaborated with the APECS International Online Conference, and provided polar art related content for Polar Weeks. Additionally, our group aims to create an online database of polar artists to provide collaboration opportunities between artists and scientists. The group also hosts an art blog on the APECS website to showcase artwork and more detailed interviews with artists. We let art contemplate science and we let science form art.

• APECS Community Development

  Project Group Leader: Deniz Vural

  The APECS Community Development Project Group (CDPG) recognizes the challenge of limited time for APECS members to connect and build a strong community despite the array of activities organized throughout the year. The CDPG aims to address this by creating social opportunities that foster camaraderie and enjoyment among members. The group will organize online social events, including regular gatherings, for instance, for polar bear enthusiasts, themed contests, and language exchanges. In addition, the CDPG plans to host social gatherings at conferences to introduce APECS to other organizations. Collaborating with other APECS Project Groups, such as Antarctica Day and Polar Weeks, the CDPG seeks to enhance membership involvement and promote community learning. Participation in these initiatives not only strengthens relationships with colleagues from the same/other fields but also enhances professional motivation. APECS members are encouraged to join the CDPG and be part of these engaging activities that contribute to a vibrant and supportive community.

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

  Project Group Leader: José Queirós

  The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) group is a multi-year project group first established in 2016. Since that time, the project group has worked on a number of initiatives to promote inclusion within APECS and the broader polar science community. Previous work has included organizing several webinars (e.g., Bias in professional relationships, How polar funding agencies are changing their policies to be more inclusive, Harassment in the field), creating DEI-related resources, acting as liaisons for DEI-related issues within APECS, and developing a mentorship database for ECRs. The success of these tasks has stemmed from our structure as an “umbrella organization” in which each task has been tackled by different coordinating activity groups. Together, these activity groups work towards the common goal of promoting events and policies that increase the sense of community within our membership and polar science. By developing resources to engage ECRs in DEI topics, we hope to start conversations about how to reduce instances of discrimination and harassment in our field. This, in turn, serves to bring polar science to a place that highlights the voices of marginalized community members and reconciles its troubling association with colonialism, racism, and sexism. Through these actions, the DEI group aims to follow APECS’ philosophy of building networks to aid ECRs through the burdens of systemic biases.

• APECS Podcast (Polar Times)

  Project Group Leader: Damien Ringeisen

  Polar Times is the APECS Podcast! We aim to produce episodes that will appeal to academics and the general public alike by chatting to people from all walks of polar/cryosphere life. Whether you live at the poles, have been to the poles, are researching the poles, or generally just love the poles we’d love to have you on Polar Times! We can give PG members the opportunity to learn how to host and edit episodes, the chance to collaborate with lots of other APECS project groups, the chance to widen your polar network, and the chance to have a lot of fun and learn something new. We welcome new ideas and new members at all times and are keen to celebrate and champion the spirit and diversity of polar life. These are eventful times that we live in but, even though they’re out of sight and often out of mind, these are also Polar Times!

• Polar Earth Observation Database

  Project Group Leaders: Hiral Jain, Jeremy Ecle

  This project, which is currently in its fourth year, will continue the development of the Polar Earth Observation (EO) database. This digital resource aims to improve the accessibility of EO data across the polar regions and break down traditional barriers in using such data sets encountered by Early Career Researchers (ECRs). By October 2023, Version 1.0 will be available. The objectives of the 2023/24 project year will be to: 1) Enhance the functionality of the Polar EO database through the development of new tools; 2) develop strategies to increase the content of the database through initiatives such as crowd-sourcing and datathons; and 3) continue to enhance knowledge of the range of data sets accessible for polar research, as well as the potential and constraints of remote sensing sensors.

• Mental Health Resources

  Project Group Leader: Lina Madaj

  Mental Health is an issue that affects all of us in some way or another (good mental health included), but poor mental health is widely documented in academia and particularly impacts early-career researchers (ECRs). Polar researchers are faced with a unique set of challenges and potential stressors including remote, dangerous and/or lengthy field work, long lengths of days/nights, overwintering, isolation, lack of diversity and inclusion, and funding. The Mental Health Resources PG aims to (1) raise awareness and (2) provide resources surrounding the theme of mental health for ECRs. The main goal of this PG is to establish resources for mental health concerns and make them easily accessible for the APECS community through the APECS webpage. In order to do so, a mental health database for resources has been created during the past terms. Resources span from (scientific) articles to blog posts, videos, and online-courses, and will be continuously updated with the option for APECS members to submit their own resources. Database maintenance is one task of the project group alongside various other ways to raise awareness of the topic of mental health. For the coming term, we would like to distribute the established resources through webinars and social media as well as create short videos, blog articles (including personal stories of APECS members), a podcast episode in collaboration with the APECS podcast Polar Times, and many other creative ways in raising awareness of mental health issues (in academia and polar research). We always welcome new members and new ideas to speak more about our mental health.

• ResponsIble SciEnce initiative (RISE)

  Project Group Leader: Amy Macfarlane

  The responsible science initiative was born from a group of scientists working on minimizing the environmental impacts of their research while maximizing the scientific impact. The scientific community widely agrees that polar and alpine research is essential for understanding and protecting sensitive environments, but considering and weighing the consequences has been largely undiscussed. In large part, this stems from a fear that recognising the negative impacts of scientific research on the environment will harm the image of the scientific community; we counter that as stewards of science and the environment, leading the charge in this way is necessary to set a precedent for the wider community.

  This group:

  • Creates a network of environmentally responsible fieldwork researchers
  • Provides education and awareness to the scientific community
  • Provides ECRs with a framework and support to establish new methods for conducting responsible science within their institutes and projects (which is not easy as a ‘newcomer’ in an established project)
  • Provides opportunities to influence and contribute to the current shift in fieldwork sustainability

• APECS International Polar Weeks / Antarctica Day

  Project Group Leaders: Aakriti Srivastava, Hiu Mei Wong

  Polar Week seeks to celebrate our North and South Pole twice per year, in March and September. In addition, each year on 1 December, the international polar community celebrates Antarctica Day to commemorate the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, which is considered to be one of the most successful international agreements. These events showcase the importance of polar regions through diverse voices from polar communities. In this interdisciplinary project group, you are able to implement your ideas and brainstorm with fellow group members. Also, we are not limited to one type of media, we can host webinars, post videos or interviews, collaborate with other project groups (e.g., the APECS Podcast and APECS Art) to produce something highly captivating. Join us with your curiosity, perspectives and enthusiasm about the poles and let's create an inspiring Antarctica Day in 2023 and awesome APECS Polar Weeks in 2024! The overarching purpose of the group is to promote the worldwide celebration of the beauty of the frozen continent and the importance it has in the global climate and ocean, thereby urging people to understand that whatever happens at the poles doesn’t stay at the poles, but influences each and every one of us in one way or another.

• APECS International Online Conference 2024

  Project Group Leader: tbd

  The APECS International Online Conference is held to promote outreach and exchange of knowledge and skills in polar science. The conference has been held annually in the summertime since 2015, and is organized by a group of multi-disciplinary members that comprise the APECS International Online Conference PG. The various tasks involved are related to the organization and management of the conference at various levels. Some of the tasks include, for example, preparing and promoting the call for abstracts, shortlisting submissions, planning and executing the event and associated logistics. The conference is held online with a conventional session structure aiming to provide a platform to worldwide audiences to interact with and exchange ideas.

• UN Climate Change Conference

  Project Group Leader: Viktoria Khokhlova

  Every year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) hosts an international summit during which world leaders, NGOs, and other influential actors come together and discuss both the current state of climate change and steps that must be taken to mitigate future environmental damage. This project group aims to give APECS members the opportunity to participate in these landmark conferences. We will spend most of the term organizing and developing APECS-run booths, workshops, and/or panels to be held at the conference. Then, in November, members of the project group will have the chance to attend the UNFCCC's summit as part of an APECS delegation, giving them the opportunity to meet other climate professionals and take part in the world's largest climate summit. This project group is an exciting way for ECRs to make connections and get directly involved in the fight against climate change. 

• APECS International Mentorship Award

  Project Group Leader: tbd

  The APECS International Mentorship Award is designed to recognize the time and energy that mentors devote to Early Career Researchers each year, and their efforts to build a community of support. This Project Group will prepare the call, collect nominations for the APECS International Mentorship Award, organize the evaluation and announcement of the new recipient. See more information on the selection process and past recipients on the APECS Website.