Association of Polar Early Career Scientists

 

Looking for early career scientist to join the editorial board for the fifth State of Environmental Science in Svalbard report

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is a consortium of international institutions with research infrastructure in and around Svalbard. SIOS is building an integrated observing system for long-term measurements addressing Earth System questions.

SIOS publishes an annual State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report. The first issue was released in January 2019. The report summarises the state of current knowledge of key Earth System Science parameters and analyses how these parameters influence one another. The SESS report outlines work conducted within the SIOS cooperation to optimise the observing system and recommends research priorities for the following year(s).

The tentative timeline for the fifth issue of the SESS report can be found here. The report will be released during the Polar Night Week in Longyearbyen, January 2023.

534 SIOS SESS report call new

The editorial board consists of five persons, three of which are senior researchers from the fields of Earth system science and one is from the SIOS Knowledge Centre. We would like to appoint an early career scientist as fifth member of the editorial board.

The tasks of the editorial board are:

  • review received contributions
  • organise a scientific review process
  • merge all contribution to a coherent report (synthesis work, write the executive summary)
  • prepare the SESS report release
  • prepare promotion material

The editorial board works in close cooperation with scientific and communication advisors within the SIOS community.

Applicants should:

  • have an education background within Earth System Science
  • have an interest in editorial activities
  • be an active team player
  • be fluent in oral and written English

We offer an excellent opportunity

  • to gain insight in the editorial work of scientific reports
  • to influence the development of the SESS report
  • to build a network with researchers from diverse fields of arctic research within Earth System Science

The applicant is expected to attend approx. 7 board meetings (on video), and the Polar Night Week in Longyearbyen (tentative dates: 23-27 January 2023). Travel costs will be refunded.

The time period of appointment to the editorial board is limited to the completion of the fifth issue of the SESS report (January 2023).

The application and selection process is coordinated by APECS. If you are interested, please send the following information by no later than 15 May 2022 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.:

  • CV
  • Statement of interest (max one page), including
    • your research background
    • your motivation in joining the editorial board for the SESS report
    • your thoughts on how you could contribute to the editorial work and how this work would be beneficial for your career

If you have questions about the position, please contact SIOS directly at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Statement from the early career member of the editorial board in 2021:

I have been part of the SESS Report’s Editorial Board as an Early Career Researcher in 2021. It has been a great experience and I would recommend anyone who is interested in a career in research to apply for the next year’s ECR position. My tasks comprised checking the contributions for editorial issues (appropriate language, length, figures, redundancy, etc.), organising the review process between the reviewers and the authors and writing the executive summary together with the other members of the Editorial Board. At all times, I have felt very welcome, because I was treated equally capable and responsible as the senior scientists and the members of SIOS-KC, but always received support when I needed it. In general, the working atmosphere was very friendly and pleasant. I learned a lot about the process of editing and scientific publication and gained valuable insights into the Svalbard science community. I can only stress again, that I can really recommend this position to anyone who is interested in a career as a researcher.

 

Statement from the early career member of the editorial board in 2020:

I was appointed as the early-career member of the editorial board for the ‘State of Environmental Science in Svalbard’ (SESS) report 2020. The editorial process has been impressively well organised by the SIOS-KC, whose great work has been key to making the participation in the editorial board an enjoyable and enriching experience.

Being part of the editorial board of the SESS report has allowed me to get an insight on the editorial process of a scientific report. In effect, I have learnt first-hand the main steps of an editorial process, and I have become aware of all the details that need to be considered when organising such a process. As member of the editorial board, my main tasks were to contact potential reviewers, review some of the chapters and draft the Executive Summary of the report. We had regular meetings where we discussed the state of the different chapter contributions as well as other issues. I also had the opportunity to prepare a short video with the presentation “Introduction to the SESS report” for the Polar Night Week, which was held online this year due to COVID-19. Due to the time difference, I could not attend the meeting live online, but hopefully I will be able to attend next year!

I have greatly appreciated working with the senior researchers and the representatives of the SIOS-Knowledge Centre as equals. My voice was always heard, and my opinion was viewed as valuable as the other members’ opinion despite having less experience than them. It was a pleasure to discuss with the members of the editorial board, who were very enthusiastic and motivated. In addition, I have gained an insight on the state of the Earth System science in Svalbard and about SIOS itself and its work, which I found impressive.

Given my highly positive experience, I strongly encourage early career researchers to apply to join the editorial board of the next SESS report. Every effort you put into the editorial process is greatly rewarded.

 

Statement from the early career member of the editorial board in 2019:

Working as an early career researcher on the editorial board for the SESS report has been an incredible experience that I would strongly recommend to anyone.

Activities included some help and guidance to the authors for the writing of the chapters, communication with authors and reviewers, proofreading, decision-making, writing of the executive summary and the final presentation of the report during the polar night week.

The members of the editorial board and the SIOS-KC are also very open on welcoming of any additional skills and ideas that you may bring to the table, which really gives you many opportunities to contribute (and perhaps more than in other reports).

Because you are involved in all the stages of the report, it gives invaluable insights into how a scientific report is created. Since you work so closely with the content of the report, it also gives a very nice overview of what the latest developments and advances are in Earth System Science and research on Svalbard.

Contact APECS

APECS International Directorate
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Huginbakken 14
9019 Tromsø
Norway
Email: info(at)apecs.is

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