As APECS has grown continuously and rapidly over the past 5 years, with numerous national committees being established over since APECS was formed in 2008. In 2014 the APECS leadership recognized the need for a guiding document to help our many national committees better understand and maximize their relationship within the APECS community.
Appendix 2: Guidelines for APECS National or Regional Committees
Developed During the 2013-2014 APECS term by the Executive Committee, the Council and the Membership Involvement Committee consisting of National Committee representatives.
Approved by the Council on September 9, 2014.
1. What is an APECS National or Regional Committee?
A group of APECS members may wish to form an APECS National or Regional committee to better address the needs of early career researchers (ECR) locally, to effectively plan and carry out activities, and attract support and funding at a national or regional level. An APECS National Committee (NC) operates exclusively within the borders of an entire country irrespective of the size of the country (e.g. APECS Belgium or APECS Brazil). An APECS Regional Committee may operate within a particular region of a country (e.g. APECS US Northeast) or across borders to unite a number of different countries (e.g. APECS Benelux or APECS Oceania). For the purposes of APECS, all three types of committees are referred to as NC.
2. Naming a National Committee
NCs can be named after a country (ex. APECS Brazil) or a region (ex. APECS US Northeast). If a NC chooses a different name (e.g. Indian Polar Research Network or UK Polar Network), it must be stated clearly within all organizational documents and official communication that it is an APECS NC. It is essential to define and maintain the relation between the NC and APECS in order to avoid confusion among APECS members and partners.
3. National Committee membership
NC membership may be done through APECS, or independently. APECS encourages newly registered members to also join an appropriate NC to get the most benefit from their APECS membership. An appropriate NC may be defined as the NC or NCs with which they most identify, based on their country of origin, their country of former or current residence, or their research affiliations. Membership in an NC is voluntary, but APECS reserves the right to take measures which aid the registration process. As a result of NCs having differing membership rules (as dictated by internal national guidelines) membership in NCs will fall into one of the following three categories:
3.1 Membership of an NC without organizational status: Newly registered members will be signed up with the NCs as indicated on their online application. This will be done for all NCs that do not require separate registration. During the sign-up process, the Director or Executive Committee adds the member's email address to the relevant NC mailing list. The individual will be able to leave an NC and/or its mailing list at any time by notification to APECS.
APECS strongly encourages all NCs without organizational status to use the above mentioned registration process to get members for their mailing list and committees. All NCs must be seen to endeavor to do this. If a separate registration process for the NC without organization status has to be set up, the NC has to inform APECS about the reasons and agrees to adhere to the following principles:
- APECS membership must remain open to all NC members.
- NC members must be encouraged and facilitated to join APECS.
- NC membership must remain open to all APECS members.
- It must be made clear to APECS members as well as NC members that membership in both are separate but connected.
3.2 Membership of an NC with organizational status but without a separate registration process: The same rules as for membership of an NC without organizational status apply.
3.3 Membership of an NC with organizational status and with a separate registration process: APECS strongly encourages all NCs to adhere to the same membership registration process as the international organization. All NCs must be seen to endeavor to do this. Where an NC's organizational status nonetheless dictates a separate registration process
- APECS membership must remain open to all NC members.
- NC members must be encouraged and facilitated to join APECS.
- NC membership must remain open to all APECS members.
- It must be made clear to APECS members as well as NC members that membership in both are separate but connected.
4. NC registration fee
APECS membership is free with the option of a voluntary membership fee. APECS strongly encourages all its NCs basing their membership on the APECS membership registration to follow the same principle for their membership. In addition, APECS encourages NCs basing their membership on a separate registration system to also offer free membership unless their legal organizational structure dictates otherwise. Potential membership fees can only be raised by NCs that are registered organizations within their countries. If separate NC fees are necessary, NCs need to clearly state the amount, and that membership fees are raised by the NC and not by APECS. Additionally, it must be clearly stated that membership in APECS is not in any way affected by the choice of the members not to join the NC due to membership fees or other reasons.
5. NC mailing lists
NCs mailing lists will ideally be managed through the APECS mailing lists (i.e. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). These lists will be updated on a monthly basis. All new APECS members are automatically added by APECS to their appropriate NC email list (based on their NC selections during the registration process). APECS members can at any time request to be taken off of these lists. Only APECS members can be added to APECS mailing lists (i.e. listserves ending with a @apecs.is).
APECS discourages the use of other mailing list systems (not based on the APECS mailing lists), but recognizes that this might be necessary in cases that:
- an independent mailing list is already in use by an established NC;
- an NC wants to also allow non-APECS members to be added to the mailing list; or
- the NC has a separate registration process with its own membership that might differ from the APECS membership.
In these cases, the email address should clearly include the name of the national committee to make to avoid confusion with general email addresses used by APECS. One person from the NC leadership will receive a list with email addresses from newly registered APECS members on a regular basis from the APECS Director. In cases where an NC has a separate registration system the leadership of the NC will then have to email these newly registered NC members to inform them about the option of joining APECS International, and stating all the conditions for the NC registration.
6. NC leadership
NCs can use any leadership structure that best suits the NCs needs. This includes a structured elected executive or a loose board structure. It may also have no formal leadership structure if it so chooses. Naming of the NC committee leadership structure may be dictated by legal regulations associated with their formal organizational registration within their country and in these cases terminology as required by these regulations should be chosen. For all NCs that are not registered organizations within their countries, and that are not constrained to using a certain terminology within their committee, APECS encourages NCs to avoid the use of terms that are part of the APECS terminology (see below for a more detailed explanation under Leadership roles). We hope that this will reduce confusion among our membership about the various committees within APECS.
6.1 Leadership roles: In order to minimize confusion among the APECS membership between APECS and the NCs leadership structures and committees within the organization, APECS encourages the NCs to use leadership terms other than those used by APECS (i.e. Executive Committee, President, Executive Director and Council). Other leadership terms such as board, chair, vice-chair, secretariat, etc. are better alternatives to keep clear the roles of APECS and the NCs. If for legal registration purposes the NC needs to use specified terms such as Executive Committee, President, Executive Director and Council, this is acceptable, but it is the NCs responsibility to always make sure that all communications clearly state it is representing the NC, and not APECS.
7. Relationship with APECS
To formalize and define the relationship between APECS and the NCs, the APECS Executive leadership (Executive Director and Executive Committee) and the NCs will sign an agreement. This can be done on a voluntary basis for NCs that are not formally registered organizations within their country in the form of a Letter of Agreement (LoA) to give them formal support and recognition from APECS. In the case of the NC being a formally registered entity within their country, an agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with APECS is required. These agreements will be based on the guidelines listed herein, and will further define the individual relationship of the NC with APECS.
Furthermore, all NCs are required to have a representative from the NC leadership on the APECS Council to ensure good communication between the national and international level. This representative is furthermore added to the mailing list of the Membership Involvement Committee (MIC; or similar committee) that provides a platform for all NCs to connect with each other, exchange ideas and experiences as well as develop joint projects.
7.1 National Projects and Relationships with other National Organizations: NCs are strongly encouraged to work on projects that support the goals of APECS within their countries. APECS requires regular updates to the APECS leadership through e.g. updates to the Councils, Executive Committee and Executive Director, and news articles for the APECS website. By providing updates to the APECS leadership, the larger APECS membership can be updated and informed about NC projects, hopefully inspiring the development of similar projects in other countries.
All NCs are encouraged to work with other national level organizations and build relationships with them. Although in many cases the NC may be the point of contact with other national organizations, in order to make sure that all APECS members are getting the most from such relationships, annual updates on all NC partnerships should be submitted to the APECS Executive Committee and Executive Director. These updates will be included in the APECS Annual Report.
If a NC that is a registered organization within their country would like to formalize relations with a national organization, the APECS Director and Executive Committee must be consulted, and if possible added as a third co-signatory of the agreement. If a NC that is not a registered organization would like to formalize relations with another national organization, APECS must be consulted as the primary co-signatory of the agreement. In the case of project money being given to an unregistered NC, APECS, if needed, can act as the signatory and project leader if needed. All agreements have to comply with APECS goals and TOR and ROP.
7.2 International Projects and Relationships with other International Organizations: All NCs that are engaged in working with other international organizations / parties (operating in more than one country) or national organizations from outside the NC's country should coordinate these activities/projects with the APECS leadership. Although in some cases the NC may be the point of contact with an international organization, in order to make sure that all APECS members are getting the most from such relationships the APECS Executive Committee and Executive Director are required to be a part of all international level discussions.
If a NC is working on a project that has an international component and involves international organizations / parties (i.e a SCAR workshop), the NC must inform the APECS Executive Committee and Executive Director about the project as soon as planning begins and involve them in discussions where appropriate to ensure that all parties are up to date on international relations. APECS can also help the NC connect with other NCs that might be working on similar projects and communicate with the entire APECS membership to which the project(s) might apply. In addition, this allows APECS to provide customized advice to the NCs if APECS has had previous dealings with that international project partner.
In the case of a NC being invited to participate in an international meeting (i.e a local Arctic Council working group meeting), the NCs must inform the APECS Executive Committee and Executive Director before the event. The APECS Executive Committee and Executive Director can then mentor NC meeting participants, as is done for all APECS representatives. Mentoring includes providing advice and sharing of background information about APECS' prior relationship with the organization and sharing information on current APECS projects/plans so that the NC representative is well informed and aware of information that could be useful in discussions when attending meetings.
If a NC that is a registered organization within its country would like to formalize relations with an international organization or national organization outside the NC's country (i.e through a MoU or a LoA), APECS must be consulted and added as a third co-signatory to the agreement. If a NC that is not a registered organization would like to formalize relations with an international organization or national organization outside the NC's country, APECS will be the primary co-signatory of the agreement and has to be included in all stages of the discussion. All agreements have to comply with APECS goals and TOR and ROP.
8. Consequences for NCs that do not follow the NC guidelines
If NCs do not follow the guidelines as stated above without the consultation of the APECS Executive Leadership, APECS reserves the right to actions such as:
- Removing listserv privileges
- Restricting the ability of NCs to associate with APECS
- Revoking standing agreements that APECS and the NCs have with each other, and the NC has with partner organizations
- Informing APECS partners that the NC is question is temporarily / no longer supported by APECS
Appendix 2 was unanimously added to the APECS Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure on September 9, 2014 by the APECS Council.
APECS Executive Committee 2013-2014
Christie Logvinova (president), Clark University, United States/Russia
Frigga Kruse, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Russell Fielding, University of Denver, United States
Jean-Sébastien Moore, Université Laval, Canada
Iglika Trifonova, Bulgarian Antarctica Institute, Bulgaria
Jennifer Provencher (ex-officio), Carleton University, Canada
Penelope Wagner (ex-officio), University of Delaware, United States/Norway
Yulia Zaika (ex-officio), M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Gerlis Fugmann – Executive Director of APECS, University of Tromsø, Norway
APECS Council 2013-2014
Cristian Aldea, University of Magallanes, Chile
Elaine Alves dos Santos, University of State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sarah Bartholow, Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, United States
Roxanne Beltran, University of Alaska, United States
Vincent Carrier, Université Laval/University Centre in Svalbard, Canada/Norway
Eleanor Darlington, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Archana Dayal, The Energy and Resources Institute, India
Pedro Echevesta, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain
Francyne Elias-Piera, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain/Brazil
Ellyn Enderlin, University of Maine Climate Change Institute, United States
Laura Fleming-Sharp, Arctic Studies Center, Canada/United States
Ruth Hindshaw, University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom
Patricia Johnston, University of British Columbia, Canada
Alia Khan, University of Colorado, United States
Laura Kelvin, Western University, Canada
Laura Ferguson, Hariot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Minkyoung Kim, POSTECH, Korea
Michael Laiho, University of Lapland, Finland/United Kingdom
Maja Lisowska, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Silvia Lourenço, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Sanna Majaneva, University of Helsinki, Finland
Heather Mariash, McGill University, Finland/Canada
Adam Naito, Texas A&M University, United States
Karolina Paquin, University of Tromsø, Norway
Hugo Romero, University of Manchester, Chile/United Kingdom
Kristen Shake, Clarke University, United States
Sara Strey, University of Illinois, United States
Astrid Surmatz, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Zuzanna Swirad, Scott Polar Research Institute, United Kingdom
Ines Tavernier, Consortium Marine at the University of Gent, Belgium
Alexandre Trindade Niewendam, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Tristy Vick-Majors, Montana State University, United States
Bianca Zhang, the Arctic Institute, Iceland
The guidelines take affect immediately.
