1) Oslo Science Conference
2) Polar Week - 15 to 19 March 2010
3) IPY Publications Database
4) IPY International Field School in Svalbard, 21 June to 9 July 2010
5) Call for proposals for International Teams in Space Science
6) APECS Update
1) Oslo Science Conference
All persons who submitted abstracts should have received a response. Next, please register and make hotel reservations as soon as possible to obtain the most favorable rates. FRESH INFORMATION AT http://www.ipy-osc.no/.
2) March Polar Week
Please join us for the final polar science event coordinated by this IPO! The Polar Week will occur from the 15th to 19th March 2010 and will focus on 'What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All'. We offer several classroom activities to choose from, including activities looking at the effects of pollution in the Arctic and the ways that penguins reunite within large loud colonies. If you participated in one of the previous Polar Days, please join this event again to help us show the extent and enthusiasm of the IPY networks. For more information, please visit the March Polar Week webpages:
http://www.ipy.org/hidden/item/2293-march-polar-week-2010-what-happens-at-the-poles-affects-us-all
In conjunction with polar week, there will be various public lectures taking place across the world - stay tuned to the International Public Lecture webpage at:
http://www.ipy.org/hidden/item/2324 for one happening near you and don't forget to launch your virtual balloons to show your participation!
3) IPY Publications Database
As part of the IPY Data and Information Service, the International Polar Year Publications Database (IPYPD) prepares, stores and disseminates metadata (references, abstracts and indexing terms) describing publications that have resulted from, or that are about, this International Polar Year 2007-2008 and the three previous IPYs. According to the IPY Data and Scholarly Publications Policies, all of us should report our IPY publications to the Publications Database. By reporting our publications, we ensure that those publications become widely searchable and cited in the PD, as well as, depending on the publication's subject and geographic scope, in the Bibliography on Cold Regions Science and Technology, the Antarctic Bibliography, and other relevant and accessible databases.
For more information, see: http://www.nisc.com/ipy or http://ipydis.org/index.html.
Following the exciting success of the 2009 IPY Field School, the University Centre in Svalbard, in partnership with APECS and with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University of the Arctic, and IPY Norway, announces another International Field School opportunity for 2010. This 3-week course will focus on environmental change in the Arctic and Antarctic through lectures and field excursions in Svalbard, Norway. The course will cover topics on Glaciology, Geology, Meteorology, Oceanography, Marine/Terrestrial Biology, Permafrost, and the Human Dimension in Polar Regions. There are some travel grants available for those that need financial assistance.
For more information about the 2010 Field School, see: http://unis.no. The deadline for applications occurs on 8 April 2010.
You can hear a presentation of the 2009 IPY Field School in session T6-3 at the Oslo IPY conference. We expect 6 or more students from the 2009 School to attend the Oslo conference.
5) Call for proposals for International Teams in Space Science
The International Space Science Institute supports groups of scientists involved in Space Research to work together in an efficient and flexible format of several subsequent meetings, during which data are analysed and compared with theories and models. This call is open to scientists of any nationality active in research in Space Sciences or Earth Sciences using space data. IPY researchers should take advantage of this opportunity to find support for further international research and collaboration. For more information, contact Dr. Maurizio Falanga, Science Program Manager, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on +41 31 631 4893.
6) APECS Update
We are delighted to announce that APECS launched a mentorship programme in February. Since its inception, APECS has aimed to provide a continuum of knowledge in polar research and foster interactions between APECS members and experienced polar researchers and professionals. We would like to thank all of you who have already participated in an APECS event by giving guidance to early-career researchers. As an extension of the mentor panels that APECS already runs at major conferences, the mentorship program now involves the creation of an online database of mentors who are willing to share their knowledge with talented early-career researchers. For more information, and to sign up as a mentor, please visit www.apecs.is/mentors.
APECS had its first very successful Virtual Poster Session call this month with two posters being presented and discussed. Two successful mentor panels were held at the International Glaciological Conference “Ice and Climate Change: a View from the South” in Valdivia, Chile and at the 2010 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, USA. More events are being planned for the International Polar Week in March.
APECS, and young polar researchers everywhere, are excited about the IPY Open Science Conference in Oslo. 400 stipends have been awarded and accepted. We have also sent out notifications to the participants of the APECS Career Development workshop which will be held prior to the conference. We are particularly grateful to the Research Council of Norway for the stipend support and funding the other APECS activities and to several groups for funding the travel of these young researchers: the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the European Polar Board / European Science Foundation, the Canadian IPY Federal Programme Office, the International Arctic Research Center in Alaska together with the US NSF, and several IPY National Committees who have agreed to fund their young researchers travel from India, Japan, Austria, Portugal and hopefully a few more (thanks to Nicola at the IPY IPO for making this happen!). More information on the progress of organising early-career researcher activities in conjunction with the IPY-OSC can be found at www.apecs.is/oslo2010.