The fourth International Polar Year has led to the creation of a number of new projects and initiatives, many of which will continue after the IPY officially comes to an end in March 2009.



One of these initiatives, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), which sprang from the IPY Youth Steering Committee, (IPY project n° 168), has grown in size and stature in three short years. Since APECS founders Dr. Jenny Baeseman and Hugh Lantuit decided in 2006 to create an organisation aimed at helping early career polar scientists with their career development, the organisation has grown to 1,400 members worldwide, and has been recognised as an important entity by the international polar research community.

Dr. Baeseman, who is Director of the APECS International Office at the University of Tromsø, Norway, http://www.sciencepoles.org/index.php?/articles_interviews/dr_jenny_baeseman_on_apecs_an_important_legacy_of_ipy4/&uid=1406 on the International Polar Foundation's SciencePoles website.