Content:

1) Oslo Science Conference
2) Teacher's workshop in Oslo
3) Polar Week - 15 to 19 March 2010
4) APECS Update

1) Oslo Science Conference

The IPY Oslo Science Conference attracted more than 2500 abstracts, with strong interest in all six Themes. Now the conveners and the Theme committees, supported by the Conference Secretariat and Steering Committee, work to develop a detailed programme and to respond as quickly as possible to everyone who submitted an abstract. Approximately 25% of the abstracts came from early career scientists. In that surprising and very positive response we can detect the energy and effectiveness of the APECS networks (see item 4, below), and we can anticipate a vibrant influence on the entire Conference. If the number and breadth of abstracts represents a very strong step towards the first IPY goal (to "make major advances in polar knowledge and understanding"), then the wide international interest from early career scientists represents an exciting indicator of success on the third IPY goal (to "inspire a new generation of polar scientists and engineers").

The Conference venue has abundant space for side meetings and for business meetings of the various polar organisations, generally at no extra cost but available only on a first-requested, first-served basis. Please make your needs and plans known as soon as possible, to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Mr. Asgeir Knudsen).

PLEASE NOTE: EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION CLOSES ON 8 MARCH 2010.

2) Teacher's workshop in Oslo

The IPY Oslo Science Conference also attracted more than 200 applications for a Polar Teachers Conference organized for the weekend before the Science Conference. These teachers will develop and share ideas and skills to meet their goal of "learning how to use polar science in your classroom". The enthusiastic international interest in the Teachers Conference represents an encouraging contribution to the fourth IPY goal (to "elicit keen interest and participation from polar residents, schoolchildren, the general public and decision-makers worldwide").

3) Polar Week - 15 to 19 March 2010

The final Polar Week, of this IPY and from this IPO, will occur in mid March. As a reminder, a Polar Week simply represents a collection of Polar Day activities that have grown too large, too exuberant, and too widespread to fit within the confines of one 24 hour period. For this Polar Week, we continue the theme 'What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All' with lectures, classroom activities, and virtual balloon launches. We also use this Polar Week to highlight materials from the new book 'Polar Science and Global Climate, An International Resource for Education and Outreach' and to promote the science and education and outreach activities of the Oslo Science Conference. For more information, contact: Nicola Munro ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

4) APECS Update

The biggest news this month was the incredible response we received for the IPY Oslo Science Conference Stipend Programme – over 850 applicants! This will keep us busy for a while, but shows the high level of enthusiasm and excitement for polar research in the younger generation of researchers. We would like to encourage all IPY National Programmes to consider contributing to the travel support of their young researchers.

In other APECS news,

• In early December 2009, the IPY International Early Career Researcher Symposium was held in Victoria, BC, Canada and attracted more than 75 participants and 20 mentors from 14 different countries.
• Another successful APECS Mentor Panel was held at the AGU in December and several others are planned in the coming months, including at the International Glaciological Conference “Ice and Climate Change: a View from the South” in Valdivia, Chile.
• The APECS Antarctic Field School was held in January with 15 students and lecturers.
• The APECS Virtual Poster Session attracted a large number of new contributions during the last month and plans are underway for a first Virtual Poster Session call in early February.
• There are also activities going on in the National Committees of APECS.

• • On January 20 APECS Sweden organized a career day at Stockholm University.
  • APECS is also happy to announce the establishment of our newest national committee, APECS Polska. For more information on these activities and more, visit www.apecs.is.

Thanks to grants from the Research Council of Norway (RCN) through collaborations with the University of Tromsø (UiT) and the Norwegian Polar Institute (NP) as well as the Tromsø Kommune's RDA programme to support the development of a permanent sustainable funding plan for APECS, the APECS Directorate is able to continue operations in 2010 and 2011. This is great news for our organization and we wish to thank the funders for their support and for helping us shape the future of polar research!