Comments Welcome on First Draft!

Dear Members of APECS,

Most of you have never met me or communicated with me before, so before I go any further I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Kriss Rokkan Iversen and I am the President of APECS. I was born at 68 degrees north at the Lofoten archipelago and since it was a snow blizzard the day I was born, at May 27, I was predisposed for the Arctic (add extremely low pigmentation and zero tolerance for tropic temperature and you get the picture). Today I am 30 years old and have spent most of my female years north of the Arctic Circle. At the moment, I am doing my PhD on marine microbial ecology in the European Arctic at the University of Tromsø, Norway. I am also very interested in science policy making and outreach and for me APECS is the answer to my polar wishes and goals (for instance: pigments are overrated!). This email is, however, sent to you because you are an APECS member and the organization has some important news for all of you. So: keep readingJ

It is now almost eight months since we all started on this exciting journey; together to create a new organization where early career scientists could find a home for their polar passion, career development needs and research and outreach interests. And, in April 2008, less than one year after the birth of our new and stronger organization, APECS has succeeded in becoming one of the most important legacies of IPY.

APECS has today over 1200 members from more than 30 countries. APECS are widely accepted and endorsed as THE bipolar, multidisciplinary, international home of tomorrow's leaders, researchers and outreachers in the polar community. APECS is, regardless of its polar orientation, today a hot topic in polar science and policy discussions. APECS is here to stay, thanks to all your help, hardwork, and dedication to “Shaping the Future of Polar Research”.

The Interim Executive Committee today proudly presents to you the organizational fundament of APECS; the first drafts of our Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure. The Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedures are accompanied by a memo where we are trying to guide you through our arguments and thoughts on why the documents became as you find them today.

We would like you all to make comments on issues in the Terms of References and the Rules of Procedures that you do not understand or agree upon after reading the memo. You find the documents at the following site: http://arcticportal.org/apecs/documents/apecs_tor_rop_22apr08.pdf We also invite you to give comments or come with suggestions to modifications!  Send input to APECS.

The Executive Committee has sat May 14 as a deadline for comments to the documents. We hereby invite all APECS members to attend a live virtual Council meeting at May 21 and kindly ask you to notice our Executive Director Jenny Baeseman if you are able to make it.

In the time towards the online Council meeting, the Executive Committee also will prepare the outline of the transition process that must take place in the time to come. The interim Executive Committee's tasks have been of another character than the tasks of future Executive Committees of APECS. Also we must reassure that we find motivated, inspired and envisioned people to step up for becoming the next Executive Committee. Maybe YOU are the person to take over the wheel and lead APECS into the future?

When you read these documents, we hope that you also can feel the APECS spirit becoming something tangible. These documents are not only paper and ink - this is the fundament of how APECS operates and will sustain us as an organization for many years to come – perhaps until the next IPY in 2032!

We should all also use this important occasion to deeply acknowledge each other's efforts during the last eight months. We must never forget that APECS is every single person in our organization. It is together that we will shape the future of polar research!

And once again: thank you all for being part of APECS!


On the behalf of APECS Interim Executive Committee, Kriss Rokkan Iversen, President