Opportunity to attend Marine Research and Education Conference in Moscow

Applications are invited from early career researchers (from PhD level to 10 years post-PhD) with an interest to marine stations to participate in a side-event during the Marine Research and Education Conference in Moscow, November 21-22, themed “Interdisciplinary marine research in the Arctic and Northern Atlantic Oceans”. The event is in collaboration with the UK Polar Network,  the Marine Research Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the UK Science & Innovation Network and NERC Arctic Office.
Screenshot from 2018-09-04 12-40-21
Workshops will be held at Moscow in the Institute of Oceanology with travel and accommodation support available. Please download the conference schedule and application form linked at the bottom of this post (to save the files you can right-click and print to PDF).

The application deadline is midnight (GMT) on 17th September, 2018 (i.e. 00:00 18/9/18 GMT). 

Please return completed application forms to to applications@polarnetwork.org for UK-based researchers or to info@maresedu.com for Russian-based researches with a title UK-Russian side-event.
Any additional enquiries can be addressed to the conference organising committee at info@maresedu.com

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UKPN at the UK Antarctic Conference, July 2016

UKPN at the UK Antarctic Conference 2016!

UKPN are holding a meeting of Early Career Researchers on 4-5 July 2016 at UEA in Norwich, immediately preceding the 2016 Antarctic Sciences Conference on 5-7 July 2016.

For more information, please email Cecilia Liszka (ceclis56@bas.ac.uk). The full agenda can be seen below (NOTE: there are 2 pages).

Registration has now closed.

 

UKPN-Meeting-Agenda_ASC-2016_2

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100 Days to Antarctica Day!

Today marks the 100-day countdown to Antarctica Day! We at UK Polar Network will be working with Our Spaces this year to lead the Antarctica Day festivities--you'll be hearing a lot from us over the next couple of months. As part of this initiative, we invite individuals, classrooms and schools to participate in the festivities by sending us their renditions of Antarctic flags. The flags will then hitch a ride all the way to Antarctica, and we will send proof of travel with a certificate and photos of their journey!

Antarctica flag activity in Cape Town South Africa
Antarctica Day Flag event with the International Polar Foundation, in Cape Town, South Africa

What's so important about Antarctica Day and our Flags event? After almost fifty-five years, the Antarctic Treaty continues to shine as a rare beacon of international cooperation. To celebrate this milestone of peace in our civilisation with hope and inspiration for future generations – Antarctica Day is recognised to be December 1st -the day when the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959. As an annual event, Antarctica Day encourages participation from around the world. Our aim is to continue expanding Antarctica Day through our Flags initiative as a globally-accessible platform to share, interpret and cherish the values associated with Antarctica for the benefit of present and future generations.

For researchers travelling to Antarctica

You can help!

Are you heading down to Antarctica or any of the surrounding Antarctic Islands this Winter (November - January)? If so, please let us know! All we ask is for you to help bring down some of these flags, which will be sent to you in pdf or jpg format (however many you are willing to help with!) and photograph them on Antarctica as proof of them having made the journey down south. However you do so is completely up to you--you can be as creative as you want. The photos in this post show various ways that past Antarctic teams have showcased these flags.

Rothera Station Antarctica Day
Staff at Rothera Research Station celebrate 55 years of the Antarctica Treaty with Antarctic flags

For teachers and classrooms:

We've uploaded many school resources, including class plans and PowerPoints on how you, as an educator, can introduce Antarctica and Antarctica Day into your classroom, and have your students create flags to be sent down to Antarctica. We would like to emphasise that submissions to us can only be up to 5 flags per school or classroom--if you would like to submit your flags to us, please contact Julie Berkman <jberkman@ourspaces.org.uk> where she will provide you a DropBox link on reply.

The idea is for your students to design flags for the Antarctic. You can either get all students to design flags, and then chose your 'top five' or you could design a couple of flags as a whole class/year group. Digital pictures of the flags are sent to us, and we then print off these picture and send them down to the Antarctic with our scientists and engineers in November and December. A picture of your flags will then be taken within the Antarctic, and the student/classroom will receive a certificate to say where their flag was displayed. There is also a chance that a competition will be run for the best flags to be hung up around the British Antarctic Survey and Scott Polar Museum.

We can provide a large number of resources and lesson ideas. We would also like to maintain a relationship with the school afterwards, either by a visit to the school from a scientist, or an online Q&A session for your students with a scientist. This is an international activity, and so far we have schools from over 20 countries taking part. The UKPN would love to have your school participate in this exciting event.

To help you implement this activity within your classroom, we've attached a sample class plan for Antarctica Flags that has been most popular over the last couple of years! If you would like this class plan in another language, please let us know by replying to this email.

Antarctic Day - Escuela Rural 110, Soriano, URUGUAY
A classroom at the Escuela Rural 110, in Soriano, Uruguay, displays their renditions of the Antarctica Flag

This year, our deadline for submission of Antarctica Day flags will be slightly earlier, on the 1st November (exactly 1 month before Antarctica Day!), because we'd like to get your flags to be photographed in Antarctica on the 1st December. 

Windless Bight_Gateway PCAS students w Antarctic Flags
Staff and students on the Gateway Antarctica expedition with Antarctica New Zealand display Antarctica flags on Christmas Day

Lastly, to keep updated and involved in the Antarctica Day festivities, please follow us on Facebook (UKPN and Antarctica Day) and Twitter, where we will be regularly posting your flag submissions and other relevant items counting down the days to December 1st.

Please get in touch with either me <tj.young@polarnetwork.org>, Jenny Turton <jenny.turton@polarnetwork.org> or Julie Berkman <jberkman@ourspaces.org.uk> if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing your Antarctic Flags!

 TJ Young and Jenny Turton

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Bangor Polar Symposium

Saturday 8th December 2012
School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University (North Wales)
An informal one day symposium for early career scientists to present their work, network and gain advice on polar careers. Key note speakers include Dr Stephanie Wilson (Antarctic zooplankton) and Nick Hughes (Sea Ice).

If you would like to present your work or attend this exciting event then please submit your abstract by the 10th of November at http://www.polarsymposium.com/.
£10 registration fee includes refreshments, buffet lunch and dinner.This event is supported by the UK Polar Network, Endeavour Society, School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University and Calegeo.

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Modelling In the Polar Sciences Workshop - April 2012

The use of mathematical modelling is becoming increasingly important in all areas of science. This spring, the UKPN will continue our highly successful programme of workshops bringing early career polar scientists together to meet and learn about specific areas of the discipline.

This free workshop will focus on the use of modelling in the polar sciences. It will be held at the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of April 2012. Following the format of previous successful UKPN workshops, we will be organising lectures and practical sessions that will cover a broad range of polar science-related subjects where mathematical modelling plays a role. These will to be led by a number of highly respected academics including Grant Bigg, Sheffield; Andrew Fowler, Oxford; Edward Hanna, Sheffield; Richard Hindmarsh, British Antarctic Survey; Richard Hodgkins, Loughborough; Pete Nienow, Edinburgh; Felix Ng, Sheffield and Ian Rutt, Swansea and more!

As well as lectures and practical sessions, the workshop will include sessions on the basics of modelling, poster sessions where participants will be encouraged to present their work (modelling-based or otherwise), careers discussions, and a group dinner where we will get a chance to properly meet each other and enjoy an evening out in Sheffield!

This workshop is aimed at early career polar scientists (Masters, PhD and Post-docs) who already make use of modelling or are interested in doing so, not just people who are already knowledgeable in the field. We aim to integrate the skills of students with modelling experience with those who wish to develop skills in this important aspect of research. It will be great to welcome a broad range of Polar Scientists to Sheffield in April!

Please keep an eye on the mailing list and here on the UKPN website for more details regarding when you can sign up!

For further details please contact:
Jonny Kingslake - University of Sheffield
Stephen Livingstone - University of Sheffield
Amir Levy - Keele University
and Iestyn Barr - Queen Mary University of London

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Career mentor panel at IGS-BB 2011

The UK Polar Network will be hosting a Career Mentoring Panel at the British Antarctic Survey during the IGS British Branch Meeting (7-8th September). In addition to the scientific program, the panel will be a great opportunity for early career researchers to ask mentors questions about taking the next steps in their careers. This is open to all early career scientists registered at the meeting:

http://www.bas.ac.uk/about_bas/events/igs2011/index.php

The IGS British Branch Annual Meeting is an informal two-day meeting at which presentations are welcome on all aspects of ice and snow research. Postgraduate students in particular are welcome to attend and present their work. The meeting will consist of both oral and poster presentation sessions.

Registration closes on Wednesday 6th July.

 

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UKPN Science Communication Workshop

In a rapidly changing world, the ability of scientists to communicate their work to the public is becoming ever more important, and training in this key skill ever more valuable. The UK Polar Network will be holding a workshop on the 12th-14th January 2011 at the University of Aberdeen, providing a fantastic opportunity for early career polar scientists to develop their proficiency within this area.

Many different aspects of science communication and public engagement will be explored during the workshop. These will include the making of natural and scientific television programmes; the link between research establishments and the media and public; the role of government in science communication; expeditions as a means of inspiring and educating young people, and scientific and polar exhibitions and attractions.

Interaction and informal discussion will form a key part of all sessions. External speakers will be present from the BBC, the Open University, the Scottish Government, the University of Aberdeen, Education Through Expeditions, and the British Antarctic Survey, providing invaluable expertise and experience from which participants can learn.

Practical experience in outreach and communication will also be emphasized, with participants given the chance to present talks and posters of their own, and take part in a hands-on session on effective outreach. This aspect of the workshop will cumlinate in an actual outreach event, planned with local school groups, to give participants the chance to put their new and improved skills into practice.

Registration for the Aberdeen workshop will open on the UK Polar Network website in autumn 2010. Attendance will carry a nominal fee, but it is anticipated that funds will be made available to support travel and accommodation for participants that have no other source of expenses funding.

The dissemination and communication of polar science and issues remains a key focus of the UK Polar Network. This science communication workshop will provide early career researchers with the skills, abilities and confidence required to better themselves as ambassadors for their fields, for the Network and for science as a whole.

We invite all early career polar scientists from across the UK and around the world to this exciting workshop and we look forward to welcoming you to Aberdeen in January!

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Polar Sedimentary Processes and Archives Workshop

The UKPN and Loughborough University are pleased to announce the Polar Sedimentary Processes and Archives workshop as the latest in the 2010 series of UKPN career skills workshops.

Location: Loughborough University
Dates: 18th and 19th of November 2010.
Sedimentary archives are key indicators of past environmental change across a range of timescales.  Coupled with an understanding of contemporary sediment processes, they make it possible to reconstruct terrestrial, cryospheric, atmospheric, marine, and lacustrine conditions, which are vital for accurate modelling of future scenarios for climate change.

The workshop aims to explore the following themes:

• How is the polar sedimentary archive used to understand past environmental processes?

• How can past polar sedimentary processes be interpreted in terms of environmental and climatic change?

• What uncertainties are there in the sedimentary record (past and present), and what are the strengths and weaknesses of the differing sedimentary records available in polar regions?

•       How can we use polar sediments from different sources to obtain a regional perspective on past and present environmental change that would benefit climate modelling?

We intend to appeal to early career researchers (MSc, PhD and post-doctoral researchers) working in polar, sub polar or alpine regions with an emphasis on sediments. The intention is to cover a range of sub-disciplines within the earth sciences including, glacial and periglacial sedimentology, limnology and palaeolimnology, hydrology, aeolian, marine and atmospheric sciences. This is not an exhaustive list and we welcome all polar researchers.

Proposed sessions include

• Glacial and periglacial sediments
• Lacustrine sediments
• Aeolian and Atmospheric sediments
• Marine sediments
• Arctic hydrology
• Modelling future change in the Polar regions

Planned sessions also include advice about publishing and a panel session on field research skills by leading academics.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for peer to peer networking, skills training, encouraging collaborations and increasing the technical and scientific knowledge of participants. All delegates will be encouraged to do an oral presentation or produce a poster about their research, and will be encouraged to help in the organisation of the workshop, such as chairing sessions.

It is anticipated that a small fee (no more than £10) will be charged for all delegates attending the workshop. This is a postgraduate event and costs will be kept to a minimum. The UKPN has donated some funding towards the conference which will be used to support travel and accommodation expenses of delegates. We invite all delegates to claim some funding towards the conference costs.

We ask interested participants to pre-register by the 31st of August 2010 by using the online questionnaire at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBXD9MW.  If you have any questions please email  lboroworkshop@polarnetwork.org.

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IPY Oslo Science Conference, 8-12 June 2010

DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL THE 25TH JAN 2010!!

The IPY Oslo Science Conference, taking place 8-12 June 2010 in Oslo, Norway, is the major IPY Conference, a brilliant opportunity to show off your polar science whether it's part of an IPY project or not. The IPY Oslo Conference also sets a precedent for the involvement of early career scientists at all levels of the conference and the activities during the event. APECS is coordinating the activities, and of course UKPN members are involved too! Spread the word so that this becomes the highlight of the year!

The submission deadline for abstracts is the 20th January 2010, so get your abstracts in!! To submit, go to this webpage: http://www.ipy-osc.no/section/1257865053.48. There is plenty of support available for early career scientists (reduced registration fees, accommodation, Oslo stipends, travel fellowships), all of it tied to abstract submission. Any question regarding the application process, don't hesitate to contact us!

We would like to use this opportunity to highlight some of the sessions UKPN members are (co-)organising and show you what else there is for early career scientists.

Sessions with UKPN (or UK based APECS) conveners (apologies if I forgot anybody!):

  • T2-1 Climate and paleoclimate dynaimcs and processes (Louise Sime, BAS)
  • T2-4 Permafrost on a warming planet (Matt Strzelecki, Uni Durham)
  • T2-6 Ocean physical and geochemical dynamics and processes (Povl Abrahamsen, BAS)
  • T3-8 Ecosystems of the Southern Ocean (Angelika Renner, BAS/UEA)
  • T6-3 Adventures in the field: Impact of field programs for students, teachers, artists, writers and others (Allen Pope, SPRI)
  • T6-4 Global learning: The impact of the media (Jose Xavier, BAS)

APECS activities during the conference: APECS Professional Development Workshop - workshop with session on publishing your research, communicating science, funding, alternative careers, and more

APECS Reception - speed dating with potential mentors

APECS Lounge - in the middle of everything! THE meeting point of the conference

Awards for outstanding presentations and posters!

Application includes Oslo Stipend, Travel Fellowships and the APECS Professional Development Workshop

  • 20 February 2010 Abstract Acceptance Notification Date
  • 25 February 2010 Notification of Oslo Stipend Awards
  • 1 March 2010 Notification of Acceptance in APECS Workshop
  • 5 March 2010 Deadline to Confirm Stipend Acceptance
  • 8 March 2010 Stipend Recipients Conference Registration Deadline

So get your abstracts polished and send them in! For more info check http://www.ipy-osc.no and http://www.apecs.is/events/oslo2010

See you in Oslo,

Angelika

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UKPN Annual General Meeting 2010

The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Royal Astronomical Society's rooms in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. 

At the AGM we will discuss the future of the UKPN and we encourage all UKPN members to participate in the meeting. The outline of the meeting is:

  • An overview of UKPN, its aims and general future directions
  • An overview of UKPN events in 2009.
  • Discussion about UKPN events in 2010.
  • Discussion about the proposed spring/summer school in 2011.
  • A talk by an external scientist on a broad, topical subject.

More information will follow soon.

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