US-SCAR News

The Polar Science Early Career Community Office is excited to announce that the 2023 Polar Postdoctoral Leadership Workshop (PPLW) will be taking place in Front Range of Colorado, from May 15 to 19, 2023. The workshop will bring 20 US-based postdoctoral researchers studying Antarctic and Arctic topics together from across the country to activate leadership skills that they can bring into their future careers. Participation in the workshop is free and travel support will be provided (more details below). Participants will be selected by the PSECCO PPLW Selection Committee, with a goal of establishing a discipline-, geographic-, and holistically diverse cohort. The deadline by which to apply is February 15, 2023 at 11.59 pm MT. Continue Reading

NSF Polar Programs is providing funding through US-SCAR to support travel of US scientists to three Antarctic meetings this summer. Applicants must be affiliated with a US institution, and preference will be given to early career researchers. There is a separate travel grant application for each meeting. If you apply for more than one meeting, you will be asked to prioritize your choices. Deadline for all travel grant applications is 1 March 2023. (Decisions are expected by 31 March.) Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (OPP) is inviting members of the USAP community to upcoming Sexual Assault Harassment Prevention and Response (SAHPR) virtual Listening Sessions taking place in February 2023. For background, in April 2021, NSF enlisted subject-matter experts to examine sexual harassment and sexual assault in the USAP Community and recommend corrective actions. Their findings and recommendations are detailed in the recently released SAHPR Needs Assessment Report and Implementation Plan (Report), which can be found on the NSF website. A summary of the Report’s key findings can be found here. The Report presents both serious concerns and a clear path for improvement. Continue Reading

Just a reminder about this funding opportunity - and when NSF says "geoscience", they also mean all aspects of Antarctic science, too! In alignment with the 2023 Federal Year of Open Science, the NSF Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) recently announced a new funding opportunity, the Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem (GEO OSE). The GEO OSE program seeks to support sustainable and networked open science activities to foster an ecosystem of inclusive access to data, physical collections, software, advanced computing, and other resources toward advancing research and education in the geosciences. The purpose of this support is to broadly enable geoscientists to leverage expanding information resources and computing capabilities to address interdisciplinary grand challenge research questions at the forefront of the geosciences. Proposals to the GEO OSE program solicitation (NSF 23-534) are due March 16, 2023. NSF will be holding an informational webinar this Friday, January 20, 2023, at 1 PM EST to offer guidance on the GEO OSE program and to provide an opportunity for Q&A. Continue Reading

The deadline for researchers interested in NSF funding for Antarctic fieldwork must submit a concept outline no later than January 17. More information can be found in the Antarctic Research Requiring U.S. Antarctic Program Support for Fieldwork solicitation, NSF 23-509: https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/antarctic-research-requiring-us-antarctic-program Continue Reading

On January 10, at 1pm Eastern Time (US and Canada), join researcher Jean Pennycook live from the Cape Royds penguin colony in Antarctica! A seasoned researcher, Jean is part of a team conducting globally unique demographic studies of Adélie penguins in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The study uses penguin-borne sensors to evaluate foraging conditions and behavior and environmental conditions on Adélies. Continue Reading

Wanting to know more about non-tenure track faculty jobs and what opportunities exist for polar scientists beyond academia? The Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) has put together its first panel to discuss job opportunities beyond academia for polar scientists. What you learn here will absolutely be transferrable to jobs outside of polar science too, so be sure to spread word of this event far and wide! The panel will take place on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, from 9am to 10.30am AKT | 11am to 12.30pm MT | 1pm to 2.30pm ET. Continue Reading

SCAR is pleased to announce the inaugural SCAR Ant-ICON | SC-ATS science-policy fellowship programme for early-mid career researchers (EMCRs). The aim of the fellowship programme is to provide the opportunity for EMCRs to gain experience in the science-policy interface from participating in Antarctic policy forums through the preparation and potential submission of a science/policy paper based on their research, in collaboration with SC-ATS. The fellowships are open to early-mid career researchers from all SCAR member countries. Preference will be given to researchers who have not previously participated in these meetings and are actively seeking to contribute. The deadline for applications is 16 January 2023. Continue Reading

Following their recently renewed partnership agreement, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) are pleased to confirm that preparatory work has started for a 5th International Polar Year (IPY) in 2032-33. Organizing the 5th IPY 25 years after the last IPY in 2007-08 reflects the urgent need for coordinated international research to tackle the biggest challenges of polar research, for both the Polar Regions themselves and for the world as a whole. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (OPP) is inviting members of the USAP community to an upcoming Sexual Assault Harassment Prevention and Response (SAHPR) virtual Listening Session taking place on December 13th (Eastern). Additional virtual Listening Sessions will be taking place in January and February 2023 as well. Continue Reading

Happy Antarctica Day! December 1 is Antarctica Day, celebrating the anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. Also, earlier this year, SCAR worked with scientists across the globe to produce the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment Decadal Synopsis (ACCE). The report provides a summary of a decade’s worth of research, and its eight chapters leave little room for doubt: The continent is warming, and so is its surrounding Southern Ocean. Learn more about SCAR's new animation that summarizes the key messages from the report, and for links to read the ACCE report in full and to obtain a set of infographics to accompany the report. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Sciences Section, is seeking a qualified candidate for a Physical Science Administrator (Program Director) position. Interested candidates can learn more about the position and apply by January 16, 2023, on the USAJOBS website. Continue Reading

The public is invited to the first meeting of the committee on Future Directions for Southern Ocean and Antarctic Nearshore and Coastal Research to take place on December 5, 2022, from 1:30PM - 3:15PM ET. The committee will hear from the sponsors of this study and discuss the statement of task. This committee meeting will take place virtually and will be webcast on the event page. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Continue Reading

Under the growing global geopolitical challenges, are the Antarctic Treaty System and its legal system (ATS) still fit for its purpose of maintaining the Antarctica as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science? Looking into the future meetings to be held in Finland in 2023, Italy in 2025 and Japan in 2026, the world’s renowned experts will discuss whether the ATS has the capacity to continue as a dominant Antarctic governance regime. This Symposium, being held on December 1, 2022, is being held in Japan (in English) and will be available on Zoom (no fees). It is part of the KOBE PCRC Antarctic Open Symposium Series. Continue Reading

The Antarctic Sciences (ANT) Section of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) will be hosting a virtual Office Hour this Thursday, November 17 from 2pm to 3pm Eastern time to (i) provide Antarctic Sciences updates, (ii) introduce the two new Antarctic Science solicitations, NSF 23-508 and NSF 23-509, (iii) provide you with an overview of the Antarctic Research Vessel (ARV), courtesy of Tim McGovern from OPP’s Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics Section, and (iv) engage with you in a question-and-answer session. All USAP participants – including current awardees, pending proposers, and future proposers – are welcome to attend. Continue Reading

The Office of Polar Programs Antarctic (ANT) Sciences Section has released two solicitations for Antarctic research: one for research requiring field support and one for research not requiring field support. Diversifying and broadening participation is a priority for the Antarctic Sciences Section. ANT encourages the leadership, partnership, and contributions of individuals who are members of groups underrepresented and/or underserved in all opportunities in STEM education programs and careers Continue Reading

Following up on the success of the 2021 US Antarctic Science Meeting, US-SCAR will host a second US meeting in 2023 (20-23 June). This meeting is for US scientists who are conducting research in, from or about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Scientists interested in getting involved in Antarctic research through US programs are also welcome and encouraged to attend. (Registration will be free.) The 2023 meeting will have a similar format to the 2021 meeting with plenary and contributed parallel sessions running for a few hours on each day. Further details and the call for abstracts will be sent out in January, but please mark your calendar now. Continue Reading

The XIII SCAR Biology Symposium will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand (31 July - 4 August 2023). The call for abstracts opens 7 December 2022 and will be announced here. Partial travel support for US scientists will be available through US-SCAR with funding from NSF Polar Programs/Antarctic Sciences. Details about how to apply for a travel award will be sent through this US-SCAR mail list in December. Continue Reading

As an organization committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion, and working towards building an inclusive and just environment in the polar sciences, the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) is excited to announce the pre-solicitation call for polar early career individuals and organizations to apply for PSECCO Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (BAJEDI) Micro-grants! Do you have an idea that will advance BAJEDI in the polar regions but need a little funding to bring that idea to fruition? PSECCO is looking to support people or organizations with plans that will lead to tangible impacts in these areas, and the full solicitation has just been released! Deadline by which to apply is: October 31, 2022 at 11.59pm MT. Continue Reading

The Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an international scientific organization that promotes and facilitates cooperation in all aspects of Antarctic research. The Polar Research Board of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine serves as the U.S. National Committee to SCAR and is responsible for selection of U.S. representatives. We are currently seeking nominations for candidates to fill one representative position in the Geosciences Group. We seek candidates who have some existing understanding of SCAR’s structure and goals, have a strong commitment to SCAR’s vision for international research cooperation, are well-respected in their fields of work, and have a broad understanding of polar-region research more generally. Science Group representatives are appointed for a 6-year term and are expected to actively participate in the SCAR international business meetings and Open Science Conference that take place every other year (travel support is provided). In between the international meetings, SCAR representatives contribute to a variety of activities to help build community and expand SCAR engagement among U.S. Antarctic researchers. Please submit your nominations by Friday, October 14 to Morgan Disbrow-Monz (MMonz@nas.edu). Continue Reading