Polar Early Career

World Summit

22-24 March 2025 / Boulder, Colorado, US

organized by

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) are collaborating to organize a Polar Early Career World Summit (PECWS). It was held alongside the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP) IV and the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) in Boulder, Colorado, US in March 2025 with the aim to bring together early career researchers, professionals, Indigenous scholars and knowledge holders connected to the Arctic, Antarctica, and the wider cryosphere from across the world. The PECWS aims to:

Shape polar research priorities and the next IPY

Provide input into ICARP IV and the development of the 5th International Polar Year (2032-33)

Strengthen polar early career networks and connections

Discuss the past, present and future of polar early career networks and strengthen them through in-depth discussions, relationship-building, and developing formats of collaboration

Amplify voices of the polar early career community

Conversations at the summit were synthesized into multiple output formats to reach a broad audience and influence polar science policy and decision-making processes

You want to provide input to the priority synthesis process?

The PECWS team is hosting three Online Engagement Events on 27 - 29 May (depending on your time zone) that will provide an overview of what was discussed at PECWS and provide clear instructions for how polar ECRs from all over the world can provide input on these visions, priorities, reasonings and actions.

PECWS Online Events - 28 May 2025

Register now to attend at
04:00-05:30 UTC 09:00-10:30 UTC 17:00-18:00 UTC
and use the following online form to provide your input on polar early career priorities.

You want to publish your perspective on polar research?

The PECWS team is collaborating with the journal PLOS Climate to provide polar early career professionals the opportunity to publish your perspective priorities for the future of polar research in one of multiple formats. You can find more information about this initiative here.

PECWS x PLOS Climate

Everyone that is filling out the form will be receiving more information about the submission process and can indicate their interest to be connected with others that proposed similar contributions.
Register your interest to contribute

The future of polar research

Building on the successful history of two previous APECS World Summits, the PECWS fosters international collaboration across disciplines and encourage discussions that many early career professionals are already spearheading within the scientific community, including emphasizing a need for building welcoming polar research communities, urging open science development, working across disciplines, furthering applied research, effective science communication, and collaborating through co-production of knowledge.

The timeline of the Polar Early Career World Summit

  1. APECS and PSECCO start planning the PECWS 2025

    In 2023, the leadership of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) committed to organise a Polar Early Career World Summit in 2025. Following these initial discussion an Organizing Committee and a wider Planning Team involving early career community members was established in 2024.

  2. Gathering community input on discussion themes

    The organizers invited polar early career community members from around the world to provide their input on early career priorities which defined the discussion themes and informed the agenda of the PECWS.

  3. Polar Early Career World Summit

    The Polar Early Career World Summit 2025 was held alongside ICARP IV and ASSW in Boulder, Colorado, US in March 2025. 120 polar early career researchers (ECRs) came together to discuss and synthesize priorities for input to ICARP IV and IPY discussions. At the end of the third day, polar ECRs had discussed 12 priority themes, and for those themes landed on 12 visions and 75 priorities to be addressed, which were supported by 186 reasonings and actions.

  4. Online Engagement Events

    The PECWS team is hosting three Online Engagement Events on 27 - 29 May that will provide an overview of what was discussed at PECWS and refine the developed priorities with polar ECRs from all over the world. Register now to attend at 04:00-05:30 UTC | 09:00-10:30 UTC | 17:00-18:00 UTC on 28 May and fill out this form by 11 June to provide your input on polar early career priorities.

  5. Release of the PECWS Synthesis Report

    The input provided by the polar early career community through the PECWS in March 2025 as well as online events and input forms will be synthesized into a report on polar research priorities.

  6. Activities towards the 5th IPY

    The organizers will continue to collaborate with attendees, partner organizations and the broader polar community to facilitate the representation of early career voices in the planning and execution of the 5th IPY.

Meet the Organizing Committee

The Polar Early Career World Summit is organized by APECS and PSECCO.

  • Axel Schlindwein

    APECS International Directorate

  • Conor Savage

    APECS Executive Committee 2024-2025 / ECOP Programme

  • Hugo Guímaro

    APECS Executive Committee 2023-2025

  • Mariama Dryák-Vallies

    PSECCO Director

  • Meghan Schaberg

    USAPECS Co-chair

  • Natasha "Tash" Haycock-Chavez

    PSECCO Advisory Board / ELOKA

  • Sarah Strand

    APECS Executive Director

Organized by

in cooperation with
supported by