Monday, March 31, 2014

The AGM - 23rd April 2014

Dear UK Polar Network,

April has flown around the corner yet again, which means it's the committee's pleasure to invite you all to our AGM. This year, it will be held in Southampton, at the National Oceanography Centre on April 23rd.

We've tried to answer some questions that you might have below...but just get in touch if you have any others!

Should I attend?
Yes! If you have an interest in the future opportunities for early career Polar researchers, the AGM is a key date in the year.

What happens at the AGM?
It's the time of year that we elect our new committee (usually made up of continuing members, plus a few new individuals). We discuss our involvement with the international organisation APECS and how we can develop links with other committees, share ideas about running new workshop and events, and talk about funding sources and existing events that we should get involved with.

If you see a gap in the work we do, the workshops we run, or the events we organise...this is your chance to let us know! If you'd like to organise something at your institute, or as part of an existing conference, we will be more than happy to get involved and assist you!

How can I get involved with the UKPN?
Our committee is usually formed of permanent members (who commit to the role for at least one year) and those that sit on the committee during the planning and organisation of specific events. We will have some positions on the committee opening up this year, which will be available for application. Please contact me if you have more questions regarding this, we are always really keen to have new members involved.

What's happening this year?
We will be, as usual, working to organise events across the country for early career Polar scientists. At present, there are plans to develop workshops at several events in Bristol (including the UK Antarctic Sciences conference), events at the British Science Festival, and our upcoming Polar Marine Workshop at UEA. More specific plans will be discussed at the AGM, and we'll circulate these after the event.

The details
We will be hosting the AGM at NOC, Southampton at 12:15 - 13:30 on April 23rd. This will be during the lunch of our Science and Society workshop, and we will be providing lunch for attendees to the AGM (there may be places at the workshops in the afternoon following the AGM - please contact me if you'd like to stick around and I'll see what we can do).

If you'd like to attend, please email me so that we can arrange for lunch etc. If you'd like to be more involved but can't make the AGM, please let me know and I'd be more than happy to discuss more without the need to meet face to face.

We look forward to welcoming you to the AGM, hope to see you there!

Kind regards,
Laura Hobbs

-PhD Student, Scottish Association for Marine Science-
-President, UK Polar Network-