Polar Science Early Career Community Office Activities at the 2023 AGU Fall Meeting

PSECCO was actively involved in organizing sessions, talks and a social at the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) annual fall meeting in San Francisco, California, from the 11th to the 15th of December, 2023. This annual meeting is meant to assemble more than 25,000 attendees from countries around the world to network and share their research related to Geosciences and is an excellent networking opportunity for polar early career researchers globally.   

With AGU bringing so many people together each year from the polar sciences, it’s often a great place to convene with people from different disciplines. PSECCO kicked off its AGU with the gathering of its Advisory Board members present at the meeting over dinner on Monday evening. The crew had a great time connecting with one another in-person and getting to know each other a little bit better outside of the specific context of supporting polar early career researchers. 

On Tuesday December 12th, PSECCO Director, Mariama Dryák-Vallies, gave a talk focused on the challenges, needs and potential solutions to those issues identified by those in the polar early career research community. In the talk PSECCO shared additional ideas around how the polar science community could employ ‘Community of Practice’ and ‘Collective Impact’ frameworks to help engage the polar research community in creating polar spaces that welcome everyone. If you’re interested learning more about this talk and how you can engage in Community of Practice and Collective Impact frameworks to pursue culture change in the polar sciences with PSECCO, please reach out to us at psecco@colorado.edu.   

On Wednesday December 13th, more than 120 Arctic, Antarctic, and high alpine researchers attended a social hosted by PSECCO, Polar Impact, and USAPECS (United States Association of Polar Early Career Scientists)! It wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) in providing us a space to gather and the support of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in providing snacks to those in attendance. The event was kicked off with an introduction to each co-hosting organization along with ways to get involved with and be supported by them. The rest of the event provided an opportunity for those in attendance to network with the other polar researchers at the conference. 

Finally, PSECCO’s week concluded on Friday December 15th, with PSECCO Director, Mariama Dryák-Vallies, co-convening an oral and poster session focused on how polar researchers can advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in polar and alpine science spaces. The session was well attended, given it took place on the last day of a long conference, and shared many initiatives doing DEIA work within the polar sciences. Those who share the desire to raise awareness, celebrate successes, share new initiatives, and analyze challenges in these areas were welcomed! To see the full line up of speakers from the day, please visit the oral session overview here.  

Thank you to all who attended PSECCO-related events at AGU! We enjoyed connecting with each of you and look forward to seeing you again soon online or in-person at the upcoming conferences PSECCO will be at in 2024! Headed to Arctic Congress, Scientific Consortium for Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Meeting and the AGU Fall Meeting in 2024? We’d love to connect with you there.