An overview of the 2025 Polar Early Career World Summit and associated online events!

PSECCO and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) held the Polar Early Career World Summit from March 22-24 at Boulder, Colorado, U.S., that brought together 120 early career researchers (ECRs), scientists, professionals, Indigenous scholars and knowledge holders connected to the polar regions with the goals to share polar research priorities, strengthen polar early career networks, and amplify the voices of the polar early career community through this event.  

This was a big opportunity to collectively brainstorm what the polar early career community wants the future of polar science to look like, with that information later to be shared within long-term research planning discussions by representatives from APECS and PSECCO, such as those happening for the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) Process and Fifth International Polar Year (IPY). The ICARP IV process is an opportunity for the Arctic science community to assess the knowledge gaps and establish research priorities for the next ten years to address needs within the Arctic. The 5th IPY, happening from 2032-2033, will build on the success of past IPYs to establish new bold priorities and research questions for the international polar community to address in coordination with one another.  

Folks gathered in Boulder from around the world for the Polar Early Career World Summit (PECWS), with participants coming together from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Collaboration across disciplines encouraged open discussion for furthering effective science communication and developing shared research goals that span disciplines and regions. 

The PECWS schedule featured discussions about early career priorities for long-term research planning, participant-led workshops on topics such as responsible science, GIS and safe fieldwork practices, and social and cultural activities. ECRs discussed 12 priority themes that addressed 75 priorities supported by 186 reasonings and actions. At the in-person PECWS, participants were assigned to 12 theme groups where they discussed ideas and recommendations based on their priority themes. These ideas were then opened to discussion and input from anyone at the summit who wanted to provide input, and then the priority theme groups incorporated that feedback into their recommendations. On day three, these ideas were then refined and synthesized into final ECR priority takeaways from the PECWS. 

Many felt that PECWS had “excellent organization, planning, and purpose throughout.”  Initial PECWS feedback summarized the in-person PECWS as a successful event that brought together people from across many disciplines to discuss and further the future of polar science for the early career community. A lot of participants enjoyed Boulder Colorado as an “excellent choice” for the summit.  

Having an amazing team was a huge part of the success of PECWS, and we couldn’t have done it without everyone who contributed their time! Our team was big and brought together members from PSECCO, APECS, and USAPECS teams. In the lead up to PECWS, we also received support from the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) and Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) with the applicants review process.  Financially, the PECWS was supported by World Climate Research Program’s Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) group, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), Netherlands Polar Programme, and Antarctic Science. The PSECCO team wants to extend a big shout out and thank you to support from team members with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, who helped make the local logistics of the summit happen! Working as an international team meant working from different time zones and using new communication methods. Many of us worked without seeing the venue and supported each other through collaboration. Our venue was planned and managed wonderfully by the local logistics team from PSECCO. Having an amazing team and wonderful participants made this event special and created an ecstatic environment for ECRs to think about their future in polar research. Thanks again to all who made it happen!  

After the in-person summit, engagement events were held in three different time zones on May 28th, 2025, to ensure reasonable engagement timing for folks across the world. These events provided an overview of the discussions held at PECWS and gathered voting input from participants to provide the APECS and PSECCO teams guidance in the need to refine the priorities developed at the in-person PECWS.  

There is one final opportunity for polar ECRs from around the world to provide detailed input on early career priorities for long-term research planning via this form by June 11th, 2025. We welcome input from anyone who identifies as part of the polar early career community. After that date, the PSECCO and APECS teams will produce a final synthesis document to be released later in the summer of 2025. Stay tuned to learn about polar early career goals for the years to come!