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Announcing the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN)

November 29, 2005

Announcing the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN)
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
International Permafrost Association

For further information, please see the PYRN website:
http://www.awi-potsdam.de/pyrn/

or contact:
Hugues Lantuit
E-mail: pyrn@awi-potsdam.de

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The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and the
International Permafrost Association are pleased to announce the
creation of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN), an
organization exclusively devoted to supporting the young permafrost
research community. PYRN is a student-driven initiative, and, as a newly
created entity, seeks to establish contact and representation in
countries around the world.

ABOUT THE NETWORK
PYRN will gather permafrost science and engineering information and
redistribute it in an effort to further international cooperation and
promote the ideas and results emanating from permafrost research.

PYRN will be established as an activity of the IPA. It will report on
young researcher activities to the IPA at its conferences, and through a
news bulletin and website. It will also represent permafrost scientists
and engineers within broader international or national young researcher
assemblies.

The PYRN website (http://www.awi-potsdam.de/pyrn) will report on
conferences, events, opened positions, research, and other topics
related to permafrost science and engineering. PYRN will also distribute
an electronic newsletter to the young research community related to
these topics.

PYRN will work to raise public awareness of permafrost research and its
relevance to global environmental issues. It will attempt to spread
permafrost science and engineering information to the public and
especially to schools during IPY (2007-2009).

BACKGROUND
The idea of a network to formally facilitate and strengthen contacts
among young scientists in the permafrost community arose from
discussions during many conferences. It was obvious that information on
resources vital to young scientists (fellowships, conference travel
funding, position opportunities, etc) was not integrated into a single
source or was simply not available.

The imminence of the IPY also prompted the need for visible
representation of the young permafrost community. IPY emphasizes
developing "the next generation of polar scientists." This will be
fulfilled through the anticipated creation of a Youth Steering Committee
(YSC) within IPY. PYRN hopes to be represented on the YSC.

The creation of PYRN relies on your feedback. The Network seeks
representatives from every country and motivated researchers to take
part in this initiative. If you are interested in PYRN activities or
would like further information, please contact:
Hugues Lantuit
E-mail: pyrn@awi-potsdam.de