Update on IPY Progress
Polar Research Board
US National Committee for IPY
500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 702
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-334-3479
Fax: 202-334-3825
http://www.national-academies.org/prb
May 13, 2005
Dear Colleague:
The Polar Research Board of the National Academies met on May 4th and
5th, 2005 in Washington, D.C. The original US National Committee for the
International Polar Year 2007-8, which was established as a subcommittee
of the Polar Research Board (PRB), has completed the early planning
stages for the US efforts, and the funding agencies will now take on the
implementation. The PRB will now serve as the U.S. National Committee
for International Polar Year. Continued planning for IPY was a main
agenda item: we were briefed on the outcome of the ICSU-WMO meeting in
Paris (March 7-9, 2005), discussed agency plans for IPY, and outlined
the next steps in the US involvement in IPY. This letter serves as a
progress report and is designed to address some of the concerns
expressed by parties interested in participating in IPY.
Expression of Intent Process: The ICSU-WMO Joint Committee (JC) received
close to 900 expression-of-intent (EoI's) letters, which they clustered
into 50+ topics related to the original six IPY themes
(http://www.IPY.org). By now, all those who submitted EoIs should have
received a letter from the IPY Programme Office informing you of your
cluster, and if you have not you should contact them directly. A listing
of all the topics and the clusters are available in a summary document
(see "Assessment Summary" at http://www.ipy.org). The ICSU-WMO JC wishes
to emphasize that these clusters should be considered flexible and
should serve as an initial framework designed to facilitate the
development of collaborative partnerships. Also, they encourage use of
this database to identify partnerships to forge additional clusters that
adhere to the IPY themes.
Why Participate in the International Planning Process: In the United
States, a common question is "why participate in the JC planning
process" given that this endorsement is not per se required to obtain
funding through US mechanisms. The US National Committee (USNC) strongly
encourages US participation in IPY and views this event as an
opportunity to foster international collaborative partnerships that will
further our understanding of polar systems, engage the next generation
of young Earth System scientists and demonstrate the influence that the
polar regions have on all citizens of the Earth.
Next Step: Deadline June 30: The next step in the international IPY
planning process is to submit full proposals to the ICSU-WMO JC by June
30, 2005. Details regarding this process can be found at
http://www.ipy.org. This site now includes a link to "Guidance notes on
preparing submissions for June 30, 2005" and a draft template, which
ICSU-WMO intends to use for June 30th submissions. Please note that this
is only a draft to give participants a clear idea of the format being
used and it should not be submitted. The ICSU-WMO IPY Programme Office
will advise us when the final form is available. Although other National
Committees are planning to endorse specific projects from their
respective nations, the US National Committee (see
http://www.us-ipy.org) will not serve this role and we have communicated
this to the Programme Office. They understand that nations will have
different needs and approaches. In the US, our community is very large
and diverse, and while guidance from the US National Committee is
important for setting overall direction, we are not a funding body. The
US involvement in IPY will be determined by the US funding agencies.
Instead of endorsing particular projects, the USNC is endorsing the
process as it stands now, with the IPY Joint Committee providing broad
IPY oversight and US agencies working with their international partners
to fund specific activities through established procedures. As always,
the USNC will do everything we can to communicate and facilitate IPY
planning and implementation.
Accordingly, interested parties should submit their proposals to the
ICSU-WMO JC by the June 30, 2005 deadline so that you are officially
included under the IPY umbrella. It is imperative to keep in mind that
endorsement by ICSU-WMO JC is not accompanied by funding and the United
States peer-review process will ultimately identify US IPY proposals
that will receive funding.
In Closing: IPY 2007-2008 stands to be a once-in-a-career opportunity
and planning at the international and US levels is proceeding rapidly.
We understand that budgets are tight. But we are convinced that the
opportunities are there and that the legacy this effort produces will be
significant. The US National Committee strongly encourages all
interested parties to pursue all regular funding opportunities to
participate in IPY and we challenge you to think "outside the box" about
engaging new agencies, foundations, or others in supporting the many
diverse elements of this effort. Several funding agencies, including
NSF, already have specifically mentioned IPY as a part of the regular
call for proposals and other calls are likely. In addition, the
scientific community should seek and exploit all emerging funding
opportunities.
Developments regarding IPY and potential funding opportunities will be
posted on the US IPY website (http://www.us-ipy.org ) as soon as they
are made available to the US National Committee.
Sincerely,
The US National Committee for IPY