SCAR XXXVI Paper 20: Secretariat Report Popular

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 20: Secretariat Report

Agenda Item: 11.2
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath

Authors: Chandrika Nath, Eoghan Griffin, Rosemary Nash, Johanna Grabow

Summary

Since the 2018 SCAR Delegates meeting, the Secretariat has continued to support SCAR’s remit of facilitating high quality international research and providing objective and independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other organizations, working closely with the Executive Committee (Excom). In parallel it has continued to develop and refine its own internal processes to increase its effectiveness.

The expansion of the Secretariat to include a Communications and Information Officer (CIO) since December 2018, has helped the Secretariat manage its day-to-day workload and to increase the efficiency of both internal and external communications.

The Secretariat has worked to support the Executive Committee and SCAR Groups through the COVID-19 pandemic. A key focus of 2020 was to organise the SCAR 2020 Online meetings in August 2020, building on preparations for the cancelled Open Science Conference in Hobart in 2020. More recently the priority has been the arrangements and organisation of the first online SCAR Delegates Meeting.

The Secretariat has worked from home since the closure of the Scott Polar Research Institute in March 2020, but has worked effectively within the limitations of lockdown.