In late February 2016 an online meeting of the CBET Committee took place, chaired by the VP for Capacity Building, and which considered the following issues:
- The new CBET Committee Terms of Reference and Objectives
- The adoption of specific roles and responsibilities within the Committee
- The creation of a review panel to be used for Fellowships, Visiting Professorships etc.
- Mentoring for Early Career Scientists
- Changes to Standing Science Group (SSG), SRP and Standing Committee (SC) reporting as a result of the Structure Review.
- The 2016 Open Science Conference (OSC) CBET meeting and related OSC events.
A series of Action items were identified to progress the work of the Committee, and it was noted that there would be a mentoring webinar specifically to support applicants for the 2016 Fellowships program.
To address the Action Items and the wider objectives of the CBET Committee a number of roles and associated tasks were identified which were detailed in the CBET Update to the 2016 SCAR Delegates Meeting. At the OSC CBET Meeting these proposals were discussed and refined to reflect the practical actions required.
In the Brief Report on the meeting the final list of roles, tasks and suggested teams for each was proposed to be:
- Overseeing the review of our Fellowship applications and reporting (suggestion: Jose Xavier)
Tasks: Efficiency of the process, update FAQs and applications based on feedback, updating the list of reviewers, overseeing final selection process
- Liaise with representatives in the Education field (suggestion: Advisory Team lead by Liz Pasteur, with Viviana Alder, Louise Huffman and Emmanuelle Sultan supporting, including representatives from APECS and PEI and IAI)
Tasks: Collating information on relevant external resources and opportunities for young scientist and educators, advising SCAR on best practices to support CBET activities, provide advice on producing materials etc.
- Liaison with the SG, SRP and other Group leadership to monitor the level of funding for Early Career Scientists (ECS) and effectiveness as network nodes, specifically addressing openness towards the whole community (suggestion: Rahul Mohan and Satoshi Imura)
Tasks: Examine the Group reports extracting information on support for both ECS and developing programmes, consult with groups on examples of best practice
- Liaison with the Development Council to investigate extra funding for the Fellowships and other programmes through additional voluntary contributions and other means (suggestion: Karin Lochte)
Tasks: Produce a funding strategy to be used for directed fundraising, develop interaction with IAATO for targeted funding etc.
- Organizing mentoring to investigate the best way to provide support for potential Fellowship applicants (suggestion: APECS representative to work with SGs and SRPs and specifically their junior officers (once that programme is created))
Tasks: Karin to send an official request to APECS for a representative to be appointed, request contact points from SGs and SRPs to assist potential applicants with identifying hosts, develop questionnaire targeted at potential applicants from developing countries about their mentoring needs, organize translation of FAQs and information material.
- Develop a plan for improved capacity building for developing Antarctic Research programmes (suggestion: Gary Steel assisted by Azizan and Daniela)
Tasks: Develop check list for how groups can help develop capacity and what is meant by a developing programme, develop list of discipline specific points of contact
In order to move forward with these tasks online meetings will be conducted at least every 6 months for the committee, with the small groups supporting each role interacting more frequently.
These proposals were presented at the 2016 SCAR Delegates meeting and were approved, including the establishment of an Education, Capacity Building and Outreach Medal.
SCAR Strategic documents on Capacity Building, Education and Training