International Programme Office

Establishment of the IPY Programme Office

Following an international competition ICSU and WMO agreed that the IPO will be located at the British Antarctic Survey from November 2004 and funding for the office until 2010 has been offered by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. An international competition was then launched to appoint an IPY Director with a deadline for applications of Jan 20th 2005. In the interim, Dr Cynan Ellis-Evans () of British Antarctic Survey agreed to act as interim Director . Dr Ellis-Evans has overseen the Expression of Intent exercise in January 2005 and the first meetings of the Joint Committee and Consultative Forum in March 2005. The full-time DIrector will be Dr David Carlson ()(from Boulder, Colorado) who will take up the post from May 9, 2005

Functions of the International Programme Office for IPY 2007-2008

Overall;

• To provide active support to the ICSU-WMO joint IPY committee for the central planning, coordination, oversight and guidance.

Specifically;

• To support the meetings and activities of the joint ICSU-WMO IPY committee
• To act as the central Point of Contact for IPY National Committees, related international programmes, and all participating or interested organizations and individual researchers.
• To organize and / or coordinate international meetings and workshops on the IPY.
• To promote the IPY internationally by all appropriate means.
• To coordinate the dissemination and uptake of research outputs across IPY.
• To facilitate the acquisition of funding to sustain the IPY coordination and oversight structure.
• To support the development of outreach and education programmes through development of IPY branding and through coordinating the creation of promotional material.
• The support and maintain the IPY website.

The International Programme Office will also support the Joint Committee by providing the following functions:

• Organization and recording of key meetings
• Central handling of correspondence
• Tracking of action items
• Archiving of key documentation
• Maintenance of an IPY activities database
• Financial management of the central budget
• Maintenance of the IPY website and preparation of newsletters
• Assistance in production of reports and synthesis documents.