Update on progress with the EoI Assessments

The Joint Committee met in Paris on March 7-9 and spent considerable time discussing the evaluations undertaken by the committee members in advance of the meeting of the 870+ Expressions of Intent. The evaluations were based on the criteria for IPY projects outlined in the "Framework for International Polar Year 2007-2008" document and at least two, usually three committee members with appropriate expertise were involved in each block of assessments. Every EoI to hand was therefore evaluated. Certain EoI's were assessed as having met all the important criteria and were identified as potential lead themes around which other EoI's that did not meet all the criteria at this time could potentially be clustered. This grouping of EoI's has begun the process of structuring the IPY programme. It also allows proposals that only have single nation involvement or are highly focussed on a specific relatively small topic the facility to scale up internationally through interaction and synchronisation of activities with other groups. This interaction is important in standardising protocols and particularly with respect to data collection/management.

All the EoI lead contacts will receive a letter from the Joint Committee by the end of March outlining the view of the assessors as to how well the EoI met the IPY criteria. Potential lead projects will be invited to develop their proposal further for a June 30 deadline whilst the remaining proposals will be able to establish appropriate linkages with each other and submit a revised proposal for the June 30 deadline.

The fuller proposals requested for June 30 will be 6-7 pages at most and the JC will be particularly looking to see evidence of an appropriate management structure, details on how data will be handled, outreach tackled and how the project will motivate the next generation of polar researchers. More details will be provided on this Call in the near future.

For more information, please contact Cynan Ellis-Evans email jcel@bas.ac.uk .