EO-04. A year of PSECCO Supporting Early Career Scientists to Advance Equity and Inclusion in the Polar Sciences

Abstract
Since April 2022, the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) has been designing programming and funding programs to empower, elevate and give agency to the early career polar scientists who are leading the charge to make the polar sciences more welcoming, inclusive and diverse. PSECCO has hosted 16 community events and nine socials over the past year, directly engaging with over 756 individuals in attendance. At these events the office has focused on fostering community among polar early career researchers (ECRs), listening to their needs, and then working to fill gaps in support for these individuals where they currently exist. PSECCO has distributed a total of $17,670 to the polar early career community and has been working to build partnerships with 10+ polar early career and adjacent organizations doing incredible work aligned with the PSECCO mission. Engagement with the office has been fantastic, with over 400 subscribers to our monthly newsletter, 255 ECRs on our PSECCO Community Slack, 990 subscribers on Twitter, and nearly 10,000 website engagements. Perhaps most exciting, is hearing about how we’ve supported ECRs anecdotally, from BAJEDI micro-grants having helped support direct outreach efforts between early career biologists working in Antarctica and kids in a low-income school in Virginia, to supporting the establishment of a gear locker to make field work more accessible at Toolik Field Station in the Arctic. PSECCO is excited to continue to share opportunities, resources and support leadership development, while working together towards a more just, inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible polar science environment in years to come—and we welcome you to join us.