International Polar Year 2007-2008
Preparations are underway for a large-scale international program in polar research known as “International Polar Year 2007-2008,” or IPY. IPY will include several months of intense research activities, followed by data analysis, publication, and discussions. IPY will be organized jointly by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Several international science bodies—including IASSA—have endorsed the IPY initiative and are engaged in its planning.

This will be the fourth IPY; the first one was in 1882-83, the second in 1932-33, and the third in 1957-58. This IPY, however, will be the first one with a clearly defined social science and humanities component, thanks to the efforts of an IASSA taskforce of twenty social scientists formed at the 5th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences in Fairbanks in May. IASSA has also nominated Igor Krupnik and Grete Hovelsrud-Broda to serve on the main planning body, the IPY Joint Committee (IPY JC).

The ICSU Secretariat has issued calls for expressions of intent (pre-proposals) and full proposals for prospective endorsement by the IPY JC. The third and final call for submissions of full proposals is January 31, 2006.

The IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative
To facilitate the submission of arctic social science and humanities proposals to the ICSU, IASSA has launched an initiative to create a vigorous exchange of ideas, discussion, and active communication. To learn more and/or participate, please go to:

IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative

IPY Idea Submissions to IASSA

IASSA IPY News

IASSA IPY Task-group

IPY Background

IPY Joint Committee

Article: Social Sciences and Humanities in the International Polar Year 2007-2008: An Integrating Mission, Published in Arctic, March 2005

Links to Other IPY Sites

U.S. IPY station in Barrow, Alaska


Sincere thanks to the U.S. National Science Foundation for support for the IASSA IPY facilitation initiative.

Questions? Contact Anne Sudkamp at <fyiassa@uaf.edu>.

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 This page was last modified November 30, 2005 by Anne Sudkamp