Early Career Researchers and Mentors Work Together to Shape the Future of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme

communities at high-level international meetings (Mathias sen, 2011). Like many other science organizations, the AMAP working group recognizes a potentially costly generation/ personnel gap; many of its accomplished members are approaching retirement age, while relatively few earlyand mid-career researchers have been incorporated into the working group's activities. Consistent with its mandate to track, monitor, and assess long-term change in the Arctic, AMAP recognizes the need to foster a continuum of sci ence by integrating early career researchers (ECRs) into the programme. To this end, AMAP approached the Asso ciation of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) in 2010. Established in 2007 to engage ECRs in International Polar Year, APECS is the first international and interdisciplinary unifying organization of ECRs who work in polar regions. As of December 2011, APECS had more than 3000 active members, early-career scientists, educators, and policy makers from a wide range of disciplines. Thus APECS is a significant resource to polar organizations, such as AMAP, that recognize the need to engage and retain ECRs in order to ensure effective succession and institutional continuity.