International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

1.6 International Programme Office (IPO):
2005–2010
Lead Authors:
Ian Allison and David Carlson
Contributing Authors:
Cynan Ellis-Evans and Nicola Munro
Reviewers:
Jerónimo López-Martínez and Eduard Sarukhanian
Introduction
It was recognized early in the planning process that
an activity as large and complex as IPY 2007–2008
would require daily, full-time staff support, and that
an International Programme Office (IPO) would be a
crucial element of IPY implementation (Rapley et al.,
2004). Such an office would be necessary to provide
the day-to-day administrative support to the Joint
Committee and its subcommittees, which would consist
of volunteer members drawn from the academic
community and from the stakeholder bodies.
Accordingly, in September 2004, ICSU and WMO
solicited proposals from nations or organizations
prepared to support and fund an International
Programme Office that would serve as the central
point of contact for IPY participants and stakeholders.
The offer from the U.K. Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC) to fund an IPY office for five years was
accepted by WMO and ICSU in late 2004 (Chapter
1.3), and the International Programme Office for the
International Polar Year 2007–2008 was established at
the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, U.K.
During the planning and implementation of
IPY, the Programme Office and its enthusiastic and
responsive staff became the key point of contact for
IPY participants, and members of the public. In many
ways the IPO became the “face of IPY”, promoting the
full and impressive extent of the program and making
it more accessible and more inclusive to many people.
At the conclusion of IPY, the achievements of the IPO
can be broadly summarized as helping to enable major
advances in polar knowledge and understanding;
eliciting keen interest and participation from
polar residents, schoolchildren, the general public
and decision-makers worldwide; stimulating and
supporting a community of engaged and enthusiastic
PA R T O N E : PL A N N I N G A N D I M PLEMEN T I N G I PY 20 07–20 0 8
volunteers; inspiring a new generation of polar
scientists and engineers; and promoting new and
enhanced approaches to data and information access
and sharing.
The functions of the IPO
The functions of the International Programme
Office were originally defined in the IPY Framework
document (Rapley et al., 2004). In supporting the
Joint Committee in its role of providing central
planning and guidance of IPY, the Programme Office
was required to serve as the secretariat for meetings
and activities of the Joint Committee. This included
the central handling of correspondence, archiving of
key documentation, maintaining an IPY 2007–2008
activities database, tracking action items and assisting
in the production of reports and synthesis documents.
As the “front office” for IPY, the IPO was the central
point of contact for National IPY Committees, related
international programs and all participating or
interested organizations and individual researchers.
The IPO supported and maintained the IPY 2007–2008
website (www.ipy.org) which, along with 37 short (2-
4-page) monthly activity reports from the IPO (“IPY
Reports”) 1 , became the main media for disseminating
information and publicity on the program, including
early notice of research outputs. The IPO promoted
IPY 2007–2008 internationally and played the major
role in development of IPY 2007–2008 outreach and
education programs. It organized and coordinated
international meetings and workshops concerned
with the Polar Year, and led efforts to obtain additional
funding to sustain IPY 2007–2008 coordination and
oversight functions, although the latter met with
P l a n n I n g a n d I m P l e m e n t I n g I P Y 2 0 0 7–2 0 0 8 115