You are in: Home » Communication & Education » Notes from the President
Notes from the SCAR President, number 7 (20 January 2009)
SCAR's Scientific Research Programs (SRPs)
Colleagues,
I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing holiday season! As we begin 2009, it is time for my monthly note and the topic is SCAR's marquee, Scientific Research Programs (SRPs).
The first 4-year, external review of SCAR's Scientific Research Programs has just concluded. The reviews were tabled at SCAR XXX and each program has provided a response to reviewer comments. I take this occasion to reflect on the successes of these programs and the improved mechanisms for managing science within SCAR implemented during the restructuring. This issue is particularly timely as the first "check-up" of SCAR's performance as an organization by an external review committee will convene in just a few days.
It cannot be said often enough that at the core, SCAR is an international, interdisciplinary scientific organization. Everything SCAR does and how SCAR is perceived as an organization is rooted in the quality and timeliness of SCAR's scientific portfolio. While SCAR has an equally important mission in its advisory capacity to the Antarctic Treaty System, this too can only be effective if we are scientifically strong. It is also clear that, in such dynamic times, the renewal of SCAR's scientific programs is essential to the continuing health of the organization. The next Cross Linkages workshop, which is an incubator for the next generation of ideas, will also convene in just a few weeks.
The assessment, consultation, and continuous improvement of SCAR's scientific portfolio is assured by the procedures for program planning, proposing, implementation, reporting and review. To ensure the integrity of the process we must be diligent in all of these phases. The requirement for explicit response to review comments brings us full circle, putting in place the final step in the oversight process. In the next 2-year review of SRPs, one element will be assessment of progress on external review critiques.
The proof of a concept and its execution is best measured by outcomes. Those that have worked so hard to reinvigorate SCAR over the past eight years should take great satisfaction in the positive reviews of SCAR's current Scientific Research Programs. This outcome is a reflection of the excellence of the science conducted, how that science is communicated to the larger world, the international partnerships generated, and the diligence that has been exercised in assuring that SCAR supports the highest quality science.
All of this is done by volunteers, from the scientists that come together to propose and implement the programs to those that provide assessments, review, and oversight. I can think of few other more meaningful metrics of the health of an organization than the willingness of the community it serves to participate in assuring success. This is truer today than ever when everyone has so many competing demands on their time.
I congratulate all of SCAR's Scientific Research Program teams and those that oversee them on a job well done!
Chuck K.
President of SCAR
About Acrobat/PDF files