"It is time to add a reminder to your calendar", says Orheim. He points to the 24^th of October. "We have decided to organise the conference programme with a bottom-up approach. The whole idea behind this is to attract ideas that we could come up with ourselves. We eagerly await to learn what the whole breadth of the IPY constituency wants to share in Oslo."

Photo: Kristen Ulstein
EOC-projects involving various target has been an integrated part of the IPY programme. Here children are experimenting with physics at the IPY Norway opening event.

Orheim underscores the fact that IPY is much more than a traditional science programme. "Sessions in plenary and parallel will still constitute the main body of the scientific programme. But IPY has generated a lot of activity and attention to the science through a variety of education, outreach and communication initiatives. In order to make sure that these valuable contributions are not excluded, we are not limited to accept contributions formatted as traditional sessions or papers. There are even science projects that would like to include other formats for presentation and publication. All programme component proposals are therefore welcome", says Olav Orheim.

Anyone who has a national or international polar research programme, or education, outreach and communication (EOC) activity, during IPY, can submit proposals for sessions. For EOC projects other formats for publication and presentation than session and abstracts can be facilitated. Participation is not limited to projects endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee.

Less than a dozen proposals have been submitted so far. "We urge the community to take this opportunity and to be creative in terms of both content and formats".

The Steering Committee will appoint the various sub committees in their next meeting the 6^th of November. "The proposals we receive will be channelled to the relevant sub committee for further development", Orheim tells us.

• Use the form to flag your intentions and ask for time and space.
• Loose ideas can be developed further in the course of the planning.
• You can download the full 1^st circular in PDF-format from the Downloads page.