 In the Autumn of 2006 to address these needs, Jenny Baeseman (USA), Hugues Lantuit (Germany) and Rhian Salmon (UK) laid the grounds for the rationale, structure, connections and future activities of APECS.The acronym was coined at the time and a nascent APECS was launched massively in early 2007, at the start of the IPY with Jenny Baseman and Hugues Lantuit as co-directors.In March 2007, discussions were initiated by the directors with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) to offer APECS' services as representative of early career researchers in polar science.