At the last major meeting of the International Association for Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, in Busan, Korea (BACO25.org), survey data from 951 respondents, out of 1725 participants, revealed that Early Career Scientists accounted for approximately 25% of the participants. The demographic profile skewed young, with 66% of attendees in their 20s and 30s (1). In a poll of our 11 IAMAS commissions carried out this year 5, out of 8 that responded indicated they already have Early Career Representation on their leadership teams.
IAMAS has been giving out an Early Career Researcher award our major meetings every other year since 2013 (https://www.iamas.org/ecs/medalists/), and this is the only award that we present. Finally, IAMAS has included the leader of our Early Career Committee as an ex-officio member of our Bureau since 2025 to provide relevant guidance and input into our highest level of decision making.
These past decisions and numbers indicate to me that IAMAS is already doing a pretty good job engaging Early Career Researchers. This said, the overall picture of course does not capture much of the nuance, and there is always room for improvement.
The IAMAS Early Career Committee (https://www.iamas.org/ecs/) is undergoing some transition at the moment, with longstanding leader Jing Li moving into mid-career, and we are hopeful that under the interim leadership of Nikos Daskalakis the committee will reinvigorate, decide on its primary goals and new leadership and help prepare and coordinate IAMAS input into a planned Early Career Day on July 15th at the Korea Ocean and Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) the day before the next IUGG congress in Incheon.
Keith Alverson
IAMAS Secretary General
29 June 2026
(1) Alverson, K., S. Blanc, R. Essery, and M.-I. Lee, 2026: Busan Atmosphere Cryosphere Ocean Conference BACO-
25: Our Interconnected Earth. Adv. Atmos. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-025-5583-2.
Explore the experiences and professional journeys of early-career scientists within the IAMAS community.
