The ICES Science Committee continues to support ICES science to grow in scale, scope and impact. The general objectives of the Science Committee are to work with the ICES community and Secretariat to keep the ICES science programme dynamic, internationally relevant, and impactful; to ensure seamless links between science, data and advice; and to engage with scientists in ICES member countries and beyond by planning an annual cycle of meetings and workshops as well as the Annual Science Conference.
2021 has been, and still is, a challenging year for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an effect on all aspects of daily life, and therefore also on how science, in general, and the work of ICES expert groups has been carried out. Thanks to immense commitment and tireless work of the whole network, including all individual scientists and especially the Secretariat, the meeting activities and work continued, and ICES was able to reach key achievements.
Two new steering group chairs were elected in August 2021 to lead the Aquaculture Steering Group (ASG) and the Human Activities, Impacts and Pressure Steering Group (HAPISG). A new Chair is also incoming for the Training Group and two new Chairs have been selected for the ICES/PICES Strategic Initiative on Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems. The incoming chairs will work with the current chairs to ensure a smooth transition for 1 January 2022.
Notable activities in 2021 included (i) the establishment of the Strategic Initiative on the Inte-gration of Early Career Scientists (SIIECS); (ii) development of an education initiative, (iii) a strong focus on supporting expert groups, including support for online meetings; (vi) furthering the engagement of new scientists participating in the ICES community; (v) an increased frequency and strategic emphasis on science communication; (vi) increasing the links between science and advice; (vii) maintaining and further develop international collaborations, (viii) fostering activities to increase links between national activities and ICES (ix) the initiation of a process to develop a code of ethics and professional conduct, including measures to increase diversity, equity and inclusion, (x) and the first fully virtual ICES Annual Science Conference, including a dedicated day for Early Career Scientists.
These activities have taken place alongside the continued delivery of science outputs and publication...