Report of the Science Committee (SCICOM), May 2022

The Spring meeting of the Science Committee (SCICOM) was shorter than usual as the hybrid meeting planned for March had to be postponed due to the suspension of meetings in March. The two short online meetings addressed the most urgent issues only, and the reporting of all structures was shifted to the September meeting of the Committee.
The SCICOM Chair presented a short reflection on the decision to suspend all meetings in March and the subsequent decision taken by the ICES Council to temporarily suspend Russian Federation delegates, members and experts from participation in ICES activities.
The Conference Coordinator updated on the planning for the ASC in 2022 and the conference in 2023. SCICOM selected members for the Award selection Group, Chaperones for the keynotes, Conveners for the Contributed Paper session and mentors for Early Career Scientists for the ASC 2022 and members for the theme selection group for 2023.
Proposals for Symposia seeking co-sponsorship for 2023 and 2024 were presented and the Committee was invited to rank the proposal in an online tool to select the symposia to be supported in 2023 and 2024. The ACOM Chair presented the stakeholder engagement strategy, and SCICOM endorsed the document and the process and timeline for the development of the implementation plan.
The Committee received a presentation on the WGCHAIRS meeting in January 2022 with one main outcome being a list of possible ways to reinvigorate the community, derived from an interactive exercise with the participating chairs at the meeting.
The new online library was introduced by the ICES editor and was well received by the Committee. New functionalities allow better tracking of use and citation of ICES publications and peer reviewed publications produced by Expert Groups.
The Chair of the Integrated Ecosystem Steering Group presented the process of the ACOCM/SICOM Subgroup on EBM with plans being a Cooperative Research Report to publicise the EBM Frameworks and next steps for the implementation plan.
The Coordinating Officer presented the Gender Equality Plan and the process to develop actions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, including a Subgroup that was established following the WGCHAIRS meeting in January 2022.
One chair of the Strategic Initiative on the Integration of Early Career Scientists (SIIECS) presented on the activities of the Initiative with a focus on the process of nominating an Early Career Scientist Keynote. The process was welcomed by the Committee and elements can be used for the nomination process of keynotes in general.
Key actions from the meeting included SCICOM support for co-sponsored symposia in 2023 and 2024, the endorsement of the stakeholder engagement strategy, the support of the gender equality plan and the nomination of members into the ASC Award Selection Group 2022 and the Theme Session Selection Group for 2023.