PICES Chair Award
(Approved May 2016)

Introduction

In 2016, The PICES Governing Council approved the establishment of a new award, the PICES Chair Award. The award is given for sustained contributions to the development of the Organization that have allowed it to meet the purpose as set out in the Convention:

Article III: Purpose of the Organization:
  • to promote and coordinate marine scientific research in order to advance scientific knowledge of the area concerned and of its living resources, including but not necessarily limited to research with respect to the ocean environment and its interactions with land and atmosphere, its role in and response to global weather and climate change, its flora, fauna and ecosystems, its uses and resources, and impacts upon it from human activities;
  • to promote the collection and exchange of information and data related to marine scientific research in the area concerned.

Nominations

Nominations are accepted annually from the PICES community although the award may not be given every year if a suitable candidate is not found. More than one award may be given in a year. The Selection Committee consists of the PICES Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Chair of the Finance and Administration Committee. The Award Presentation Ceremony takes place at an Opening Session during the PICES Annual Meeting.

Call for Nominations

Nominations for the Chair Award are accepted annually from NOVEMBER 1st of the preceding year, to JULY 31st of the award year. Nominations, along with supporting documentation, should be sent to the PICES Executive Secretary (Sonia.Batten@pices.int) by JULY 31. Late nominations will not be accepted.

PICES Chair Award Recipients
For their sustained contributions to the development of the Organization

PICES-2023

Robin Brown (Canada)

Robin Brown has been intricately linked and involved with PICES throughout his career, firstly with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, then as Executive Secretary of PICES and is still active in the organization in his retirement. While with DFO he served as an Advisor and/or Alternate Delegate to the Governing Council and Finance and Administration Committee for Canada from 2003 to 2012. He became an official F&A Member for Canada from 2013-2015 and he served as the head of the Local Organising Committee for PICES-2013 meeting held in Nanaimo, BC,Canada. He attended the first ever PICES annual meeting in 1992, and has rarely missed one since.

Robin has had many roles within PICES expert groups. He was the first Chair of TCODE from 1995-2001 and was instrumental in the establishment of this Technical Committee, and as Chair of TCODE was also a Member of Science Board from 1995 to 2001. He was Chair of the FUTURE Advisory Panel on Advisory Panel on Status, Outlooks and Trends (AP-SOFE) from 2009-2012. Robin was Executive Secretary from February 2015 to April 2020. Throughout all of these roles his commitment to PICES has been clear, as has his belief that in the value of connections made between scientists through organizations like PICES.

PICES-2023 Opening Ceremony: Awards | Certificate TBA | PICES Press 2024, Vol. 32, No. 1 TBA |



PICES-2022

Chul Park (Korea)

Professor Park is a very familiar face at PICES, as he has been involved in the organization for more than a decade, and has played a prominent role in governance, as well as contributing to PICES science programs and expert groups, meetings, and capacity development. His roles in PICES have included: several years as the National Delegate for Korea; Vice-Chair of PICES from 2012 - 2016; and Chair of PICES from 2016 - 2020. He is currently serving as the Past-Chair of PICES, providing ongoing consultation and support to the current chair, the Secretariat, and PICES members in Korea. In addition to his governance roles, Professor Park was for many years a member of PICES F&A Committee, and a member of several Expert Groups, including: MONITOR; the SG to revise PICES Strategic Plan; and Working Group 14: Effective Sampling of Micronekton to Estimate Ecosystem Carrying Capacity. Additionally, he served on local organizing committees to organize PICES meetings, as the ECS advisor for the 3rd Early Career Scientist Conference held in Busan, Korea, in 2017, and earlier was a member of the MONITOR task team for PICES-GLOBEC Implementation for PICES CCCC Science Program. Information on his early involvement in PICES is available in an earlier issue of PICES Press.
PICES-2022 Opening Ceremony: Awards (YouTube, from 27:23 min.) | Certificate | PICES Press 2023, Vol. 31, No. 1, page 14 |



PICES-2021

Laura Richards (Canada)

Dr. Richards. was the PICES Chair between 2012 and 2016, and prior to that, the Vice-Chair between 2010 and 2012. She has been a Canadian Delegate of the PICES Governing Council, and was a two-term Chair of the Finance and Administration Committee (F&A) between 2004 and 2008. She was an active member of the Fisheries Science Committee and participated in several Expert Groups including SG-RSP (Revising Strategic Plan); SG-SI (PICES Strategic Issues); SG-RPFR (PICES Rules of Procedure/Financial Regs); SG-RAM (Restructuring PICES Annual Meeting). She had particular skill at nurturing international partnerships, and helped to establish PICES' relationships with many organizations such as ICES, NPAFC, NOWPAP, and ISC. This was a valuable contribution towards furthering PICES recognition as an authority for Marine Science Information. More...
Certificate, Plaque



PICES-2019

Patricia (Pat) Livingston (U.S.A.)

Ms. Patricia Livingston has been involved with PICES since the beginning—she was Co-Chair of the first integrative long-term program of PICES, Climate Change and Carrying Capacity, CCCC, from 1996–1998. During that time she built upon the strong linkages between PICES and GLOBEC program. This broadened the research networks of both organizations facilitating the innovative comparative studies that are a lasting legacy of that program. Pat also served as Science Board Chair from 1998–2001. In addition to her scientific contributions, Pat also made a very large commitment to the administration and proper functioning of our Organization through a period of expansion in the scientific activities of PICES.



PICES-2018

Tokio Wada (Japan)

Dr. Wada was involved with PICES since the beginning—he was a founding member of the Fishery Science Committee (FIS) at the first PICES Meeting in 1992. He subsequently served PICES in many capacities including Co-Chair or Chair of many PICES expert groups, and served as Vice-Chair (2004-2006) and Chair (2006-2010) of Governing Council. He led the creation of the PICES Ocean Monitoring Award (POMA), and was important in arranging funds from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan to enable PICES to undertake new activities, and develop scientific capacity for detecting and controlling harmful and invasive organisms in the North Pacific.



John Stein (USA)

Dr. Stein held a number of leadership positions within PICES from 1993 until 2017, when he retired from NOAA. His roles in PICES spanned from being a member or Chair/Co-Chair of a number of expert groups, and serving as Chair of the Marine Environmental Quality Committee (MEQ; 2000-2006) to becoming the first Vice-Chair (2004-2006) and Chair-elect (2006-2007) of Science Board, and Science Board Chair from 2007 to 2010 . He also served as Chair of the Finance and Administration (F&A) Executive Committee (2013-2016) and, at the time of his retirement from PICES, held the position of Vice-Chair of Governing Council. One of his final achievements was serving as a member of the Study Group on Revising the Strategic Plan in which he challenged the SG to be aspirational rather than prescriptive by posing broader questions of what the Strategic Plan should be.



PICES-2016

Richard (Rich) Marasco (U.S.A.)

Dr. Marasco was Chair of the PICES Finance and Administration Committee (F&A) from 1998 – 2004. In his leadership role, he designed a financial approach that allowed the organization to expand in the absence of real increases in the annual fees. He also worked tirelessly to build relationships across diverse cultures in PICES, and he advocated for the importance of PICES within his home organization, NOAA, encouraging younger scientists to take up leadership roles in the organization.

Alexander (Alex) Bychkov (Russia/PICES Secretariat)

Dr. Bychkov was the PICES Executive Secretary from 1999-2014. His dedication and hard work are key drivers that have moved PICES from a regional North Pacific science organization to a well-respected and recognized truly global organization, leading important initiatives in climate change and marine ecosystem science.