APPAM Volunteer Opportunities

Are you looking to get involved with APPAM but don’t know where to start?

Volunteering for APPAM is a great way to grow professionally, build relationships with peers across the country, and develop leadership skills. With so many high-quality proposals to review, committees to oversee, and expert content to deliver, we rely on help from our community to keep our conferences and content top-notch and running smoothly.

The opportunities below are split into Fall Conference and General Opportunities. Please note that these opportunities are ordered by the date the form closes, as this page will be regularly updated. If you do not see a link, the form has not yet been opened. Reviewers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, and signing up for the opportunities below does not guarantee participation.

Please note that these forms are open year-round. Be sure to check the specific dates on the relevant volunteer form.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering; we hope to work with you soon!

Questions? Please email [email protected].

Fall Conference Volunteer Opportunities	Dates of Service
Program Committee Chairs & Reviewers	Spring & Summer 2026
Student Ambassador Program	Spring 2026
Session Chairs & Discussants	November 2026
Onsite Poster Judges	November 2026

General Volunteer Opportunities	Dates of Service
Equity & Inclusion Fellowship Reviewers	August 2026
PhD Dissertation Award Reviewers	Fall 2026
Mentors	Fall 2026
Policy Council	Year Round
Webinars	Year Round

Fall Conference Volunteer Opportunities

Program Committee Chairs & Reviewers

Each year, APPAM receives over 2,000 proposals for the Fall Conference. We need volunteers to review each proposal in a timely manner and carefully consider the conference theme, policy area relevance, and more.

Chairs: Each policy area has one to three assigned chairs to lead the review team. These individuals are responsible for communicating deadlines, review structure, and making the final recommendations to the President-Elect. This role is more time-consuming than the reviewer’s because you must consider reviewer scores in order to rank their recommended sessions and posters, build panels from single papers, and then fill session chairs and discussants for these new panels.

Reviewers: Reviewers will be assigned a set number of submissions to review and grade on five criteria. They will also provide comments that will help guide the policy area chairs in their final recommendations. The number of submissions depends on the size of the policy area and the number of reviewers for that year.

Time Commitment:

Chairs: 10 hours in Spring & Summer 2026
Reviewers: 2-5 hours in April – May 2026

Session Chairs & Discussants

Chairs are crucial to sessions. They monitor paper progress before the meetings and encourage the timely distribution of session papers to all discussants. Discussants play a critical role in providing feedback and encouraging audience participation in the session. Volunteers are needed for these integral roles at our 2026 Fall Research Conference.

Time Commitment:

Chairs – 3 hours per session in November 2026
Discussants – 5 hours per session in November 2026, dependent on how many papers and discussants are in your assigned session

To Volunteer: Log into your profile in All Academic, and you will find the Volunteer Form under the Submitters Menu.

Student Ambassador Program

APPAM Student Ambassadors are active student members who are highly knowledgeable about the association and willing to share their time at the Fall Research Conference. Student Ambassadors help make the event a positive and welcoming experience for attendees, especially first-time conference goers. This role includes serving as panel chairs, ignite session hosts, assisting conference attendees, and serving and supporting the conference where needed.

Time Commitment: 4-5 hours throughout October and November, including at the Fall Research Conference.

Application Deadline: Monday, September 21

Onsite Poster Judges

Presenters will be asked to discuss their work at poster sessions and answer questions during each. First, second, and third-place winners will be selected from the presenters each day. Judges are needed onsite to review the poster sessions’ appearance, content, and in-person presentation.

Time Commitment: 1-2 hours at the Fall Research Conference

General Volunteer Opportunities

Equity & Inclusion Fellowship Reviewers

Review applications for the student, young professional, and undergraduate cohorts. Volunteers would need to review CV’s, letters of recommendation.

Reviews will take place in summer 2026. Stay tuned to meet the 2026 cohort!

Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per reviewer

PhD Dissertation Award Reviewers

The purpose of this award is to recognize emergent scholars in the field by presenting an award for the best PhD dissertation in public policy and management. Volunteers are needed to review nominations and choose the award recipient.

Reviews will take place in summer 2026.

Time Commitment: 2-4 hours in late July to late August

APPAM Mentors

The APPAM Mentor Matching Program was created in 2016 by the APPAM Student Activities Committee as a means to serve the APPAM student member population better. What started out as an informal speed mentoring program has now grown to dozens of one-on-one mentor/mentee pairings between policy academics, researchers, and practitioners and student members. We encourage both students and professional members in the program to connect and expand their professional networks throughout the year and beyond.

Questions? Email [email protected].

Time Commitment: 5 hours throughout the year, with an in-person meeting in November 2026.

Policy Council

The Policy Council works on behalf of thousands of APPAM members to improve public policy and management by fostering excellence in research, analysis and education. Comprised of standing committees and representative members, The Policy Council is the association’s main governing body, or its Board of Directors. Candidates for participation must be accepted through a nomination and vetting process.

Time Commitment: 30 hours throughout the year, with quarterly meetings, two of which are in-person.

Webinar Proposals

APPAM is looking for member-generated content! The webinars, hosted by APPAM, range from topical policy issues, career development, to ways to make the most out of your APPAM membership. Present a webinar or be featured on a podcast with experts to discuss your research or policy expertise.

Time Commitment: 1-2 hours

AI Committee Members

The APPAM AI Committee will help define the role of artificial intelligence in public policy research by clarifying the AI landscape, exploring ethical considerations, and developing guidance for responsible adoption. Rather than providing technical training or tool-specific instruction, the committee focuses on identifying opportunities, challenges, and principles that can help the public policy research community navigate AI. Applicants should have an interest in or experience with AI and be an APPAM member for at least three years.

Some tasks include developing core principles and institutional guidelines on ethical and effective AI use, workforce and employer skill alignment, event programming, and resource curation.

Time Commitment: four virtual committee planning meetings.

Application deadline: Wednesday, September 16; email interest to Tara Sheehan, Executive Director.

Questions?

Questions about volunteer opportunities should be directed to [email protected].

APPAM Volunteer Opportunities