This research initiative entitled “Implementing the 5th International Polar Year in 2032-2033 with Next-Generation Science Diplomats” addresses the International Polar Year (IPY) dialogue, for it is relevant, timely and significant. It has cross-cutting relevance for Early Career Researchers (ECRs), considering polar research and Earth system science, inclusively. With climate warming occurring 4 times faster in the Arctic and 3 times faster in the Antarctic than elsewhere on Earth, it is timely to start thinking and preparing for IPY-5, as already endorsed by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) as well as other organizations.  Planning and implementation of IPY-5 will be a long-term effort, opening the door for ECRs as next-generation science diplomats to make substantive contributions now via institutions, such as the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), which emerged from IPY-4 in 2007-2008. Accordingly, my research initiative seeks to enhance intergenerational capacities with the IPY as a global research process, reflecting the longest continuous assessment of Earth’s climate. In so doing, using the transdisciplinary methods of Open Science with sustainable development framing, this research seeks to create opportunities for polar ECRs e.g., graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty, as next-generation science diplomats, that a decade from now will be well-established in their professions and will help implement the IPY-5 in 2032-2033. The opportunity is now to bring the ECRs to become actively involved in planning and organising IPY-5.