The Arctic is warming three times faster than the global mean, with profound implications for Arctic environments, ecosystems, communities and geopolitics. Globalisation means that Arctic communities are connected in new ways to the rest of the world, while the waxing and waning of industrialisation is changing ways of life and environments. The urgency of Arctic change demands that researchers look ahead.
We are inviting researchers of all disciplines, people from local and Indigenous Arctic communities, policymakers, funders of research, and all other stakeholders, to contribute towards the Horizon Scan by participating in this secure online survey, which asks you to name one or more priorities for Arctic research in the next decade. We welcome submissions about local-scale as well as large-scale issues; well-known topics as well as under-appreciated ones; urgent concerns as well as more distant ones; topics concerning the environment, ecosystems, geology, industry, politics, language, culture, weather, climate. The submission window is open until 23 August 2022.
Over 7-9th September 2022, we will hold a workshop to distill the online submissions into a categorised set of Arctic research priorities for the next decade. Based in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the workshop will invite participation from researchers, Arctic stakeholders and Indigenous rights-holders alike. The workshop methodology will follow in the footsteps of previous horizon scans.
The Horizon Scan will build towards a peer-reviewed written report summarising the findings of the workshop and online survey. This will be an agenda-setting document useful to researchers, funders of research, policymakers and other Arctic stakeholders and rightsholders. Through participation in the Horizon Scan, we also hope that new cross-disciplinary connections and partnerships will be made, and that different forms of knowledge (e.g. scientific and traditional) will be brought together.
All survey responders will have the chance to be acknowledged in any publications arising, and be able to register interest in attending the workshop. Workshop attendees will be invited to co-author the written report.
Photographs © Joe Cornish and Sam Cornish.