The Economist Group attempts to provide high-level international forums for senior executives to discuss opportunities and challenges in different spheres. The Economist's Arctic Summit (http://cemea.economistconferences.com/event/arctic-summit) was designed to focus on the Arctic and to promote constructive thinking on its present and future state and development. The Arctic Summit took place in Oslo, Norway on 11-12 March and attracted more than 150 policy makers, scientists, environmentalists, businessmen, and representatives from the industry sector. A number of topics through a combination of plenary talks and panel discussions were covered: changes in the Arctic environment, shipping, exploration of mineral resources, shipping and associated risks in the Arctic, environmental and geopolitical perspectives of the Arctic development. APECS was invited to be present at the meeting as well, and three APECS representatives participated in it: Teresa Valkonen (Co-Chair, APECS Finland and APECS Education and Outreach Committee), Ylva Sjöberg (Executive Secretary, APECS Sweden) and Alexey Pavlov (Director, APECS).
What are the major thoughts about the Summit from early career researchers’ perspective?
1. The Economist’s Arctic Summit showed very clearly how difficult it is to effectively communicate between different groups: scientists, policy makers, industry representatives, environmentalists, general public and others. This question was briefly brought up during discussions. One particular core group that was mentioned is young people as a group that realistically could change their opinions about topics related to the polar regions and a climate change.
2. Arctic exploration is not restricted by political or law regulations, it is restricted by technological challenges and will require sound scientific findings. Thus, it was clearly stated that new, breakthrough technologies will be required in the future and need to be created by a competent and well-educated people. Human capital will be crucial here. Representatives from almost all sectors strongly emphasized the need for more data and research in the Arctic.
3. A striking aspect of the Summit was a lack of women among the speakers with an original program with only 1 female expert of 25 speakers (Nina Jensen, WWF Norge). Due to a last minute change in the program, Ellen Baum from the Clean Air Task Force also appeared at the Summit.
What APECS could do in the future?
1. There are huge differences in how language, and communication in general, is used in different fields of the society. Acknowledging these differences will the first step to get the voice of scientists to be heard. APECS Education and Outreach committee has already done a great deal in this direction. APECS should further ensure outreach, education and science communication activities and to emphasize its importance for the whole APECS community. Even more work with schools and a general public will be required in the future. We should also facilitate more cross-disciplinary communication within APECS community as well as between APECS members and early career representatives of different sectors.
2. APECS leadership should look wider beyond traditional academic careers and build meaningful relationships with an industry sector to provide more relevant training and opportunities for polar early career researchers. In parallel, APECS should invest more into emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary and international research cooperation.
3. APECS is already doing a great job in terms of training of female polar scientists. For example, 4 of 5 APECS Presidents have been female researchers and a current executive committee consists of all 5 enthusiastic ladies. We hope that we could continue this tendency in the future.
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Contributed by Teresa Valkonen, Ylva Sjöberg and Alexey Pavlov
