Polar and Alpine Community News

The inaugural SOOS Symposium, “Southern Ocean in a Changing World” will take place from the 14th to 18th of August 2023 in Hobart, Australia. The Symposium will consist of plenary presentations, parallel sessions and workshops incorporating a wide spectrum of Southern Ocean research.

Special Collection Title: Indigenous approaches to Arctic environmental sciences

Guest Editors: Victoria Qutuuq Buschman, Stanislav Saas Ksenofontov, Margaret Rudolf, Megan Sheremata, and Enooyaq Sudlovenik

Description: The unique perspectives, priorities, leadership, and rights of Arctic Indigenous Peoples necessitate transformation in conventional approaches in environmental science. We invite manuscript proposals that discuss research methodologies in studies conducted by and with Arctic Indigenous Peoples to be published in the open-access journal, Arctic Science.

Today we are dropping a new episode of Unikkaat / Circumpolar Waves about Inuit Food Sovereignty and Self-Governance. For thousands of years, Inuit have thrived in the Arctic relying on our knowledge and values.

Core to our identity is our food security and requires accessibility, availability, culture, health and wellness, stability, and decision-making power and management. It also is distinctly tied to food sovereignty. Without food sovereignty, Inuit cannot achieve food security. This was a primary finding of ICC Alaska’s 2015 report, How to Assess Food Security from an Inuit Perspective.

This September the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) is putting on a cohort-building and 'what to expect' series of events for early career researchers (ECRs) headed to Antarctica in the 2022-2023 season.

Registration for these events is now open! There are also some events that are absolutely also open to any polar early career scientists who are just generally interested in Antarctica.
Read more & register for the events below:

• September 06 - what to expect in Antarctica: a panel discussion for first-timers headed south
• September 13 - lightning talks & social call for early career scientists headed to Antarctica
• September 22 - Antarctic Governance 101

Looking to expand your research outreach? Ever wondered how you can integrate science and art into your practice?

We have got you covered:

• Read the newly published Science-Art Symbiosis Workbook
• Attend the Professional Inspiration Session on September 14, 2:00-3:00PM AT
• Express your interest in submitting a science-art creation to be featured at the Science-Art Showcase during MEOPAR’s Annual Meeting on November 24, 2022, 3:30-5:00PM AT

After a two year break, the University of Canterbury are pleased to announce that the Master of Antarctic Studies programme will be running this summer (starting in mid-November 2022).

This programme is aimed at graduates who wish to gain expertise and research experience focused on Antarctica. Apply at bit.ly/antarctica-apply

Do you live in or conduct work in the Arctic? You should familiarize yourself with and implement the Inuit Circumpolar Council's Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement. You can learn about the protocols as well as how and why they were created in the podcast episode The Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement (EEE Protocols). 

This episode comes from the podcast of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) called ᐅᓂᒃᑳᑦ / UNIKKAAT / UNIPKAAT / UNGIPAGHAT / NALLUNAIRUTET / Circumpolar Waves. You can find and listen to all of the episodes here.

Above: cover image from the Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement, Inuit Circumpolar Council, 2022.

We warmly invite you to join an upcoming mini symposium entitled “How SCAR informs and guides Antarctic policy and conservation” on Wednesday 3^rd August, 07:00 - 09:00 UTC.  The session will be jointly convened by Ant-ICON’s Synthesis Theme and SCAR’s Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SC-ATS).  

The purpose of this mini symposium is to empower early to mid-career Antarctic researchers to create policy impact through research. Whether or not you have little or extensive experience in the science-policy domain, we encourage you to join us for this important and timely conversation. Our expert panel includes Dr Keith Reid (Antarctic Environments Portal Editor and Consultant), Dr Tom Bracegirdle (British Antarctic Survey), and Dr Mercedes Santos (Instituto Antártico Argentino).  

Do you have any burning questions about Antarctic science-policy interactions that you would like this session to address? Fill out the following form and the conveners will endeavour to get your questions answered on the day: https://forms.gle/G8PyYcMGegY4c1Wu7

You will need to be registered for the SCAR OSC to participate. You can register here. No problem if you can’t make the session on the day – it will be recorded and made available following the conference.

The SPLASH Action Group, sponsored by the IPA, will provide 10 grants covering the AGU Fall Meeting (12-16 December 2022) registration fees for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

SPLASH - ‘Standardized methods across Permafrost Landscapes: from Arctic Soils to Hydrosystems’ - is a community-driven effort aiming to provide a suite of standardized field strategies for sampling mineral and organic components in soils, sediments, and water across permafrost landscapes for improving our understanding of the processes occurring during lateral transport in circumpolar Arctic watersheds. For more SPLASH infos:
http://www.splash.biogeochimie.fr 

The SCAR Open Science Conference 2022 is happening now, 1-10 August 2022! 

The SCAR Secretariat hopes to get a few volunteers to tweet about talks for the @SCAR_Tweets account. This role is for those that are registered for the conference - which is free.