What do you do on a flight out of Antarctica? I started by looking out of the window at the dazzling whites and deep greys of the glaciers and the sea. But once the continent was behind me, the interest of the window-seat faded a bit. I looked around the cabin; it’s an interesting one! The cargo area in front is packed with suitcases and zarges boxes, strapped down and against cargo nets. But I was soon bored again, so I settled for a long-shot: a second stab at the International Arctic Science Committee’s (IASC’s) fellowship scheme. My application had failed a couple of years ago, and I suspected it wasn’t even close. But in the total absence of a film, book or music there was nothing for it but to write. Two months later I woke up in Tromsø to an email: “Reply needed by 5 January. Dear Robbie, We are happy to inform you…”
Inside of the Dash-7 plane flying from Rothera research station to Punta Arenas, Chile
View of Rothera research station from the air when leaving, with sea ice to the north and open water elsewhere. The large blue building (upper left of image) is the new Discovery Building, which is nearly complete.
The fellowship scheme is strongly tied to the annual Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW). In 2024 it was in Edinburgh (Scotland), and in 2025 it will be in Boulder, (Colorado USA). As part of the fellowship IASC pays for you to attend two of them (flights, per diem, accomodation). You also become a member of one of the five IASC working groups (mine being the Cryosphere WG) for three years. Other opportunities also appear; I’ll come to those later.
ASSW isn’t a science conference where you show up with a poster or talk about an experiment that you’ve done. Instead, it’s a working meeting for the Arctic science community and its subgroups, particularly aimed at planning, coordination and collaboration. Every other year ASSW is immediately followed by the Arctic Observing Summit, a two day meeting focussed on in-situ observing systems. Because of the nature of the meeting, the ASSW relies on existing networks of scientists. This makes it a little tricky to navigate, especially if you haven’t been to one before like me!
Here’s one of those nifty “other opportunities” that IASC fellowship has so far bestowed on me: involvement with the ICARP process. ICARP is the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning: a decadal process that sets priorities for Arctic science. Every ten years there’s a conference where these priorities are synthesised, and the next one will be in Boulder alongside the ASSW. This is of course convenient for me since I’ll be going to Boulder as an IASC fellow, but IASC also allowed me to put in a late application for one of the ICARP “Research Priority Teams”. These teams do a lot of the actual work of the ICARP priority-setting process, and met in Edinburgh to plan the approach to ICARP in Boulder. I’ve ended up co-chairing the research priority team focussed on “Observing, Reconstructing, and Predicting Future Climate Dynamics and Ecosystem Responses” - a pretty broad topic!
Henry Burgess opens ASSW. The UK hosted the conference this year, and Henry was chair of the local organising committee.
A typical ASSW meeting room in use by ICARP Research Priority Team 2
After arriving at ASSW in Edinburgh there was an opening ceremony involving all the IASC working groups attended. This clued me up on what ASSW was really about, but the session also featured me having to stand up and introduce myself to the audience as a new fellow which was surprisingly scary. The first order of business was then the working group meetings, which were in part a priority-setting exercise of their own but also included reviewing the various funding applications that had been made to IASC. After two days of those, the ICARP priority team meetings began. These were less structured, and involved a wide range of discussions on how we could impartially and equitably assess input from different sectors and stakeholders in the Arctic about research priorities. Towards the end of the ASSW I joined a couple of more traditional “conference-style” seminars on topics like indigenous observation networks and “scientists as ambassadors for an environment in crisis”.
Above: a reception for ASSW’s Science Day at Edinburgh City Chambers.
Right: reception at the Norwegian consulate in Edinburgh (rare photo of me wearing suit…)
The highlight of my ten days in Edinburgh was hanging out with other early career scientists, many of whom were IASC fellows past and present. Special shout outs to Charlotte Gehrke, Katie Orndahl, and Amy Macfarlane who were great to work with, but also to go for dinner with after. One particular social highlight was a reception at the Norwegian consulate, followed by pizza at the APECS networking event. Aside from the high standard of red wine and ensuing food, it was great to meet so many ECRs! I haven’t attended a lot of traditional academic conferences in my career (due to fieldwork commitments and personal preference), so it’s nice to feel like I’m now getting deeper into the “community”.
Over the next year I’ll be working in the ICARP process as part of RPT2, soliciting input at institutional level. So if you head up a group then expect an email from me, but also if you have strong views on Arctic research priorities please get in touch! I’ll also be doing some administrative stuff for the cryosphere WG, such as writing a 6-month newsletter to keep the team in touch with national research activities around October. So again, if you have any “big news” at national level that involves cryosphere research and would be of interest to members, please do send it to me and I’ll put it in.