NNA Community Newsletter

June 2022 Issue

• Propose a Session for the 2022 NNA Annual Community Meeting
• Provide Input on Convergence Working Group Themes
• NNA-Themed AGU Sessions Now Accepting Abstracts
• NNA-CARPE-NRT Student Opportunity
• Funding Opportunities
• Circumpolar Inuit Protocols on Equity and Ethical Engagement
• Atauttikkut - Inuit Youth Connect
• NNA Project Highlight: Fate of the Caribou
• Upcoming Events

NNA Proposal Solicitation Reminder: The next NNA proposal solicitation deadline is February 8, 2023. See solicitation details here.

Tip: Want to learn how to avoid common mistakes made by investigators when submitting proposals to NSF? Watch the recording of and access slides for NSF’s Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) proposal writing workshop from December 2021, hosted virtually by the NNA Community Office, here.

Propose a Session for the 2022 NNA Annual Community Meeting

We are now accepting session and workshop proposals for the 2022 NNA Annual Community Meeting, which will take place in a hybrid mode from Anchorage, Alaska during November 15-17, 2022. The themes of the annual meeting are: 

• Sharing and communicating NNA research across knowledge systems, values, and priorities;
• Strengthening equity in Arctic research; and 
• Centering holism within the NNA research initiative to achieve societal benefit.

We invite session and workshop proposals from across the NNA community (NNA-funded and prospective researchers, research partners, Indigenous community and organization representatives, etc.) to complement these themes or other priorities that align with the NNA initiative. More information about the annual meeting, these themes, and how to submit a session or workshop proposal is provided on our website. The deadline for proposals is August 12, 2022.

Submit your proposal here.

Provide Input on Convergence Working Group Themes

The NNA-CO is supporting development of 4 Convergence Working Groups to address collaboratively issues of critical importance to NNA projects and Arctic communities. Each group will work together under a broad theme, with the working group members together determining a more focused set of activities and group outcomes. Before beginning the process of developing team co-leads and participants, the NNA-CO is seeking community input on the draft themes that might become Convergence Working Group focus areas.

Submit your input by August 15, 2022 here .

NNA-Themed AGU Sessions Now Accepting Abstracts

Two NNA-themed sessions at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, which will take place during December 12-16, 2022 from Chicago Illinois, are now accepting presentation abstracts:



• Convergent Research in the Arctic: Addressing Complex Societal Challenges through Action-Oriented Coastal and Ocean Science (OS006)
• Arctic Education & Outreach - Effective ways of engaging diverse learners in Arctic science (ED004)

Please consider joining these sessions to share your NNA research or education and outreach efforts. The abstract submission deadline is Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 23:59 EDT.

NNA-CARPE-NRT Student Opportunity

Convergent Arctic Perspectives in Research and Education (CARPE) is a new graduate program at the University of New Hampshire funded through the National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship program: https://marine.unh.edu/carpe-nrt. CARPE is training graduate students, using a convergence research framework and approach, to better investigate and understand the interwoven impacts of changing seasonality on Arctic natural and human systems. For CARPE, convergence research integrates natural and physical sciences and engineering during the design, implementation, and communication of the impacts of changing Arctic seasonality. Central to this convergent research approach is a decolonizing perspective that promotes cultural awareness and the collaborative production of knowledge that respects the self-determination of Indigenous communities.

As part of the new CARPE program, the NNA-CO at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is offering a five-day workshop in Fairbanks from January 9 to 13, 2023. This workshop is part of a new course, Arctic Research Methods, offered through the University of New Hampshire during the January Term. The workshop through the NNA-CO will emphasize training students in conducting reciprocal research with Indigenous communities. Key themes will be: 1) ethical decolonization best practices and methods to employ in Alaskan and Arctic communities; and 2) the co-production process of communicating research findings. A small number of spots are available for grad students from other NNA projects. If interested in attending, please email klspellman@alaska.edu. 

Funding Opportunities

Circumpolar Inuit Protocols on Equity and Ethical Engagement

The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) recently released its protocols for the Equitable, Ethical Engagement of Inuit in the Circumpolar world aimed at all decision and policy makers, researchers and others operating in the Arctic. Across the Arctic, there are growing discussions about climate change, increased resource development, expanding research initiatives, and expanding opinions on managing activities. Equitable and ethical engagement must place Inuit at the forefront of these activities, discussions, and policy developments. The Circumpolar Inuit Protocols on Equitable and Ethical Engagement (EEE Protocols) provide a pathway to success for international organizations, researchers, decision- and policy-makers.

Download the EEE Protocols here.

Atauttikkut - Inuit Youth Connect

Join ArcticNet, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and Live It Earth in an exciting project to connect Inuit youth across the North American Arctic. Express yourself on what climate change means to you. Voice your priorities. Share your realities. Learn and develop media skills through targeted workshops. Produce impactful short videos using accessible tools such as cell phones, Canva and TikTok. Engage in the Atauttikkut virtual exchange forum to discuss climate change and develop solutions to common challenges.

Learn more here.

Photo credit: Logan Berner, NAU

Fate of the Caribou: from local knowledge to range-wide dynamics in the changing Arctic

Migratory tundra caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are the most abundant and widespread large mammal in the Arctic. With a circum-arctic distribution, caribou are a critical cultural and food resource for many Indigenous Arctic peoples. However, caribou ranges and population dynamics are shifting in response to climate change; warmer summers and shorter winters are impacting migration routes, changing the vegetation on the landscape, allowing increased human development, and increasing stress from biting insects. The Fate of the Caribou project seeks to better understand the continental- and local-scale responses of caribou to these changes to help communities and caribou stewards plan for the future of caribou in North America.



By building on new and existing relationships with First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Alaska Native communities and co-management boards and state, territory, and federal governments, the Fate of the Caribou project is forming research questions that are highly relevant to Arctic communities. Co-PIs on the project bring together expertise on caribou demographic modeling (PI Elie Gurarie, Co-PI Bill Fagan), remote sensing of vegetation, snow, and fire (Co-PIs Scott Goetz and Logan Berner), and large mammal ecology (Co-PIs Anne Gunn and Mark Hebblewhite). Initial efforts include investigating weather effects on calving timing and synchrony, mapping changes in vegetation across northern Alaska and the Yukon, and developing a measure of insect harassment based on social cues from caribou. Fate of the Caribou staff are also supporting the organization of the 2023 joint meeting of the North American Caribou Workshop and Arctic Ungulate Conference, taking place in Anchorage, Alaska May 8-12, 2023.

Planning Virtual Experience Tours workshop

• Fall 2022 (exact date TBD)

NNA Annual Community Meeting (Details coming soon)

• November 15-17, 2022

AGU Session on “Convergent Research in the Arctic: Addressing Complex Societal Challenges through Action-Oriented Coastal and Ocean Science” (OS006)

• December 12-16, 2022 (exact date/time TBD)

AGU Session on “Arctic Education & Outreach - Effective ways of engaging diverse learners in Arctic science” (ED004)

• December 12-16, 2022 (exact date/time TBD)