NNA: AON: ASSP: Facilitating increased engagement between the research communities of Greenland and the U.S.: Nuuk, Greenland - August 27-28, 2018

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

Greenland is an important research site for scientists from around the world. Because of its unique physical environment and geographic location between North America and Europe, the United States has a significant research presence in Greenland. This presence provides opportunities to strengthen bilateral cooperation with the research community of Greenland. At the ''Facilitating Engagement'' workshop leading Arctic researchers from the U.S. and Greenland will discuss and develop guidelines and frameworks for cooperative work, including knowledge co-production, community engagement, Indigenous perspectives, and student training and education. This workshop has the potential to build the national capacity of the U.S. for conducting ethical research in domestic and international locations, particularly when work is undertaken in Indigenous homelands. Outcomes also include an international and diverse network of Indigenous and non-indigenous scientists from the U.S. and Greenland. This will facilitate cross-cultural and interdisciplinary Arctic research that includes Indigenous perspectives and meets the needs of Arctic communities at home and abroad. This workshop aligns with NSF's Strategic Objective 1.2: Advance the Practice of Research, which states ''NSF will promote a research culture that is broadly inclusive in its demography and range of intellectual ideas,...is globally engaged, with increased opportunities for exchanging ideas and collaborating on an international scale. NSF will increase opportunities for broadening the training of U.S. graduate students and early-career researchers through international exchanges and partnerships with industry.'' Currently, many U.S. scientists pursue a Western model of research, for which they conduct science but have little, if any, contact with Greenlandic researchers and communities. To explore a new model for research in Greenland, 20-24 researcher from the U.S. and Greenland will meet for two days in Nuuk, Greenland to co-develop a bilateral model for collaborative research, outreach, and education that involves: 1) knowledge co-production by members of the U.S. and Greenlandic research communities and 2) increased community engagement and student education. Participants will represent a range of research disciplines, experiences, and backgrounds. The workshop will include presentations and discussions about research infrastructure in Greenland and U.S. government agency support of Arctic research. Participants will share and discuss personal experiences within the workshop topics. In addition to forming a bilateral network of researchers who have an interest in future collaborations, these activities will lead to a report that includes a set of recommendations from the U.S. and Greenlandic research communities about priorities and needs for increased research, outreach, and education collaborations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.