Project Report
Our half-day workshop at ASSW 2025 focused on the review of research on drivers and cumulative effects of infrastructure and climate on Arctic socio-ecological systems done since ICARP III and on sketching a roadmap for innovative community-engaged research on Arctic infrastructural development and environmental changes in the next decade. This community event was a continuation of a series of workshops, online talks and meeting of the IASC-funded Research Initiative “Rapid Arctic Transitions due to Infrastructure and Climate (RATIC)”. Young and advanced-career researchers, including an Indigenous scholar, from the fields of history, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and architecture who have been actively involved in the RATIC network, were invited to present and to lead small group discussions. The workshop was open to the public and was attended by around fifty participants, including international researchers, students, and artists, Arctic residents, and Indigenous peoples. The workshop organizers opened the event with an introduction of its goals, its relevance for IASC and contribution to the ICARP IV process.
During Session I of our workshop, we heard seven short presentations on the state of various aspects of Arctic infrastructure research including a history of Arctic infrastructure, social sciences perspectives, indirect costs of infrastructure due to permafrost degradation, engineering perspectives on energy infrastructure, permafrost management in Arctic urban design and construction, community engaged ethical research on infrastructure, remote sensing and infrastructure mapping.
During Session II, we held four breakout groups on different aspects of planning for future Arctic infrastructure research: natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and architecture, and research methods and ethics. The workshop ended with reports from each of the breakout groups and a general discussion on research challenges, gaps and priorities for the next decade.
Workshop outcomes include recommendations made to two specific ICARP IV Research Priority Teams: RPT3 (Vulnerability and Resilience of Arctic Environments/Societies and Sustainable Development) and RPT7 (Technology, Infrastructure, Logistics and Services). As a final product, we are preparing a white paper that will briefly present the current state of Arctic infrastructure research and then address the scientific goals that can and should be achieved over the next decade. While the workshop participants identified multiple research goals and priorities, they can be roughly clustered into the following groups: 1) establishment of new integrated research approaches and protocols to observe, monitor, and measure the cumulative effects of infrastructure and climate on Arctic ecosystems and communities; 2) pan-Arctic comparison of infrastructural and climatic changes across different geo-ecological, socio-economic and cultural settings; 3) an international interdisciplinary research framework for studying the intersections between Arctic infrastructure and climate; 4) improved accessibility, standardization and exchange of data on locally informed engineering solutions for sustainable and energy-efficient Arctic infrastructure; 5) increased engagement of Arctic residents, Indigenous peoples and youth in co-production of different types of knowledge regarding planning, maintenance and mitigation of environmental impacts of large-scale infrastructure. Finally, we propose –- as future directions for the RATIC initiative, its mission and goals – to explore opportunities for establishing an IASC Infrastructure Action Group, an Arctic Infrastructure Observing Network, and other structured initiatives to support international collaboration on infrastructure-related research priorities.
Highlights:
- Presentations and small groups discussions provided a review of research on the intersection between Arctic infrastructure and climate, which has been conducted over the past decade in several disciplinary fields. Speakers and participants highlighted specific findings of their infrastructure-focused projects, which are at the core of the RATIC network, demonstrated the scientific value of the existing body of knowledge and addressed questions related to challenges to research.
- The workshop has been the culmination of a long process of identifying research gaps and priorities, methods and partnerships needed to achieve these priorities. The RATIC members, who organized and participated in the workshop, had been meeting regularly online to discuss their individual contributions to the workshop. Still, the actual workshop discussions and interactions were necessary to formulate joint research goals for ICARP IV.
- The event mobilized and extended the RATIC network, thereby demonstrating the relevance of its central research foci and the value of long-term international interdisciplinary collaboration and of the dialogue between academia, local communities, practitioners and other stakeholders. The RATIC Steering Committee soon will resume its meetings to finalize a resulting collective white paper and to discuss funding opportunities to support future activities.
Date and Location
21 – 28 March | Boulder, Colorado, USA - ASSW 2025 / ICARP IV
IASC Working Groups funding the project
- Cryosphere WG
- Social & Human WG
- Terrestrial WG
Project Lead
Olga Povoroznyuk, University of Vienna, Austria
Howard Epstein, University of Virginia, USA
Vera Kuklina , George Washington University, USA
Year funded by IASC
2024