** New this week ** Gender in Polar Research: Gendered Field Work Conditions, Epistemologies and Legacies, March 30, 2020 (via Zoom). This workshop is organized by Joachim Gertrude Saxinger, Otto Habeck, Stephan Dudeck, and Katariina Kyrölä-International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) Working Group on Gender in the Arctic. The workshop will combine three strands of debate that have thus far not been discussed systematically: (1) Doing science in the 21st century in a way that departs from but also pays careful attention to the history of exploration and colonial endeavors as "heroic" and masculine activities- while a masculine image still seems to dominate the methodologies and practices of Arctic and polar research. (2) The still existing gender gap when it comes to female researchers in hard sciences, their career prospects, and their sometimes difficult working conditions as women in the field. Critiques of the gender gap and gendered research work have thus far neglected the diversity aspects of queer and gender minority (LGBTQI) researchers. They face particular challenges while working in a still largely heteronormative research environment as it is described for research stations, vessels, or tundra/ taiga camps. (3) The gendered composition of researchers as actors and the gendered spaces of conducting research, including the field sites, have an important impact on research interests, research design, research ethics, and epistemology. The gender bias affects the research subjects and methodology, and polar research can learn from and communicate with other fields of science about how to ensure a high standard of equality, sensitivity to issues of marginalization, and ethical production of science.  

Arctic research plays a key role in addressing fundamental scientific issues and in helping the nation meet its needs, aspirations and responsibilities as an arctic nation. To this end, the USARC delivers a biennial report to the President and Congress outlining recommended scientific research goals and objectives for the Arctic.

Newly shared reports this week.

(State of Alaska and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium) Healthy Alaskans 2030: State Health Assessment, 2019. The State of Alaska, Department of Health and Social Services, in equal partnership with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, leads the state health improvement plan (SHIP), Healthy Alaskans 2020 (HA2020). Healthy Alaskans 2020 is composed of 25 leading health indicators, or priorities, each with established targets to achieve by 2020. Through a comprehensive and inclusive process, organizations and communities of all levels have agreed to the HA2020 indicators and targets for the past decade. HA2020 is aimed at improving the health of all Alaskans and has a vision of Healthy Alaskans in Healthy Communities. To support this vision, HA2020 provides a framework supporting the work of partners and stakeholders statewide who are actively engaged in improving the health of Alaskans. To build this framework, specific steps have been followed, including the completion of a statewide health assessment, the prioritization of health objectives and targets for the decade for Alaska, and the identification of strategies and actions to reach those targets.