The 6th biennial "Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit" Conference will be held on 14-15 November 2023 in Rovaniemi, Finland, the birthplace of official Arctic cooperation. This international conference, organized by the City of Rovaniemi and the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland, gathers policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders for Arctic discussions. Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, changes in Arctic cooperation will be prominently featured in the conference agenda, and will be explored from the point of view of national and international security, and from a regional perspective, including the Barents region.

The Council of Yukon First Nations and the Government of Yukon have launched a new fund following recommendations listed in the territory’s Substance Use Health Emergency Strategy. Called the First Nations Land-Based Healing Fund, the initiative aims to support community activities that will help people reconnect with traditional knowledge in order to heal from substance use. This could include practices such as hunting, fishing, trapping, and outdoor survival.

A Vermont State University researcher has been awarded a $3.3 million contract to study the effects of climate change on arctic microbial environments. Associate professor Ross Lieblappen will lead students to Greenland, Alaska, and Canada to collect permafrost and sea ice samples and study them at the Randolph Center campus. The study is funded by several federal sources including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

ECOTIP presented their recommendations to Greenlandic fisheries policy and decision-makers on biodiversity monitoring last week to approximately 80 fisheries stakeholders at the first biannual Greenland Marine Research Seminar as part of Greenland Science Week 2023, as well as to the 300+ science conference participants. 

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of declining phytoplankton in the North Atlantic may have been greatly exaggerated. A prominent 2019 study used ice cores in Antarctica to suggest that marine productivity in the North Atlantic had declined by 10% during the industrial era, with worrying implications that the trend might continue.

Plastic pollution is of ever-growing concern. It is a well-known fact that plastic litter is omnipresent in our environment and the eventual sink for plastic waste is the world oceans. Even in the Arctic region plastic pollution is widespread. The Government of Iceland, with the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers, will host a Second International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region. The aim is to gather scientific, Indigenous and local knowledge on plastic pollution and discuss ways and means to reduce the impact of plastics on Arctic ecosystems.

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee and the U.S. Global Change Research Program hosts this webinar about the Alaska chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). Led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program and written by over 500 experts, NCA5 describes the observed and projected impacts of climate change on a range of sectors and ten regions of the U.S. In this webinar, speakers will provide an overview of the key findings of the Alaska chapter, and then will answer questions from participants. This webinar will be recorded. 

This year lecture will be presented by Dr. April Counceller (Alutiiq, of the Sun’aq Tribe), Director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska. The lecture will take place at 2 p.m. at the Kerby Room (CE-340) of the Natural History Museum building. For 28 years, the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska has been a leader in tribal research and museum practice. Kodiak Alutiiq/Sugpiaq tribal organizations and researchers began sponsoring community-based archaeology programs beginning in the 1980s, in response to past archaeological practices that tended to exclude Indigenous perspectives, priorities, and epistemologies. Alutiiq/Sugpiaq research methodologies have continued and expanded into cultural and linguistic studies through projects led by the Alutiiq Museum. Alutiiq scholars have made notable impacts on museum best practices, theory, and public policy while establishing priorities based on community needs. Dr. Counceller will highlight several studies and projects that helped establish the Alutiiq Museum as a leading research museum nationally.

The Fulbright Arctic Initiative (FAI) brings together a network of professionals, practitioners, and researchers from Arctic Council member countries to address key research and policy related questions through a diverse, multi-dimensional, cooperative framework including monthly webinars, thematic group collaboration, three in-person meetings, and an individual exchange experience. Application deadline: March 1, 2024

For more than 100 years AGU has been opening science—opening pathways to discovery, opening greater awareness to address climate change, opening greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. This year, as AGU convenes >25,000 attendees from 100+ countries in San Francisco for AGU23, the theme is: Wide. Open. Science.

The Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS), has been bringing together scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public for thirty years to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Over 700 people attend this 4-day long conference held annually during the month of January.

The Arctic Frontiers annual conference aims to connect different expertise and perspectives from areas such as policy, science, and business. It is an arena for networking and knowledge exchange.

Arctic360’s Annual Event brings together Northern and Indigenous governments, institutions, and corporations; global finance; state leaders; mining, innovation, and other industry leaders; and Arctic experts from Canada and around the circumpolar North to advance the conversation and foster action for building a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous Arctic region.

The 52nd International Arctic Workshop will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The International Arctic Workshop is a friendly, informal, and relaxed conference open to all students and professionals interested in the Arctic. Originally started at INSTAAR at the University of Colorado - Boulder, the Arctic Workshop alternates between INSTAAR and an international host. This year, University of Massachusetts with the department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences & Climate System Research center will be hosting. The event website will be available in August.

Abstract deadline: February 25, 2024

The 7th biennial AOS as part of Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2024. The AOS draws a wide range of participants from across the spectrum of Arctic observing – Indigenous experts, operational agency representatives, scientists, and others – from around the world. Much of the summit is organized around discussions led by working groups on particular themes (Regional to global observing, Data sharing, System implementation/SAON ROADS, Observing System Benefits). In addition to plenary and working group sessions, this year we will include additional breakout sessions. 

As the largest Arctic policy and business conference in North America, with partners and convenings worldwide, the Arctic Encounter continues to gather leading voices from around the world. The Arctic Encounter is eager to welcome 1,000+ participants to Alaska for a world-class arts and cultural experience, including policy debates, dialogue with international leaders, business executives, Indigenous peoples, scientists, students, defense leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and more.

Nordland Research Institute and NORD University host this event. The congress includes high-level plenary sessions, several parallel sessions, network activities, and social and cultural events. Researchers, policymakers, businesses, and students exchange knowledge and connect across the Arctic. IASSA and UArctic will also hold their General Assemblies.

The 12^th International Conference on Permafrost will consider “Integrating Perspectives of Permafrost Thaw, Change, and Adaptation.” Event partners include the Canadian Permafrost Association, IPA, and Yukon University.

In lead up to its 35th anniversary in 2025, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is coordinating a multi-year planning process for the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) that will engage Arctic researchers, policymakers, residents, and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems, to consider the most urgent knowledge gaps and research priorities that lie before us and to explore avenues to address these research needs. This event is hosted by a consortium of US institutions, including the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Iowa, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Pacific University. ICARP I, II, and III focused the attention of the world’s researchers toward the value of strategic international coordination in accelerating progress in addressing critical challenges. ICARP IV will build upon this concept by striving to achieve consensus and build collaborations among the leading scientific, academic, environmental, Indigenous and political organizations currently concerned with Arctic issues.