NNA Community Newsletter

September 2022 Issue

• NNA Annual Community Meeting - Registration Open and Room Block Available
• NNA Learn and Connect Series
• New NNA Awards Announced
• NNA Photo Contest Winners
• Call for Manuscript Abstracts - Arctic Science Special Collection
• Training Opportunity - Fundamentals in Data Management for Qualitative and Quantitative Arctic Research
• NNA Project Highlight: Navigating Impacts of the Arctic Tourism Industry on Nature, Commerce, and Culture in Northern Communities
• Upcoming Events

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

Please consider donating to the Western Alaska Disaster Recovery Fund to support communities impacted by Typhoon Merbok.

NNA Annual Community Meeting - Registration Open and Room Block Available

The NNA-CO team is excited to share that the NNA Annual Community Meeting 2022 website is available and registration is open! We have worked hard to make this website a one-stop shop for any information you might need related to this year's meeting, including the meeting's draft agenda, venue and lodging information, registration, guides for how to participate and support community partner attendance, our COVID policy, and more! We will continue to update the agenda and other meeting information in the coming weeks. 

We encourage you to explore the website and register for the meeting if you plan to attend, either in-person or virtually. Registration closes Friday, October 14, 2022.

The meeting hotel room block at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel is now available, as well. Please click here to book a room at the Hilton for our special meeting rate of $179/night plus tax. You may also call to reserve your room at the Hilton (+1-888-225-9664) by providing Group Code "NAC". This special rate is offered for up to three days before and after the meeting (check-in as early as Saturday, Nov 12 & check-out as late as Sunday, Nov 20) for those who are planning extra time in the Anchorage area. Please book your room(s) by October 21, 2022.

NNA Learn and Connect Series

Looking for proven ideas to communicate your Arctic research to communities and other public audiences? Join our next NNA-CO Broader Impacts Meeting on November 2 at 10am AKT / 12pm MT to hear from four Alaska communications experts as they describe real-life experience engaging Alaskan audiences using print newsletters, local media, podcasts and ArcGIS StoryMaps. Our speakers include:

• Heather McFarland - Science Communications Manger at the UAF International Arctic Research Center. 
• Rod Boyce - Public Information Officer at the UAF Geophysical Institute. 
• Karli Tyance Hassell - Indigenous Engagement Coordinator at the NNA-CO. 
• Mike DeLue - Science Communicator at the International Arctic Research Center. 

Learn more and register here.

New NNA Awards Announced

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded a new round of grants under the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program. The awards support research projects to study the Arctic's changing natural, built and social environments. The work will lead to an improved understanding of the local and global effects of Arctic change, informing U.S. national security and economic development needs.

Read more here.

NNA Photo Contest Winners

The NNA-CO is thrilled to announce our NNA photo contest winners! After viewing all 66 submissions, the panel of judges chose three winners, as well as seven honorable mentions. You can view the winning photographs here.

We would like to thank everyone who submitted a photo for the contest and shared their amazing work with us. The collection of photos, which will be utilized for NNA-CO materials, truly showcase the beauty of the Arctic and its peoples, as well as all the amazing work that goes into NNA research.

Call for Manuscript Abstracts - Arctic Science Special Collection

Special collection in Arctic Science Journal seeks Indigenous and decolonizing approaches in the environmental sciences from across the circumpolar north.

The unique perspectives, priorities, leadership, and rights of Arctic Indigenous Peoples necessitate transformation in conventional approaches in environmental science. The editors invite manuscript proposals that discuss research methodologies in studies conducted by and with Arctic Indigenous Peoples to be published in the open-access journal, Arctic Science. This special collection aims to highlight research methodologies in the environmental sciences that support Indigenous self-determination in environmental research and/or governance.

Submission deadline: February 28, 2023

Learn more here.

Training Opportunities with the Arctic Data Center 

Navigating Impacts of the Arctic Tourism Industry on Nature, Commerce, and Culture in Northern Communities

When the Navigating Impacts of the Arctic Tourism Industry on Nature, Commerce, and Culture in Northern Communities project began, cruise-ship tourism was a rapidly growing industry with significant development in Arctic regions. This situation changed suddenly with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Subsequently, during 2021 and 2022, the industry has been slowly rebounding with numbers reaching about two-thirds of their former levels in the most recent summer season. Industry projections suggest the cruise ships will be back in full strength in 2023. Cruise-ship tourism has a huge impact on the coastal communities affected. It provides jobs and tax revenue but can have negative impacts on the environment and the way of life of the communities involved. The project is focusing on several different locations, including Juneau and Nome in Alaska, Akureyri in Iceland, Visby in Sweden, and Bergen and Flåm in Norway. 

The project team works with local residents to identify a set of indicators to measure the most important community-defined impacts that cruise-ship tourism has on coastal communities. The ACT team has organized stakeholder focus group discussions in Alaska and Norway and conducted field research in Norway in 2022, with more work planned in those countries as well as in Iceland and Sweden in the coming year. In addition to the indicators, several papers are being written for journal publication analyzing how well destination management organizations reflect local priorities, how communities define the acceptable limits of change, and how closely tourist preferences align with those of people who live in the destination communities. 

Project PIs are: Robert Orttung (George Washington University), Astrid Ogilvie (University of Colorado) and Jim Powell (University of Alaska Southeast). 

If you have any questions about this project or are interested in learning more, please contact PI Robert Orttung at rorttung@gwu.edu. 

Photo: A cruise ship dwarfs the tiny hamlet of Flåm, Norway (pop. 350).

NNA Annual Community Meeting (meeting website)

• 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)