Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

'Polar Field Stations and IPY History: Culture, Heritage, Governance (1882-Present)'  (IPY Field Stations Programme)

Outline
The demands on field scientists to provide politicians, bureaucrats, and the public with unambiguous assertions about the changing state of the environment, have never been greater. Yet the organisation and execution of the work done by scientists in the field is often out of public view. The processes of assembling and translating field practices and observations into the kinds of general consensus published in newspapers or science magazines like Nature and New Scientist, are complex. Field stations remain a largely neglected element in the creation of scientific knowledge, and in relation to science diplomacy and geopolitical conflict. Yet they make up important parts of the infrastructure of polar research in the past two centuries. They have also served as flag carriers, and as symbols of political, diplomatic and economic ambitions of their respective nations. Cooperation in sharing field data is an ideal that has run through previous IPYs, and has been given special prominence in the IPY 2007-2008 Framework. The original idea of IPY emerged from a recognition that individual studies in the field sciences only contribute to a larger picture with a great deal of work. Field stations are one of the chief means by which a sustained presence in the field is maintained: field sites, instruments, and the movement of personnel are carefully coordinated; projects are vetted within research communities through systems of peer review; research efforts are directed with an eye to agendas decided by policymakers. The International Polar Year 2007-2008 offers an unprecedented opportunity to identify and analyse the work (planning, calibrating, publishing, sharing data) required to coordinate and integrate field observations. This also represents a singular opportunity to understand how the field sciences have generated a scientific and cultural legacy. This project intends to analyse former and present research station sites to understand how the residues of scientific practice become valid knowledge, collective memory and heritage. In formulating this project, we recognise the considerable diversity of field platforms as essential in enabling the widely differing activities of research communities, and anticipate that different parts of our programme network will focus on particular kinds and scales of research. Main investigative contexts The proposal is to organize the research under a pluralistic and bottom-up driven, moderately coordinated, umbrella programme covering the history of IPY with a special focus on its field stations. Under the umbrella programme a number of research themes and questions that lend themselves to comparative study will be addressed, by individual scholars working in international teams, often in cooperation with scientists. The programme provides an excellent platform for multi-disciplinary cooperation on a theme of all-encompassing relevance to the IPY as a scientific and political phenomenon. Through the cooperation between a set of local, national and disciplinary specialists and groups, in the form of an international network, the programme intends to make IPY itself the legitimate and significant study of IPY. Research within the IPY Field Stations Programme can be located within five main contexts: 1) History of IPYs and the Field Sciences * The rationale of research stations * Field Stations and local environments * Indigenous contexts of field stations 2) The everyday life of research stations * Ethnographies in the Field * The Management of Field Stations * The Seasonality of Fieldwork 3) Science, Policy, and Diplomacy * National Narratives and Arctic Science Policies * Circumpolar Governance and Geopolitics * The political life of research stations 4) Landscape History * Field stations and the production of polar landscapes * Field station landscapes as historical artifacts * Landscape as heritage and preservation of former IPY sites. 5) Museum Collections and Archives * Museum collections formed during and in the wake of IPYs * Collections and archives as living resources for polar communities. * Contemporary issues in collections management. Partners and practicalities The project thus gives an opportunity to tie together a number of international partners for an IPY-sanctioned umbrella theme. We are seeking to establish international partnerships with logistics providers, natural science researchers, engineers and architects, and other social scientists. We envisage this as an essential aspect in setting up access to field stations for ethnographic purposes. N.B. This is a scaled-down version of a more detailed discussion amongst the programme’s PIs.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
This project will contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the goals set out in Theme 6 of the IPY Framework. The coordinated, interdisciplinary study of field stations represents a major step forward for the legacy of IPYs. It seeks to recognise and therefore consolidate the legacy of previous IPYs. It makes the most of present-day opportunities for dialogues and collaboration between social scientists and natural scientists working in the polar regions to collaborate, an example to researchers working in other regions of the globe. It examines how the field sciences can contribute to understanding future directions of international governance. Not least the in situ research promises to contribute to public understanding of science.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The project will establish an international research network. It will be broad in scope and is expected to attract further international interests. Lead investigators (Bravo and Sörlin) and project proposers (listed below) are from Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study itself will focus on how international collaboration in the field sciences is accomplished.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
The field locations have yet to be established. However they include the following:  Baffin Island, Resolute Bay, Igloolik  Barrow, Alaska  Ny Alesund & Kinnvika, Kap Thordsen & Murchison Fjord  McMurdo, Antarctica  Other national juridictions (Russian, Australian and Asian etc.) stations to be determined.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 05/06-08/06      12/06-01/07      05/07-08/07
Antarctic: 11/06-02/07      11/07-02/08      

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Researchers studying the history and contemporary life of polar field stations share some of the same needs to do with access, as natural science researchers. Access to a selection of former and current polar field stations will be necessary to conduct the project. Support from natural science leaders and logistics providers is essential for the further development of the project.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
One of the key aims of the project is to understand how infrastructure shapes research in the field stations. Plans to maintain a website linking projects in the network will create the basis for a virtual archive of qualitative data.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

There is considerable experience among national polar logistics organizations to access the stations so far identified. Attempts will be made to secure support through these organizations, possibly in some coordination. Additional funds may be required to co-fund the logistical support depending on national practice.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
Some information about the initiative has been given to the IPY/Polar Committees of Sweden, the UK, and Canada in the past several months, as well as through IASSA. Concurrently with this proposal to IPY JC, further information will be developed to present to relevant national IPY Committees.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
YES

The research topic is a new programme. It has however been of great interest for the main applicants for some time. The IPY provides a unique opportunity for an internationally coordinated project to study field stations on a scale that simply hasn’t been possible in any region of the globe to date.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The Principal Investigators propose (subject to funding) to establish a project node at SPRI, University of Cambridge, where Bravo holds a permanent position and where Sörlin will be affiliated during the programme.A project assistant will be hired to serve as web master(postdoctoral researcher). The loose network structure allows individual projects to organise their own activities. The number of PIs will be small, but other researchers will be encouraged to affiliate themselves. An annual seminar at SPRI starting in 2006 will address common scientific topics.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Some research projects will involve collaboration and oral histories with natural scientists and local populations. Efforts will be made to make previous IPY sites and activities visible and relevant to the work towards building institutions and identities in the polar regions. Amongst the end products of the outreach efforts are envisioned teaching materials, newspaper articles, and documentary work for television.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
Annual SPRI seminars will provide an opportunity to compare methodologies. The website will provide a way to link studies in the network. Issues of data management, standardisation, and archival storage have been extensively discussed by the U.K.’s ESRC’s Qualidata project. Data management will be planned in cooperation with the IPY Data Management Committee to encourage maximum sharing and comparability of research results.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Bravo & Sörlin will apply for initial funding for the umbrella programme (web page, organizational assistance etc). Major applications to national research councils and foundations are anticipated. A European Science Foundation (Sörlin co-proposer) for a major Eurocores programme, has passed the preliminary approval stages. Individual project members will apply through national research councils and foundations, following the lead of Müller-Wille in Canada.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
The project will seek cooperation with and support from important field science organisations such as the European Polar Board, Strasbourg, the Polar Continental Shelf Project, Ottawa/Resolute Bay, the Nunavut Research Institute, the National Science Foundation, the UIC Science Center & Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, and the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr  Michael Bravo
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Lensfield Road
Cambridge
CB2 1ER
UK

Tel: 01223-336540
Mobile: no
Fax: 01223-336549
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation