reIMAGINE Arctic Research: Relations, Ethics, and Methods

Climatic and environmental changes in the Arctic have global consequences – sea levels, ocean circulation, weather patterns, and ecosystems around the world depend on healthy environments in the circumpolar North. The region’s rapid warming as well as economic and political interests drive a wealth of research activities across the sciences.

For the four million people that call the Arctic their home, research has not always been beneficial. Indigenous peoples – the original Arctic scientists – and their knowledges in particular have been disregarded and exploited as a result of scientific exploration. However, there is growing recognition that the complex challenges facing humans and non-humans in the Arctic and beyond are best addressed by bridging knowledge systems and bringing together Indigenous expertise and Western sciences.

"reIMAGINE Arctic Research" develops and researches spaces of engagement, methodological frameworks, and evaluation processes that facilitate more ethical and equitable research relations across knowledge systems, focusing on the circumpolar North. Applying co-creative and community-based approaches in cooperation with Indigenous partners, the group seeks to produce research that is relevant, useful, and rooted in the experiences of the communities it involves.

Of particular interest are diverse conceptual understandings of knowledge co-creation and transdisciplinarity and their translations into practice. The research group aims to contribute to decolonial approaches that foster co-existence and reciprocity of diverse knowledges. The research group utilizes multimodality in its fieldwork, analysis, and dissemination activities, applying a variety of media, research modes, infrastructures, tools and sites throughout its projects.