In November
2005 the second International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II)
took place in Copenhagen.
It brought together over 450 scientists, policy makers, research managers,
Indigenous Peoples and others interested in and concerned about the future of
Arctic Research, The conference was the culmination of a 24-month planning
process involving over 140 scientists working to develop research plans around
thirteen critical research themes identified to guide international cooperation
over the next 10-15 years (see: www.icarp.dk).
What was new was that young scientists were deeply involved from beginning on in
developing the research plans. It became clear during the work of the Conference
that the Arctic is a system that can no longer
be divided into traditional disciplines. The linkages to other disciplines and
other knowledge systems and to the global system are critical and must be
addressed in the post-conference process.

To build on
the ICARP II effort, chairs and young scientists from the working groups,
representatives of the sponsoring agencies and members of the steering group
met in Potsdam, Germany, in November 2006 to use
the rationale laid out in the working group reports to focus future science
activity in the post International Polar Year environment. The original marine
working groups were, unavoidably, somewhat arbitrarily divided into shelf,
margin/gateways and deep basin regions. Through their membership, each group
reflected longstanding differences in scientific disciplines and focus on each
of these segments of the Arctic Ocean. These
cultural differences are evident in the WG reports as redundancies in and gaps
between the WG reports. During the follow-up meeting the three marine working
groups were integrated to develop joint, cross-disciplinary ICARP II studies.

To integrate
the science activities coming out of the three existing ICARP II marine working
groups and to animate their recommendations AOSB has established an ICARP II Marine
Roundtable (http://www.aosb.org/programs.html).
The ICARP II
Marine Roundtable is initially chaired by Bernie Coakley with assistance
from young scientists (Karen Frey and Carolyn Wegner)  After the first meeting, it is the intention
of the Roundtable to turn over this initiative to the early career
scientists.  This is a first step to
really integrate young scientists into long-term research planning and a great
opportunity to actively promote
the international interdisciplinary dialog necessary to make the marine science
plans a reality. The first meeting will take place in St. Petersburg on 7 July 2008, just preceding
the SCAR/IASC Open Science Conference.

To further involve young scientists in Arctic research
planning AOSB created
funding to support early career scientists in international arctic marine
planning meetings. This new initiative entitled NRG (New Research Generation)
aims to promote the inclusion of early career Arctic scientists and engineers
in the Arctic marine science planning process. This is a great chance to get
involved and everybody interested in international science planning should
benefit from it!

For more
information contact Carolyn (cwegner@ifm-geomar.de)
or Hugues (Hugues.Lantuit@awi.de).