Uninhibited Synergies: Sciences-Humanities-Engineering Nexus in Arctic Research
The Juneau Workshop, organized in collaboration with University of Alaska Southeast Department of Social Science, aims to explore the contributions and potentials of Arctic social sciences in the emerging synergies that involve humanities, natural sciences, and engineering. The connections we attempt to foster reach mainly into two directions within the recent history of Arctic research. One direction builds on the legacy of the IPY 2007-2008, which helped highlight numerous transformative contributions made by social scientists. The second direction considers (1) transdisciplinary methodological and analytical frameworks that connect social sciences and humanities and (2) the collaborative undertakings that broadly engage social sciences and humanities while also involving the instrumentation of engineering and natural science. The workshop attempts to extend the legacy of social and biological science collaborations (cultivated over multiple endeavors and especially during the IPY 2007-2008) to inform engineering and infrastructure in the circumpolar regions; it explores the aesthetic perspectives employed in the development and use of built environments; it asks how the humanities and social science synergies fostered elsewhere can benefit and be enhanced through current and future research in Arctic social sciences.