AInC team meetings
From a team meeting, at Arctic Centre (Photo: Markku Heikkilä)The team responsible for compiling and producing an Arctic Initiatives Compendium (AInC), a deliverable of Work Package 1, held their first team meeting on 17 April 2013 in conjunction with the Arctic Science Summit Week in Krakow, Poland. During the April meeting, the team decided on a questionnaire which the project partners then used to identify the major Arctic initiatives of European Union member countries, as well as major initiatives that impact the European Arctic.
The team followed up with a second meeting in Brussels, Belgium on 12 June 2013. Team 1.1 met at the Swedish Permanent Representation to the European Union to discuss the questionnaire feedback, drawing on all available material and sorting it into categories. They settled on a structure for the AInC and assessed where more material is still needed. They identified that business and industry initiatives were largely left out in the cold and sent out a follow-up questionnaire.
Nicole Biebow, of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung noted that it is the first time that the AWI has been involved in a project focusing on the social sciences, and that it was an interesting experience for them. Lize-Marié van der Watt, who is based at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, remarked that, "the meetings are never dull. The team's make-up is very diverse, in terms of institutions as well as individual backgrounds, which means that we have a broad and creative scope." Anastasia Leonenko, advisor to the Tromsø Centre for Remote Technology agrees, saying that holding physical meetings within the working group is very important. "It helps to understand the tasks of the group deeper and redesign the standard ideas into something more sophisticated/demanding and creative. The process of overcoming obstacles and reflecting the different insights of each group member gives the energy flow that leads to the fact that the task is actually completed and solutions are found. "
The compendium focuses on national, bilateral or multilateral initiatives that represent major resource investments. These investments include major research, infrastructure, institutional and governance initiatives. The AInC will be delivered to the European Commission at the end of summer 2013.
Team 1.1 is led by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat's director, Björn Dahlbäck, who is assisted by Lize-Marié van der Watt. Other members include the Scott Polar Research Institute (Heather Lane and Georgina Cronin), the European Polar Board (Roberto Azzolini), Nicole Biebow from AWI and Anastasia Leonenko from Tromsø Centre for Remote Technology. The team is supported by the management team at the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi.
