The NNA-CO is excited to announce that we will be hosting an NNA International Side Meeting during ASSW 2026. This meeting will focus on highlighting international research partnerships in the context of mobilising data and knowledge for societal benefit. NNA projects will showcase their work, and discuss how they are approaching international collaboration in the Arctic, working across knowledge systems and disciplines, building partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, and/or advancing ethical and equitable data management practices. Other international initiatives working on these topics are invited to participate and share to promote learning across programs. 

Are you attending AGU25 in New Orleans next week? We're excited to share these NNA-CO-led poster presentations and sessions focused on convergence research, Arctic education, and lessons learned from the NNA initiative.

• ED11C - Arctic Education and Outreach: Effective Ways of Engaging Diverse Learners in Arctic Science Poster
  • December 15, 2025 | 8:30 am - 12:00 pm CT | Hall EFG (NOLA CC)
• NNA Research Experience: A Hybrid Research Experience Program for Connecting Alaska Undergraduates with Community-Informed Research Poster
  • December 15, 2025 | 8:30 am - 12:00 pm CT | Hall EFG (NOLA CC)
• ED13A - Arctic Education and Outreach: Effective Ways of Engaging Diverse Learners in Arctic Science II Oral Session
  • December 15, 2025 | 2:15 - 3:45 pm CT | Room 346 - 347 (NOLA CC)
• C33A - Convergence Research in the Arctic: Drawing from Diverse Disciplines and Knowledge Systems to Address Complex Social Challenges I Oral Session
  • December 17, 2025 | 2:15 - 3:45 pm CT | Room 214 (NOLA CC)
• Convergence Research in the Arctic: Drawing from Diverse Disciplines and Knowledge Systems to Address Complex Social Challenges II Poster
  • December 18, 2025 | 8:30 am - 12:00 pm CT | Hall EFG (NOLA CC)
• Rethinking Arctic research as collective action to navigate a changing climate Poster
  • December 18, 2025 | 8:30 am - 12:00 pm CT | Hall EFG (NOLA CC)

We hope you can join us! 

The Arctic region, alongside transforming demographic, economic, and security conditions, is confronting accelerated climate and ecological changes. Arctic research has increasingly adopted convergence approaches that bring together academically-trained knowledge systems, Indigenous knowledges, and practitioner expertise to more holistically understand the interconnectedness of nature, social systems, and the human-built environment. Convergence research demands reciprocal and trust-building collaborations while advancing adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. At the same time, Arctic Indigenous Peoples have raised concerns about inequitable research practices within projects that seek their involvement. These critiques have prompted reflection and shifts in practice regarding how research is conceived, conducted, and communicated. Across the Arctic, numerous projects and institutions are at various stages of implementing more just research practice while improving actionable research. This session invites abstracts that share lessons from convergence research in the Arctic and highlight how building diverse research collaborations strengthens the application of scientific results toward addressing societal challenges.

The changing polar environments have created important scientific and societal concerns in high and lower latitudes. In this session, we will share effective approaches, frameworks and examples of how to promote a broad understanding and awareness of the changing Arctic and the related societal implications. The session will highlight effective strategies to inspire learners in both formal and informal learning contexts as well as communities. We also invite papers on effective ways of community engagement, co-design of educational and outreach activities, and fostering intergenerational or cross-cultural learning through Arctic Indigenous knowledge, science, and observation.

The best practices for science education and outreach in the Arctic has shifted dramatically over the past 30 years as “parachute scientists” presentations in classrooms have gradually been replaced by youth-centered approaches. This mini-course introduces you to principles of evidence-based, community-centered design of science outreach and education programming in the Arctic. Through concrete examples, the mini-course will demonstrate how instructional design theory and co-production of knowledge frameworks can guide and enhance outreach project development. Examples include projects from the NSF Navigating the New Arctic initiative and NASA Science Activation Arctic and Earth SIGNs project. You will leave with an outreach program planning guide incorporating the key considerations and evidence based design for their research in Arctic classrooms or communities.