The 11th Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies has organized a Student Conference, "Due North: Next Generation Arctic Research & Leadership" to be held in Calgary, November 5-8, 2015.
The Organizing Committee is pleased to announce that the Call for Abstracts is now open.
Abstracts will be accepted until May 31, 2015.
The Session Topics for the conference are:
C1: Arctic Communities: Resilience, Management, Culture, Indigenous Knowledge.
This session welcomes presentations that deal with the various aspects of understanding, implementing and addressing concerns related to resilience, Indigenous Knowledge across the pan Arctic. The Arctic is a diverse and unique environment that requires an in-depth understanding and respect of the environment, communities and cultures at play.
C2: Arctic Sustainable Development: Sovereignty, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Tourism, Land Management, Protected areas,
This session is for presentations that explore different facets of the complex notion of sustainable development in the north. This includes economic dimensions such as infrastructure, social dimensions such as healthcare, environmental dimensions including protected areas, and management approaches such as land management, sovereignty and arctic governance, and how to involve people through collaboration and citizen engagement.itizen Engagement.
C3: Arctic Wildlife, Ecosystem and Biodiversity: Flora & Fauna, Vegetation, Habitats, Food system, Migration patterns, Wildlife health and monitoring, Forest fire, Species Endangerment, Impacts, Conservation, Management.
Arctic ecosystems provide unique habitats for a diverse community of flora and fauna. Vegetation changes throughout the circumpolar north, from southern boreal forest to northern tundra landscapes. Arctic ecosystems are subject to change due to natural disturbances, such as fire and insects, and anthropogenic, such as mining and climate change. These disturbances can have cascading effects on migration patterns and health of local wildlife. Ecosystems are complex, however through collaborative studies we will be better prepared to implement management and conservation practices.
C4: Arctic Food Security: Food sovereignty, Subsistence, Productivity, Transportation, Food safety.
Food insecurity is a growing concern among Arctic communities. Complex changes in the circumpolar regions pose new challenges to food security and to traditional food systems. The objective of this session is to explore and integrate the diverse dimensions of food security in the Arctic, with an emphasis on the key drivers of food insecurity. This session is intended to promote the dialogue among researchers, exploring the broad dimensions of food security and discussing strategies to ensure food security in northern communities.
C5: Arctic Landscapes: Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Glaciology.
Interest in Arctic landscapes has grown over the past few decades following growing concern over amplified climate change in the circumpolar North. Scientists are studying the ways in which unique Arctic attributes are being affected by continually warming temperatures. This session seeks to bring together researchers who are investigating linkages, feedbacks, processes, and overall system health of the Arctic landscapes. Presentations related to geology, geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, climatology, biogeochemistry, limology, and microbiology are welcome. This session aims to highlight the role Arctic Landscapes play in the broader Earth system.
C6: Climate Change and adaptation: Arctic Warming, Extreme events, Climate Variability, Biogeochemical Cycles, Changing Landscapes, Building Resilience.
Recently there has been strong evidence of the ongoing impacts of climate change with implications for biological resources and globally important feedbacks to climate. The rapidly expanding body of climate change research integrates a range of scientific disciplines. This session is intended to address biogeochemical variables involved in climate variability, to identify current and future exposure sensitivities to climate change, barriers and enablers of adaptive capacity, and knowledge gaps in published literature.
C7: Disaster Risk Management: Oil Spills, Toxic contaminants, Coastal Floods, Mitigation, Capacity Building.
This theme involves the occurrence and repercussions of disasters, including oil spills, coastal flooding, contamination from toxins, and any other natural or anthropogenic hazards that affect northern environments. While these types of risks have an impact on the environment, the habitat of northern species and northern communities, different types of mitigation strategies exist to deal with these realities. This theme also explores plans of action to mitigate risks and the various ways to strengthen the relationship between the community to achieve sustainable development and mitigation strategies for disaster relief through community capacity building.
C8: Policy, Politics and Leadership: Commerce, Geopolitics, Climate Laws, International Organizations.
The Arctic is a unique and strategic region with increasing political and economic importance. Heightened interest in the development of previously untapped Arctic resources as well the possibility of new and more predictable trans-arctic shipping routes has spurred international interest in this region. Therefore, effective leadership and international policies governing Arctic territories is essential to promote stability and development in the region.
C9: Arctic Environment (Data and Techniques): Remote Sensing, Modeling, Surveying, Data sources, Ice core drilling.
Arctic Climate and Environment is constantly fluctuating with receding glaciers, melting of permafrost and disappearance of Arctic sea ice. Advancement in Arctic System Science studies has brought along new data sources and emerging technology to solve a large number of research problems currently existing in the Arctic. This session is designed for new budding researchers, who are actively involved in the science of remote sensing, climate modeling, field surveying and Arctic ice core drilling on a wide variety of polar applications.
C10: Arctic Resources: Renewable energy, Fossil fuels, Fishing, Oil and Gas, Exploitation, Consultation.
Natural resource extraction and development activities are rapidly expanding, and are now prevalent features throughout northern regions. Extractive activities are diverse, and often have profound impacts on northern peoples, environmental sustainability and stewardship, and northern economies. This session aims to encompass broad topics such as mineral and hydrocarbon extraction activities, subsistence and commercial fisheries harvest exploitation, and community consultation associated with any such activities. Accordingly, we encourage contributions that broadly focus on important natural resources issues, including those related to the sustainable development, extraction, assessment, and management of natural resources in the Arctic.
C11: Future of Arctic: Opportunities & Vulnerabilities, Mitigation, Culture, Climate, Wildlife, Indigenous Communities, Economy, Sustainability.
Rapid Arctic environmental change is complex, unprecedented, and has impacts at local and global scales. From ongoing strategic planning and forecasting to prepare for change, to the creation of new economies and opportunities as newcomers visit the Arctic and as communities generate novel solutions to mitigate change, adaptation will involve all facets of the Arctic system. This session will focus on highlighting emerging challenges and linkages to natural, social and physical systems, showcasing case studies in adaptation and mitigation, presentation of forecasted scenarios and/or solutions, and discussions focusing on all aspects of a future Arctic in a global context, from ecosystem resilience to preserving cultural heritage, and from the design of new technologies for sustainability, to strengthening international cooperation and policy.
To submit an abstract, please click here
To Register for the conference, please here