Leading a Multidisciplinary Project in Arctic Research—This is How it Works

Forming a multidisciplinary consortium

The whole adventure started three years ago when we, Thora Herrmann, a newly appointed Professor at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Oulu, and Élise Lépy, a senior researcher in the same university, decided to build a project together.

With our strong scientific interest in Arctic people and environments, we naturally paid attention to the European Commission’s Zero Pollution call which aimed at reducing contamination and protecting the Arctic’s fragile environment and communities.

We knew that tackling pollution in the Arctic would require more than just one perspective, especially as the call partly focused on the One Health Approach. As geographers, we both study space, places, and how people interact with their environment.

Our holistic approach led us to recognize the need for a multidisciplinary team. By bringing together experts from various disciplines, we could gain a more complete understanding of Arctic pollution and propose to develop impactful solutions alongside Indigenous communities and local stakeholders.

Forming a multidisciplinary consortium takes time and effort. It initially developed organically through our respective networks: some members were colleagues we had already worked with on past research projects and proposals. Other partners became involved as we were exploring other projects and found organisations with competencies that aligned well with our vision. And a few partners were recommended by people in our network.

As we reached out, the puzzle pieces started falling into place, and by the start of 2023, we had formed the ICEBERG Consortium. Our team now includes glaciologists, marine biologists, toxicologists, technology-trained researchers, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, geographers and many others. With 16 partners, including universities, research institutes, NGOs, and private companies, we are committed to developing resilience strategies to plastic waste, ship emissions, and untreated wastewater in the Arctic.

To further strengthen our coordination team, we were looking for a project assistant who had organizational skills and experience with EU projects. We recruited Ashley Gipson, a marine biologist who has worked in the field of marine conservation for over 10 years. Even though the research background of the recruited person was not a priority, it is an added benefit for the coordination team to have someone with a different expertise, i.e. in natural sciences, than the coordinators’.

“When ICEBERG was first presented to me, I was a bit skeptical and hesitant to apply. Being advertised by the Faculty of Humanities, the project was not something that first caught my attention. However, I was intrigued by the opportunity to be on the coordination team, and even more so when I learned the research being done in ICEBERG was more familiar to me than I first realized,” Ashley says.

“As the assistant, my tasks include more administrative duties, keeping schedules and sending reminders of appointments, meetings or deadlines, but I am grateful that Élise and Thora trust and allow me to ask questions about the research being done and make comments freely.”

Another concrete challenge of leading a multidisciplinary consortium concerns the publication requirements in each discipline. Therefore, we have created a publication strategy for ICEBERG. Through discussions with the consortium, we have found a balance that takes into account guidelines from various scientific disciplines and journals.

Working within a multidisciplinary team also requires flexibility and understanding that different fields have different needs and priorities. For example, scheduling project meetings and deadlines might become a challenge when researchers have extended fieldwork in remote areas with poor access for communication. That is why we attempt to plan project activities in advance to circumvent these issues.

As the coordination team, it is essential that we understand that every discipline has its own methods and perspectives. Depending on whether you are a geographer, an economist, an anthropologist, a glaciologist, an engineer, a lawyer or a political scientist, the way you work on marine pollution issues can be interpreted and studied from different angles.

Bridging these gaps requires more than just good intentions from us. It takes constant dialogue, sharing methods and examples, and plenty of interdisciplinary discussions to find a common language. It is a challenge, but also a rewarding process, one that pushes us to listen to and learn from each other and ultimately makes our research in ICEBERG richer and more impactful.

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