Polar Plasticity: Impact of COVID-19 on the US Polar Research Community

Stephanie Pfirman () and Monica Gaughan
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Stephanie Pfirman: School of Ocean Futures, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
Monica Gaughan: School of Public Affairs, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-28

Abstract: Polar research was especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because of its reliance on travel for remote fieldwork, large-scale scientific infrastructure, ecologically stressed environments, and elevated health risks to remote communities. In this study, we seek to understand how the polar science community responded to these challenges. Our data employ formal documentary evidence from the U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (OPP) and semi-structured interviews with 21 academic polar scientists based in the United States. Combining on-the-ground experiences with real-time responses from a leading federal funding agency reveals impacts and highlights opportunities to support polar research and researchers in the coming years. Polar researchers and OPP were often able to respond to challenges plastically: increasing support for community engagement and onsite staffing, switching methods, pivoting to archival work, or building new theoretical or experimental capacity. That said, pandemic disruptions brought known problems in the field to the fore, such as the investments in time and other resources needed for knowledge co-production and fieldwork. Individual and policy-level strategies to address those problems point the way toward sustainable polar science, including recognition of the multiple methodologies and people needed for successful work; incorporation of technologies that enhance scientific capacity while expanding access and inclusion; and attention to career development, especially for early-career and community collaborators.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; polar science; co-production; interdisciplinarity; science policy; scientific careers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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