With support from the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Terrestrial Working Group (TWG) we are looking to support one Indigenous and Non- Indigenous Early Career Professionals attend Greenland Science Week 7th-14th November 2025. This will include support to attend events in Sisimiut, Sarfannguit, Kangerlussuaq and Nuuk as well as a valuable opportunity to get involved with TWG related work. As part of the support we ask applicants to support a participatory workshop we are holding in Nuuk. You must be a member of an IASC member country in order to be eligible for the funding.
If you are interested please send a short description of why you would like to be involved and how this links to your current work or future plans. Please send an email to millicent.v.harding@durham.ac.uk, louisem@mun.ca and praterc@uark.edu by Friday October 10th.
Project Overview
Climate-driven environmental change and ongoing infrastructure development is impacting permafrost landscapes across the Arctic, including in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland). There is a need for sustained environmental monitoring that addresses priorities of local rights and stakeholders to inform land use management and sustainable development practices. The Arctic Circle Trail, a popular hiking route between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq, Southwest Greenland, is increasing in popularity each year, negatively impacting the vegetation along the trail. As the trail passes through a UNESCO World Heritage Site and culturally significant areas, there are concerns about the environmental and cultural impacts of increasing hiker presence across these sensitive areas.
To address these concerns and inform sustainable management and tourism practices, an environmental monitoring network is needed to monitor environmental change along the trail. Successive projects have enabled the development of relationships between IASC Terrestrial Working Group members, municipality representatives, local businesses, and Greenlandic research institutes to identify monitoring priorities. To help guide the development of a comprehensive monitoring network that can overtime become sustained, further meetings with local rights and stakeholders are necessary to co-develop appropriate and accessible monitoring priorities. This will help inform sustainable planning for both the hiking trail and future infrastructure projects in a region experiencing rapid environmental changes.
Outreach meetings held in Sisimiut during Greenland Science Week 2025 will help to address urgent knowledge gaps by bringing researchers and local residents, municipality officials, businesses, and researchers from DTU Sisimiut together to develop an observing monitoring network between Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut. The ACT trail lies along one of the most ecologically diverse transects in the Arctic, spanning permafrost zonations, vegetation zones, and salinity gradients. Despite this, it remains an understudied region. Engaging further with local rights- and stake- holders will continue to build trusting relationships and co-create priority areas and protocols for future environmental community-based monitoring and citizen science approaches. This project will help to support Early Career Researchers develop partnerships and career long collaborations with Greenlandic based research institutions, researchers and local rightsholders. It will provide vital learnings of how natural scientists can support the development of research that addresses the needs of local rights and stakeholders and doing so in a way that is appropriate and supports sovereignty, respectful and action-orientated research.
Related IASC Project:
IASC Working Group funding the Project: Co-developing an Observing Network for Monitoring Terrestrial Change Across the Arctic Circle Trail (CONTACT)
Project Leader:
Millicent Harding (Durham University, UK) (contact: millicent.v.harding@durham.ac.uk)
Year funded by IASC:
2025
Project Status
Upcoming