Multi-decadal, international efforts such as the Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) program rely on the transfer of institutional knowledge and the entrainment of early career researchers (ECRs) to maintain continuity and longevity. In support of the upcoming SAS field campaign, the SAS ECRs hosted a 1.5-day workshop at Arctic Science Summit Week 2026 focused on the involvement and training of ECRs in the long-term Arctic Ocean monitoring effort by the SAS. The workshop was attended by 30 participants in person and 6 online. The workshop was structured into three main sessions, where the first two were open for all and the third was exclusive for ECRs. The ECR-only session included 15 participants from 9 countries, of which 7 were funded to attend through IASC. Session I gave the participants insights to the SAS program, with talks from the current chair Dr. Shigeto Nishino and co-chair Dr. Mariko Hatta from Japan, and chief scientists from the U.S. SAS cruise in 2022, Drs. Carin Ashjian and Jacqueline Grebmeier. The session covered lessons learned from SAS I as well as an overall summary of the planned timeline and work by the SAS International Steering Committee for SAS II, expected to take place around 2030. The following Q&A facilitated a discussion on the bottom-up approach unique to SAS, suggestions on how to connect the greater scientific community with our goals, and how to envision our research plan in the context of other Arctic cruise programs.
Session II was focused on ECR leadership and training with four talks given by established scientists Drs. Laurie Juranek, Laura Whitmore, Monika Kedra, and Hanna Farnelid. The presentations featured experience from organizing ship-based research schools, chief-scientist training, and ECR-led research cruises. The following Q&A facilitated a discussion on the role of ECRs, challenges to ECRs, and how we could tailor our training based on the needs of the community. Together, we identified a need to support mature ECRs as well as mid-career researchers through an approach that retains talent within the scientific workforce, expands networking opportunities beyond dialogue at meetings, and develops skills with hands-on training that moves beyond introductory material. Therefore, we identified a shared focus towards later-staged ECRs in preparation for leadership positions rather than add to existing opportunities available for first-time seagoing experience.
The remaining workshop was dedicated to Session III which was open to ECRs only. Lightning talks were given by several ECRs providing each researcher’s perspectives on key points for coordinating an interdisciplinary ECR-led research and training cruise as a pilot program to SAS II. The researchers gave ample examples of interdisciplinary research priorities, and ideas for organization and training. Following the lightning talks, participants categorized their research interests in terms of relevant temporal and spatial scales as a framework to identify overlapping research themes and form breakout groups for more detailed discussions. We constructed “small-, medium-, and large-scale” subgroups who then held brainstorming sessions on priority research gaps and questions. We had fruitful discussions about research themes, our training goals and wish lists, and the specific aim of this effort.
In terms of the scientific goal, emerging themes involved interdisciplinarity, bridging models and observations, and opportunities to test new approaches/methods/instrumentation ahead of SAS II. Some examples were to i) better link the physicochemical environment with biology (e.g., link sea surface temperature with the expression of microbes and their functional potential in regulating biogeochemical cycles), ii) study air-sea/ice fluxes of bioaerosols, iii) link water mass tracer techniques with fluxes and biology, and iv) approach carbon pump studies simultaneously from physical, biological and chemical perspectives.
We further developed our vision of the desired audience for training stemming from the themes discussed during Session II. As mentioned, we determined that our target group will be “mid-to-late level” ECRs (i.e., postdoc and assistant professors) rather than the earliest ECRs (masters and PhD students). This way, we seek to safeguard knowledge transfer from the more senior generation to upcoming personnel for organizing scientific cruise work in the Arctic. By organizing a scientific cruise as ECRs, we will get trained in components such as leadership, cruise planning, technical skills, communication, data management, and synthesis. This on-hands approach will provide competent personnel for SAS II and future Arctic marine science programs.
The workshop included specific writing sessions where we gathered content for a white paper with the following sections: Vision & rationale, Scientific questions, Leadership training goals, Links to SAS I and II, Indigenous involvement and co-production, Funding needs and potentials, Data management, Outreach, Expected outcomes/impact and implementation. We aim to finalize the white paper and share it publicly by the end of summer 2026.
The workshop concluded with a discussion on the plan forward, how to share the work, finalize the white paper, and organize future meetings. In conclusion, the workshop generated many research ideas, narrowed the focus of the project (what, for who, how, how to balance science versus training), and formed the basis of the white paper to be distributed to funding agencies and used for proposal development as well as input to the main SAS II scientific program.
Highlights
- We identified a need to train mid-to-late early and mid-career researchers to develop specialized personnel, transfer knowledge, and retain talent within the scientific workforce.
- The Synoptic Arctic Survey is a multi-national collaboration to collect pan-arctic observations on a decadal timeframe with the next field campaign due in 2030-2032.
- The Synoptic Arctic Survey Early Career Researchers are planning a pilot research cruise in support of the upcoming field campaign to elevate the program’s research abilities and train the next generation of Arctic scientists
Date and Location:
25 – 26 March 2026, ASSW in Aarhus, Denmark
IASC Working Groups funding the Project:
- Atmosphere WG
- Cryosphere WG
- Marine WG
Project Lead
Clare Gaffey (Oregon State University, USA)
Year funded by IASC
2025