This session will explore the challenges and roadblocks to conducting Arctic research and data collection, touching on issues such as a lack of funding and high data collection costs, the limitations of existing Arctic infrastructure, and the importance of conducting community consultations properly, while also respecting and protecting Indigenous Knowledge. It will introduce Canada’s newest Arctic Data Centre, the Arctic Research Database developed by the Arctic Research Foundation, and examine best practices for accessing and using the data, database management, and operating in the rapidly-evolving modern-day data ecosystem. Finally, we will discuss the issue of how Canadian policy needs to shift in dealing with the new realities of the Canadian Arctic and Arctic data ecosystem, and what funders, researchers and other stakeholders can do to support these efforts.

Donald McLennan, Carson Leung, Eddy Carmak, Ralph Dueck, Tom Henheffer