UK Polar Network                                                                      RAT0007

Written Evidence submitted by the UK Polar Network

The UK and the Antarctic Environment

The UK Polar Network was established in April 2007 as part of the 2007 – 2009 International Polar Year (IPY). We are the UK branch of the Association of Early Career Scientists (APECS) and currently have over 600 members, from aspiring undergraduates to Masters and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and polar scientists outside academia. As a voluntary group (registered CIC 16112719) the UK Polar Network provides training in applied polar research skills as well as networking opportunities to early-career polar researchers. The UKPN runs education and outreach activities throughout the UK to enthuse and inspire young people about the polar regions. The UK Polar Network provides a platform for  UK early career researcher (ECR), issues and is often consulted to represent ECR perspectives in various UK polar forums, including the Diversity in Polar Science Initiative steering committee (DiPSI), UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnership (UKAAP), UK National Committee for Antarctic Research (UKNCAR), and the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) stakeholder meetings.

The aims of the UKPN are threefold:

●        advance the study, research and application of polar research by providing opportunities for networking between and support for early-career polar researchers

●        advance the education of young people and the general public on the subject of polar science

●        advance the equality and diversity of polar science by fostering accessible and inclusive spaces.

Summary

UKPN is a network of ECRs who provide opportunities for training and networking, have extensive public outreach projects and advance equality and diversity in polar science. ECRs are at the forefront of Antarctic research in the UK, applying novel techniques to deliver scientific priorities. As future leaders it is important to invest in ECR contribution, growth and longevity, which aligns with the next International Polar Year principles. We recommend elevating ECR voices in key fora, funding training, funding access to key Antarctic research infrastructure and supporting ECR international collaboration programmes.

UK Science in Antarctica

5. How well placed is the UK to deliver the scientific priorities identified by national and international research communities?

The UK’s early career researchers (ECRs) are already making important contributions to Antarctic science.The 2024 UK Antarctic Science conference highlighted the quality and breadth of research being conducted by ECRs. As the future scientific and geopolitical leaders of the UK, ECRs must be supported as they continue to develop their careers. To meet the needs of a changing Antarctic, polar science must adapt to new models of working which are more inclusive and transdisciplinary. As a group, ECRs are often most willing to use innovative and novel methods, take part in large multinational collaborations, and deliver far reaching science communication to support Antarctic science.

At a time of both climatic and geopolitical instability in the Antarctic, the polar research workforce in the UK must continue to become expert in producing robust science contributing to evidence about the changing Antarctic environment for policy makers such as the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and addressing global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and sea level rise. Whilst many UK ECRs receive funding via national funding bodies(e.g. NERC, reflecting national research community priorities), fellowships from CCAMLR and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) allow ECRs to address key challenges identified at the international research community level.

In the UK, national fora for linking the scientific priorities of stakeholders, researchers, and the national and international research communities exist. These include the UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnership (UKAAP), UK National Committee for Antarctic Research (UKNCAR), and the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) stakeholder meetings, each of whom deliberately include and elevate ECR voices via UKPN representatives on these fora.

As Antarctic Science becomes increasingly automated, and strives to use novel techniques including Artificial Intelligence, sophisticated modeling and remote sensing, there is an increasing need for technical and computational skills. It is often ECRs relied on to bring these skills and apply such techniques to Antarctic Science projects, and increasingly ECRs from other disciplines such as computer science are hired to contribute to Antarctic Science. This highlights a need for training and transdisciplinary skill-sharing, something which UKPN pursues as part of our core aims.

As per Article III 1(c) of the Antarctic Treaty, open science and open data can have strong benefits for innovation, resource-efficiency and equitability in Antarctic Science. The culture of prioritizing open science by ECRs isl be important for proliferation of the approach amongst the wider community: ECRs provide a high proportion of the user base of the Polar Data Centre, ECRs drive open science initiatives and UKPN provides open science training.

6. How well does the UK support research in and about the Antarctic, and what can the UK do to position itself at the forefront of Antarctic science? What role does international collaboration play in understanding the global implications of climate change in Antarctica? How can the UK ensure that opportunities for international collaboration are maximised, and are there key partners with whom the UK should seek to work?

Supporting ECRs to develop their leadership skills and giving them agency to promote new ways of conducting Antarctic science and research is critical to improving and increasing the UK’s contribution to Antarctic science. Investing in support for ECRs means investing in the future leaders of Antarctic science.

Training

More diverse funding opportunities to support training available to all students of polar science is required to train the next generation of polar scientists, and ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of Antarctic science. Currently, the UK Polar Network (UKPN) forms the basis of centralised ECR support for UK polar sciences. The UKPN is volunteer led and often lacks the funds and resources needed to deliver the quantity and quality of support to ECRs that is warranted. This support takes the form of in-person and online training courses: including but not limited to science communication, fieldwork skills, proposal writing and technical data skills. Importantly, the UKPN seeks to embed outreach and equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles into the work of ECR’s from inception to execution. While there is often vocal support for this work from more senior researchers, ECRs are not always well equipped with the skills to do this, nor are they compensated for the time and energy they put into developing these areas of their work. The UK Polar Network provides a crucial training effort for non-NERC funded students that would otherwise be unable to access training that supports safe and ethical Antarctic science which is especially key in such remote environments. In recent years, this has included SKILLSET, an at sea training cruise aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough (SDA) funded through the NERC Arctic Office’s Iceland Arctic Science Partnership Scheme, and a remote fieldwork training course, which was primarily funded by non-government funding. Many of the more formal training pathways for Antarctic ECRs (i.e. those funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC) are available only to PhD students who are themselves funded by NERC. Whilst such courses are typically described as “prioritising NERC students”, with the implication that non-NERC students may attend key skills development courses, in practice high demand means that non-NERC students are functionally locked out of this kind of training. Both of the UKPN’s recent training courses, and their funding models allowed us to facilitate opportunities for researchers from different funding (e.g. non-NERC funded PhD and students, postdoctoral researchers) to take part in key skills training bespoke for ECR’s in polar science.

Funding

The UK more generally financially supports ECRs through NERC’s (and other UKRI research councils) funding of Antarctic Science generally, and of ECR training and DTPs. A key priority identified by research communities is long term observations to understand the annual and decadal changes taking place in Antarctica at useful resolutions. Funding this research requires committing multiple rounds of funding to projects, rather than one off calls that allow the establishment of activities that are then unable to continue.

POLARIN (2024-2029) is a new mode of accessing the Antarctic, alongside the Arctic, which offers ECRs (who are a priority user group) fully funded access to Antarctic stations and specific science cruises. This is the first time such access has been offered in the Antarctic and comes with the requirement of being a multinational team in order to be competitive in making an application. ECR’s can lead POLARIN applications, and so supporting ECR’s to make those international connections to then lead science teams would be an excellent opportunity to rapidly upskill ECR’s in relevant science career skills for Antarctic work. This does mean there will need to be consistent financial support in order to facilitate the time to make these connections with other researchers.

Research support structures

For UK Arctic research, the UK Arctic Office serves as a central organising point at all stages with strong linkages across career stages and committees. It has strong communication about opportunities and funding avenues for ECR’s and more senior researchers alike, and drives international collaboration through funding partnerships with other Arctic nations, but it does not exist in itself as a research institute. Looking at an Antarctic equivalent, the closest would be British Antarctic Survey (BAS). However, BAS is also its own research institute with a number of competing priorities. Having a full time office dedicated to supporting individuals of all career stages navigate the Antarctic research landscape would be highly valuable and could bring together the national and international Antarctic research community in the same way it has done so for the UK Arctic research community, promoting innovative science. This would strengthen UK Antarctic ECR identity to bring up our profiles to the same level as UK ECR Arctic profiles.

Following on from the high levels of UK engagement with the CCAMLR and SCAR fellowships, which UK ECR’s have been very successful in obtaining, having dedicated UK funds to facilitate UK ECR’s leading PhD and postdoctoral fieldwork in Antarctica would address many pillars of the upcoming International Polar Year. This is something that already takes place in New Zealand where Antarctic New Zealand (equivalent to the British Antarctic Survey), makes available funding for PhD researchers (up to $40,000 NZD plus logistics support) for PhD researchers (and also logistics to support one Antarctic field season fieldwork for one field season in Antarctica). Similarly the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Office for Polar Programs funds up to $800,00 USD in full time two year postdoctoral research fellowships for Arctic and Antarctic research. The inherent value of this is immense and could see a whole cohort of PhD students from a range of backgrounds leave their PhD studies sufficiently experienced to lead Antarctic field seasons. Similarly the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Office for Polar Programs funds up to $800,00 USD in full time two year postdoctoral research fellowships for Arctic and Antarctic research.

For all three actions, a key feature is ensuring the availability of support to all UK based ECRs, not limited to those funded directly by NERC.

Through the UKPN, the UK’s ECRs are actively pursuing international collaboration to assist scientific cooperation and ECR leadership development by partnering with other national committees of APECS. Furthermore, there are strong Antarctic ECR international networks beyond UKPN, including those within SCAR and CCAMLR. The following reflects on recent international collaborations opportunities run by UKPN, and identifies potential partners with whom the UK should seek to work:

●        The UKPN and APECS France have partnered to launch a pen pal project allowing UK school students to write to French polar scientists. Beyond strengthening ties between UK and French ECR communities, this encourages a multidisciplinary education by bringing polar science into language classrooms in the UK.

●        UKPN has an active presence at Antarctic international fora. For example, at SCAR 2024 UKPN and APECS Uruguay convened a workshop, an ‘ECR Speed-Science Session’ which was well attended.

●        SKILLSET was the first training cruise aboard the RRS SDA, and was a collaboration between UKPN and APECS Iceland, funded by the NERC Arctic Office as part of the United Kingdom – Iceland Arctic Science Partnership Scheme. Not only did the participants receive high quality fieldwork training using the SDA’s science facilities and collaborate on group projects, but during the cruise future opportunities for scientific collaborations were identified by linking up participants with key collaborators, infrastructure and funding. Similar targeted funding opportunities for the Antarctic could support collaboration with key partners.

●        The UKPN’s schools outreach programmes utilise a global network of academics as part of our Antarctic Flags initiative, supported by funding from the British Antarctic Territory. Over 1000 Antarctica-themed flags designed by school children from 286 schools are taken to Antarctica by scientists from various Antarctic programmes, including but not limited to the UK, Norway, France and the US and photographs to be taken in the field with scientists who took them. These photographs provide a visceral link from Antarctica directly into classrooms. Alongside schools-specific outreach, our festivals team deliver high quality outreach and scientific communication at national and international science festivals (e.g. Cardiff, Cheltenham, Aberdeen, etc) and other educational institutions (e.g. Polar Day at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich). These projects in turn support the development of public communication skills amongst ECRs.

●        Other APECS national committees UKPN have collaborated with include: APECS Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Chile and Norway. Such collaborations extend beyond the national committees associated with ATCM member states. They often include engaging with countries with less resources for research and developing nations (i.e. APECS Uruguay).

International collaboration is vital for Antarctic research to enable sharing of national Antarctic programme infrastructure, extending the geographic locations and scientific capabilities that can be accessed. For example, UK ECRs have used the RV Polarstern in recent years. SKILLSET enabled access for Icelandic ECRs to the bespoke science facilities SDA, leading to the development of new science projects using SDA facilities. However, the effect of the ongoing conflict in Russia/Ukraine on collaborations including the APECS ARCTIS fieldwork programme has highlighted how Antarctic science is vulnerable in such situations.

It is important to invite ECR voices to be part of new and existing international collaborations, by embedding existing ECR support organisations (e.g. APECS, UKPN) into collaborative structures. The fifth International Polar Year (IPY) 2032-2033 presents a unique opportunity to coordinate research activities. Important progress was made during the fourth IPY (2007/2008), including the establishment of both the UKPN and APECS. The fifth IPY highlights early career researchers in its guiding principles and UKPN is well placed to contribute to the UKs IPY coordination. Plans for the upcoming InSync programme (International coordination of SYNchronised measurements across Antarctica) can learn from an equivalent Arctic programme, MOSAIC, and thet benefits provided to ECRs.

Key recommendations:

Beyond general support for ECRs in future Antarctic research to maintain and enhance the UK’s leadership, three tangible actions are recommended:

●        Support for structured, fully-funded, bespoke training programmes focused around key priorities for Antarctic Science.

●        Funding and resourcing leadership training for ECRs engaged in Antarctic science to ensure that they have the breadth of knowledge required to understand the full spectrum of scientific and geopolitical contexts of the Arctic.

●        Elevating voices of ECRs in key fora and with key stakeholder groups.

●        Support for international collaboration between ECRs as a resource-efficient means of achieving long-term collaborations with key national partners.

7. What impact has the UK’s investment in science infrastructure, through the RRS Sir David Attenborough and modernised station facilities, had on UK science in the Antarctic? How can the UK ensure that use of the UK’s infrastructure in the Antarctic is maximised, while minimising the environmental impacts of research activities?

The investment in science infrastructure improves the capability of UK Antarctic research in the long-term, and therefore the future capability of ECRs to deliver science goals.

UKPN organised the first training cruise aboard the RRS SDA, SKILLSET, in collaboration with APECS Iceland. SKIlLSET provided at-sea fieldwork experience and training using the bespoke, state-of-the-art polar science facilities aboard the RRS SDA, making use of spare berths between Harwich and Madeira. The program specifically targeted UK and Icelandic ERCs who had not previously had access to at-sea fieldwork opportunities. Training covered use of science facilities including the uncontaminated seawater system, aerosol lab, scientific sensors and acoustic data acquisition system.

Training also covered a holistic suite of skills essential for scientific cruises, including but not limited to cruise leadership, report writing, lab management, geospatial data handling, and fostering respectful relationships at sea. Group projects applied the knowledge learnt to pursue scientific questions using data collected on board. Training using the specific research infrastructure abroad the SDA increases the ability of ECRs to apply these techniques for future research. Several new science projects utilizing the SDA’s facilities were conceptualized during the course.Furthermore, SKILLSET demonstrates that by providing such courses in a formal way, access to training and shipboard experience can be obtained in a more equitable manner. The SKILLSET program showcased how the transit legs of the SDA’s operational itinerary can be leveraged for science. Overall, it highlights the need for support and funding of similar programmes in future.

Whilst investment in infrastructure will have positive outcomes, reduced capacity for science, through movement to a one-ship model and through reduction of science personnel capacity at Rothera research station during construction, has meant that scientific research using these facilities needs planning further in advance. This disproportionately affects opportunities for ECRs to conduct observational science, as these delays can exceed the timescales over which research conducted by PhD students and ECRs on short-term contracts operates. Whilst the Collaborative Antarctic Science Scheme (CASS) can be utilised by ECRs to access UK Antarctic science infrastructure, it is difficult to navigate and usually relies on strong PI/supervisor support. Other ECRs have become reliant on using tourist vessels to conduct research (which raises various concerns), or international research vessels, such as the German polar research ship RV Polarstern.

Having well-structured, accessible mechanisms for utilising science infrastructure which prioritise ECRs would dramatically improve ECR engagement in observational Antarctic Science. Were the RRS SDA to be entered into POLARIN (as discussed in response to Q6), it would increase accessibility to ECRs.

The ECR community is predisposed to be conscious of the environmental impacts of research activities. Considering the timescales for NERC and BAS NetZero targets, ECRs will be vital in implementing NetZero policies over the coming 15 years. ECRs have thus far made key contributions including producing educational materials about biosecurity, providing evidence about the environmental impact of Antarctic research and delivering BAS Carbon Literacy training. UKPN is actively engaged in international conversations around motivations and impacts of fieldwork. Recently UKPN were approached by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to provide input to a workshop on the motivations of polar fieldwork to understand more about responsible fieldwork and the role of tourism in the Polar regions. ECRs are especially good at implementing Article III 1(c) of the Antarctic Treaty which promotes open science and open data, in comparison to mid/late-career researchers, and the reuse of data is a carbon efficient way of producing Antarctic Science.

9. What impact did the UK’s science Strategy UK science in Antarctica: 2014-2020 have and is a further strategy needed, especially in light of the UK’s recent capital expenditure on science infrastructure in Antarctica?

The previous science strategy provided key opportunities for ECRs to contribute to addressing key challenges in Antarctic Science. Whilst APECS were briefly mentioned, ECRs were not consulted extensively and so their capacity to shape future decision making was limited. ECRs should be involved in development of upcoming science strategies, as the long term users of the updated infrastructures and science equipment to deliver against longer term goals.

Acknowledgements

This response was compiled by the UK Polar Network, an organisation whose mission is to support early career polar scientists and disseminate knowledge to the general public. The response was compiled by current co-president Lucy Stephenson and vice-president Sam Hartharn-Evans, with significant input from Millicent Harding, Connor Shiggins, Louise Mercer, Chloe Nunn, Eleanor Maedhbh Honan and Dylan Beard, all of whom are currently members of the UKPN committee.The work of the UKPN is thanks to all past and present committee members.

December 2024