INTERACT Management planning for Arctic and northern alpine research stations – Examples of good practices.

Abstract

This book is about management of arctic and northern alpine research stations. It has been produced by a group of station managers participating in the EU 7th Framework Programme Infrastructure project called INTERACT. With this book we want to share the knowledge and experiences we have gained from managing very different research stations in very different environmental and climatic settings. The target audience for the book is mainly managers of research stations in arctic and alpine areas, but we hope that it will also be useful for others involved in science coordination and logistics, e.g. research institutions, chief scientists and expedition planners. The book has been produced mainly based on input from practising station managers being part of ‘INTERACT Station Managers’ Forum (SMF), a forum established to provide a platform for exchange of information between station managers and other participants within INTERACT, and to collect and disseminate knowledge embedded within the network. The scope of this book is to identify and describe best practices and key considerations of relevance to station management under arctic and alpine conditions. As research stations operate under very different legal regimes, financial conditions, environmental and climatic conditions, as well as remoteness, it is not possible to identify specific best practices that fit all stations. Instead, we have described key issues that should be considered and addressed by station management, and supplemented this with examples of good practices from stations operating under different conditions (e.g. different climate, remoteness or size). The participating station managers have selected a number of themes that should be covered by the book: 1. Management planning. 2. Policies. 3. Staff. 4. Visitors. 5. Permit issues. 6. Health and safety. 7. Environmental impact. 8. Outreach and marketing. 9. Research and monitoring. 10. Training and education. 11. Knowledge capture and data management.