IARPC is the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee. By bringing together leaders from 16 agencies, departments, and offices across the U.S. federal government, we enhance research on environmental issues in the Arctic.
IARPC runs IARPC Collaborations, a platform that connects federal government program managers, federal and non-federal researchers, and other stakeholders – including those overseas – to work together on pressing Arctic research issues. IARPC Collaborations is free and open to anyone who can contribute, regardless of their role in Arctic research. The website has supported an unprecedented degree of interagency communication, coordination, and collaboration that has advanced Arctic science. Our member space includes more than 3,000 members of the Arctic research community, including those from federal, state, Tribal, academic, non-profit, private sector, Indigenous, and international organizations. Learn more about IARPC and IARPC Collaborations.
The Arctic Research Plan is a five-year strategy for federal agencies to address emerging research questions about the Arctic. It provides pathways to strengthen relationships between federal agencies and Indigenous communities, academia and non-federal researchers, the state of Alaska, nonprofits, and private sector and international organizations. The plan does not encompass all of the work federal agencies are doing in Arctic research, but rather focuses on areas where agencies can work together to amplify the impact of their activities.
Over the last five years, IARPC member agencies and collaboration teams greatly expanded our understanding of the Arctic system. A full compilation of achievements under the Arctic Research Plan 2017-2021 can be found in the Performance Element Summary Statements.
To document the achievements of the 2017-2021 Plan, IARPC has produced an End of Plan Report. This report will become publicly available in January 2022, and it will provide more detailed examples of IARPC’s achievements since 2017.
The 2022-2026 plan substantially builds on the Arctic Research Plan 2017-2021. It has taken new knowledge we have learned implementing the current plan and attempted to take a more integrated approach to research.
At the direction of the IARPC Principals, this plan has fewer research goals. The plan focuses on four priority areas with research goals that target basic science and provide a more direct path to provide relevant and timely information that can be used by decision makers.
These goals are multidisciplinary and existing disciplinary collaboration teams will play a key role in advancing them. There are several new priority areas and a few foundational areas that will be new to IARPC, but many agencies have already been doing work in these areas that we hope to foster across the IARPC family.
In addition, unlike previous Arctic research plans, this is a high-level strategy that will be enacted via biennial implementation plans.
IARPC held two public engagement periods during plan development. The first engagement period (October 2019 to September 2020) was to collect public input to inform the development, general content, and scope of the plan. Input was received through a variety of mechanisms. This period included a Federal Request for Information Notice (April to August 2020). IARPC received 120 comments through the Federal Register Notice system, online form, public webinars and listening sessions, email, and collaboration team meetings. Comments came from a variety of sources, including academic scientists and institutions, Indigenous organizations and individuals, federal agencies, the state of Alaska, and private sector and nonprofit organizations. A synthesis of the comments is available, as is the full list of comments, including links to long-form letters.
A second public comment period (March-June 2021) invited input on the draft plan including priority area goals, justifications, and potential partners; the foundational activities; and on implementation and metrics for measuring success. IARPC accepted comments through the Federal Register Notice, email, hardcopy, and voicemail. The compilation of comments is available, as is a list of IARPC’s responses.
Resources for media and others who would like to share information about the new Arctic Research Plan are available in our media kit.
In this new plan, we have intentionally brought more focus through the four priorities areas to research avenues that have a more direct pathway to provide relevant and timely information that can be used by decision makers from local, regional, and national scales.
The research described in this plan will address societal issues that challenge life in Alaska, including managing risks, mitigating hazards, maintaining community health and wellbeing, and adapting to an evolving climate and ecosystem. Information and understanding contributes to better decision making and better use of available resources.
The new plan emphasizes the importance of research to support community resilience and health and recognizes the interacting elements that feed into healthy and resilient communities. The need for research to support reliable infrastructure is also a theme that permeates throughout the plan. For example, the plan identifies several areas of concern that include poorly constructed and maintained roads, airstrips, and waste sites and systems; inadequate housing; lack of access to clean water; and maintenance backlogs at educational and healthcare facilities.
While the Arctic Research Plan is a high-level strategy covering five years, IARPC will use two-year implementation plans to outline specific activities. While planning on a five year cycle allows IARPC to be relatively nimble, novel challenges – for example, the COVID-19 pandemic – arise even within five year periods. Biennial implementation plans help address these rapid changes and respond to emerging research questions.
Biennial implementation plans will include objectives (specific research actions that advance the goals within the Arctic Research Plan) and deliverables (tangible, measurable, and easily communicated research products that demonstrate progress made toward the objectives and goals).
IARPC is currently working on the first biennial implementation plan.
From January to March 2022, we will be holding public meetings to build connections among non-federal researchers, community members, and organizations. These meetings will solicit ideas on topics to be pursued within each priority area. Ideas generated during this time will inform the federal development of the first biennial implementation plan. Learn more about upcoming meetings and share ideas.