Project and Community Management in Polar Sciences – Challenges and Opportunities

摘要

Abstract. Because geoscientific research often occurs via community-instigated burstsof activity with multi-investigator collaborations variously labelled ase.g., years (The International Polar Year IPY), experiments (World OceanCirculation Experiment WOCE), programs (International Ocean DiscoveryProgram), missions (CRYOSAT spacecraft), or decades (The International Decadeof Ocean Exploration IDOE), successful attainment of research goals generallyrequires skilful scientific project management.?In addition to the usualchallenges of matching scientific ambitions to limited resources, on-goingcoordination and specifically project management, planning and implementationof polar science projects often involve many uncertainties caused by, forexample, unpredictable weather or ocean and sea ice conditions, large-scalelogistical juggling; and often these collaborations are spatially distributedand take place virtually. Large amounts of funding are needed to procure theconsiderable infrastructure and technical equipment required for polarexpeditions; permissions to enter certain regions must be requested; andpotential risks for expedition members as well as technical issues in extremeenvironments need to be considered. All these aspects are challenging forpolar science projects, which therefore need a well thought-through programincluding a realistic alternative “plan B” and possibly also a “plan C”and “plan D”. The four most challenging overarching themes in polar science projectmanagement have been identified: international cooperation,interdisciplinarity, infrastructure, and community management. In this paper,we address ongoing challenges and opportunities in polar science projectmanagement based on a survey among 199?project and community managers and anadditional of 85 project team members active in the field of polar sciences.Case studies and survey results are discussed with the conclusive goal toprovide recommendations on how to fully reach the potential of polar sciencesproject and community management.