Workshop on Ethics and Methods in Arctic Transformative Research 2022 (WEMA II)

In 2021, the WEMA workshop convened virtually, engaging about 120 online participants across disciplines, including Indigenous rights holders, researchers, policymakers, and activists, aiming to enhance research collaborations and address co-creative methodologies in Arctic research. Due to the pandemic, the event was held online, with English as the primary language but accommodating other languages through live interpreting. The workshop, featuring co-organized sessions, facilitated two days of intensive discussions on research ethics and collaborative approaches, fostering inclusive dialogue despite the virtual format.

Background:

Arctic research has seen growing interest in co-creative and collaborative approaches in recent years. Awareness about the harms of past and present practices and the need to decolonize institutions and methods and to Indigenize research has increased. Experience has been gained in bringing together different forms of knowledge systems and expertises, illustrating clearly that co-creative projects can produce better results with greater societal relevance. 
Still, research carried out on Indigenous lands often continues to primarily benefit researchers from outside the Arctic (ITK, 2018). Institutional and other barriers hinder Indigenous-led and co-creative research, and Indigenous Knowledge is regularly misrepresented as ‘non-scientific’ and misunderstood in research processes (Pfeifer, 2017; Wheeler et al., 2020). Research questions and funding agendas continue to be defined outside the Arctic, dismissing the fact that Indigenous peoples are the original stewards of and hold immense knowledge about Arctic lands, waters, and ecosystems.

Sessions:

The WEMA conference/workshop series of 2021 offered a comprehensive exploration of Indigenous perspectives and collaborative research practices in Arctic studies. Through sessions focusing on Indigenous voices on research, publishing ethics, storytelling, and the role of natural sciences in the Arctic, participants engaged in critical discussions, sharing experiences, and envisioning actions for inclusive and meaningful research relationships.
Indigenous Voices on Research:
Co-creation, co-production and collaboration constitute concepts that continue to be defined predominantly by funders and non-Indigenous researchers. This has far-reaching consequences for research practices and constitutes a continuation of colonial epistemological domination. 
The first session of the workshop therefore placed a focus on Indigenous concepts, understandings of and experiences with meaningful research relationships.

Listen & respond: 

This session brought together representatives of the 2021 WEMA Series, funding organizations, scientific institutions, ethics boards and individual researchers and members of Indigenous communities to share their perspectives and visions on co-creation and collaboration in research and reflect on the following questions:

• How have projects and initiatives been experienced?
• What has worked and what has not?
• What are key needs and challenges?
• What actions need to be taken?

The session was split into two parts to allow for in-depth reflection and to allow the time needed to address this complex issue. This session aimed to provide a safe space for respectful conversations, building bridges, and mutual understanding.

Publishing co-creative research

This session focused on one of the last steps of co-creative research projects: the publication and representation of research results. The range of topics covered in this session includes: the responsibilities of all partners involved, capacity of Indigenous communities to deal with high workloads resulting from research partnerships, ethics, authorship and intellectual property rights, monetary aspects (allocation of royalties), new dynamics on the publishing market (e.g. Indigenous publishing houses), and the role publishers in the decolonization of the publishing arena.
Storytelling and the Art of Listening - Different Perspectives, Forms of Knowledge, and Means of Transmission. 
This session engaged with concrete cases that illustrate and give insights into transdisciplinary collaborations between different disciplines, fields of knowledge, and forms of transmitting them. 

The following questions were addressed:

• How can we become aware of the boundaries between different fields of knowing, seeing, and experiencing (in and outside academia), which are often strong and exclusive, but also more complex and fluid than may appear at first sight?
• How can we identify and tackle challenges and find ways to transcend existing boundaries?
• How can scientists learn to engage with the different levels and voices in Indigenous ways of knowing?
• What is needed for genuine relationships and dialogues that are based on self-reflection, recognition of differences and ways to bridge them?
• How can ways of transmission and ways of knowing in art and media open new doors for dialogues and what are the challenges to do so?

Representatives of different perspectives and fields – from Indigenous communities, diverse academic disciplines, the natural sciences and humanities, the arts and media – were invited to discuss their experiences, success stories, and challenges of transdisciplinary collaboration and to think about how their know-how could be shared and genuine dialogue be fostered.

Natural sciences and co-creative research

This session brought together non-Indigenous natural scientists and Indigenous researchers and community representatives. The questions addressed in this session included:

• How to build research relationships?
• How to collaborate and co-create research that focuses on or takes place on Indigenous lands?
• How to create inclusive methodologies and ways of knowing that incorporate natural science methods and techniques and Indigenous sciences?
• How to ensure mutual learning and two-way capacity building?
• How to communicate and share research?

Mini-coaching session

This session provided an opportunity to discuss planned projects and receive feedback. Presenters were asked to focus on challenges in the development of their projects in order to enable mutual learning. Each project was presented in a 3-minute poster pitch, followed by in-depth conversation in break-out rooms.