AAOKH is searching for early career researchers interested in collaborative approaches to improve the relevance and usefulness of community-based environmental observations across coastal Arctic Alaska. The initial appointment will be for one year, with the potential for reappointment pending performance review and funding availability.

AAOKH is a sustained and year-round community-based monitoring network established in 2016, following on a predecessor program called the Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network that was founded in 2007. A foundational goal is to develop partnerships with residents of Arctic Alaska to facilitate knowledge exchange and learning among observers, coastal Indigenous communities, and scientists related to changing coastal sea ice, ocean, and weather conditions and associated impacts to fish and wildlife. The Postdoctoral Fellow will join a collaborative and interdisciplinary team of UAF researchers and students, Iñupiaq scholars, observers, and communities. The successful candidate will work on AAOKH’s long-term database infrastructure in collaboration with researchers and organizations that are part of the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic network, with funding from the National Science Foundation.

The Fellow will explore several related themes of Arctic environmental change, Indigenous data sovereignty, and community-driven research, focusing on:

  • Co-production of database re-design to make community-based observations more useful to and useable by partnering communities as well as interdisciplinary researchers,
  • Engaging with partnering communities to align community-based observations with FAIR and CARE Principles for Indigenous data governance and sovereignty, and
  • Developing use cases for community-based observations and monitoring to address Indigenous decision-making or research priorities identified through community partnerships.

A PhD, already received or having completed all requirements and waiting graduation, in a relevant discipline and two years of research related to the relevant scientific field are required.

Application deadline: 8 June 2021 for full consideration, but position will remain open until filled

For more information and to apply, go to:
Complete position description

For questions, contact:
Donna Hauser
Email: dhauser2@alaska.edu