Conference: Beyond COVID: Pandemic Preparedness in the Circumpolar North

This workshop brings multiple COVID-19 research teams from across the U.S. to Alaska to share findings, synthesize results, and enhance planning and messaging efforts for future pandemics. The workshop will provide opportunities to compare data collection and analytic methods, develop new collaborations, and present research findings. Working together, workshop participants will synthesize research across disciplinary lines, addressing pandemic responses in Alaska communities with vast differences in culture, economics, infrastructure, and geography. By amplifying the results of funded projects, the workshop will advance understanding of pandemic responses, strengthen research capacity in Alaska, and foster convergent approaches to societal challenges. Outputs of the workshop include a peer-reviewed publication in an international journal that synthesizes the approaches, findings, and recommendations developed collaboratively by the research teams; a series of public outreach activities, and science communication training for participants. Together, these activities will generate an interdisciplinary network of researchers across the state, deliver accessible science to the research community and the general public, and elevate the visibility of Arctic research on community health and well-being. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.