reIMAGINE Arctic Research: Relations, Ethics, and Methods

reIMAGINE Arctic Research develops and researches spaces of engagement, methodological frameworks, and evaluation processes that facilitate more ethical and equitable research relations across knowledge systems, focusing especially on the circumpolar North.

Of particular interest are diverse conceptual understandings of knowledge co-creation and transdisciplinarity and their translations into practice. The research group aims to contribute to anticolonial approaches that foster co-existence and reciprocity of diverse knowledges. As an overall practice, the research group uses multimodality-working across and with different media, modes, infrastructures, tools and sites-throughout the different phases of its projects: for example, as part of ethnography, analysis of empirical material, and publication formats that go beyond text. To foster broader exchange on methods and ethics in Arctic research, the group has co-organized annual workshops on knowledge co-creation and ways to overcome exploitative research practices

In its work, the research group examines how sustainable collaborations may be established and fostered between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners in Arctic research, and the different approaches, perspectives, values, communication processes, and power dynamics within these relations. Attention is paid to past and present colonial entanglements and legacies, and how these perpetuate structural inequalities in the academic system. Together with a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners, the research group has worked on several joint projects that critically address research practices in the Arctic. The group provides policy advice on strengthening ethical and equitable research in the German/European research and funding landscapes.

The Arctic Governance research group uses imagination as a tool to re-envision the way research is conducted in the circumpolar North, and invites others to join this process.