Over the last year, a consensus has formed that there is a national need for more and better social science research on Arctic topics. The United States Arctic Research Plan (1987), for example, states that "it has become evident that the objectives of U.S. Arctic research policy cannot be met without a program in the social sciences". Similarly, the report of the National Science Board Committee on the Role of NSF in Polar Regions, states that "behavioral and social sciences are obvious examples of fields in which basic research (on Arctic topics) is not sufficient." There has been little thought devoted to devising a strategy for implementing this consensus nor does there exist a Federal agency with a clear-cut mandate to support research in the social and behavioral sciences on Arctic topics. An ad hoc Committee on Arctic Social Sciences has been established within the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to address these problems. The Committee proposes to identify the principal research questions in Arctic social sciences, recommend priorities to guide the direction of future research in this field, and indicate the facilities and support required for a meaningful research program. This Committee brings together prominent representatives of the major social science disciplines to examine the options available to formulate a strategy to fulfill the national need for social science research on Arctic topics. The end product will be a peer-reviewed, action-oriented study that would identify first-order Arctic social science problems and that would suggest a mechanism for their solution. The Committee report will also highlight links between Arctic social science research and new large-scale global systems programs that are currently focused on the biological and physical sciences. Funding is to be shared by the principal federal and state agencies involved in the Arctic research and potentially include DOD, DOI, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Commerce, State of Alaska and the North Slope Borough.
