Description
The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is Germany’s largest marine and polar research facility, with over 1000 researchers tackling ecological crises from ocean acidification to sea ice and biodiversity loss. This article explores how the actors in and around the epistemic community at the AWI – researchers, project officers, policymakers, diplomats, and more – generate advice for political action on behalf of the German federal government, how this advice is received, and how its implementation may involve or affect the AWI. Herein, the paper focuses on two sites of science- policy interaction in particular: 1) the Arctic Dialogue, a semi-formal, semi-annual exchange between German polar researchers – primarily represented by the AWI – and various German ministries involved in and affected by Germany’s Arctic policy guidelines, and 2) the German Arctic Office, founded in 2017 by the AWI in collaboration with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs to further improve the communication between political decision-makers and Arctic researchers. To investigate these sites of interaction, the author analysed dissemination and policy materials published by the AWI and German government. In addition, the author generated participant observation data and conducted semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with researchers at and outside the AWI as well as German, European Union, and Arctic policymakers and diplomats over the course of a twelve-month period in 2024 while embedded at the AWI as a visiting researcher.
