Call for Abstracts — 2025 WAISC

updated 2/14/2025

Abstracts due by February 28, 2025 (deadline has been extended.)

The 2025 conference will highlight needs for maintaining strength, health, and subsistence lifestyles while moving forward during rapid transitions within the environment, ecology, and industries of Western Alaska. A conference priority is the continued sharing of knowledge across cultural boundaries.

Since 2008, WAISC has brought together rural and urban scientists, educators, students, leaders, and community members to discuss science, research, and issues relevant to Western Alaska.

We welcome submissions drawn from all disciplines that address questions and issues of concern to Western Alaska communities. Abstracts will be reviewed  for relevant content and available space by a WAISC committee. If you need support submitting an abstract, please contact Tav Ammu.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Cultural heritage and knowledge systems
   • Emphasizing storytelling, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), Indigenous knowledge (IK), and co-production of knowledge (CPK).
   • Topics could include language preservation, cultural resilience, and the intersection of traditional and modern practices.
2. Ecosystem health and resilience
   • Addressing climate change, salmon decline, fisheries sustainability, and adaptation strategies for ecosystems and communities.
   • Includes both marine and freshwater systems, as well as terrestrial impacts.
3. Community and public health
   • Exploring the links between environmental change and community health, traditional healing practices, and modern healthcare solutions
   • Could also include mental health, social well-being, and the impacts of resource development on communities.
4. Sustainable energy and resource development
   • Topics like renewable energy innovations, sustainable resource use, and balancing industrial development with traditional subsistence lifestyles.
5. Social science and community perspectives
   • Encouraging presentations on social dynamics, youth engagement, education, and insights from marine mammal harvesters or other traditional subsistence practitioners.
   • Focus on how social science intersects with environmental and cultural sustainability.
6. Environmental monitoring and management
   • Highlighting research on harmful algal blooms, climate monitoring, and community-led environmental stewardship.
   • Could include technology, data collection, and strategies for managing changing.

Abstracts for oral and poster presentations are invited, due by February 14, 2025, using the online abstract submission form. Notification of proposal acceptance is expected to be by February 28. Accepted presenters should register and pay for the conference by March 14 to reserve their spot in the conference program.

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words for oral or poster presentations and include the following information:

• Author name, title, email, and institutional affiliation
• Presentation title
• Research question, methods, data and results

Submit abstract