Meet the PCAPS SG: Reflections from PCAPS Co-Chair Daniela Liggett
This month’s “Meet the SG” blog post features PCAPS Co-chair Daniela Liggett, who is a Professor at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Daniela is a social scientist, whose research focusses on human engagement within Antarctic environmental governance. Daniela’s expertise spans a vast array of interdisciplinary knowledge and perspectives that support her co-chairwomanship of PCAPS, via which she helps to ensure that PCAPS’ objectives are met through an integrated approach.
Daniela Liggett on fieldwork in Antarctica. Photo credit: Regina Clery
As a social scientist, whose research focusses on human engagement with the Antarctic region and the processes and effectiveness of Antarctic environmental governance, I am extremely honoured to work with so many brilliant physical and social scientists in PCAPS, a project that aims at encouraging collaboration across a range of disciplines as well as active engagement with a variety of stakeholders. For me, it is even more humbling to be one of the co-chairs of PCAPS, which is a role that ensures that the project's objectives are met through an integrated approach. Together with my fellow Co-chair, Jørn Kristiansen from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, we work to:
Facilitate communication and cooperation between researchers from different fields, including natural and social sciences, forecasters and other stakeholders;
Ensure that the project maintains a balance between scientific advancement and practical application for users;
Guide the project's strategic direction, aligning it with the broader goals of improving environmental forecasting services in the polar regions; and
Promote the integration of social-science perspectives with physical-science research to develop more comprehensive and salient (user-oriented) services.
But first, I will take a step back and reflect on my research focus thus far. I am a social scientist, without a particular disciplinary home, having drawn on theories and methods in human geography, social psychology, environmental management, law and regime theory in my research on different forms of human engagement with the Antarctic.
In particular, I have focussed on Antarctic tourism regulation and management, Antarctic governance and, ultimately, questions of environmental management, including human impacts, operational risk and safety and the wellbeing of polar environments.
Daniela at Gateway Antarctica. Photo credit: Mary Botting
The latter aligns closely with the goals of the PCAPS, which aims to improve the actionability, impact, and fidelity of environmental forecasting for human and environmental health in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. My research interests and contributions to understanding the use of weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information in polar regions go back to my involvement in the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Polar Prediction Project (PPP), particularly as part of the Societal and Economic Research and Applications (PPP-SERA) Task Team, which has contributed to our understanding of polar WWIC information use.
A review paper led by Victoria Heinrich, one of our PCAPS Steering Group members, to which I had contributed, synthesised a decade of research on this topic.
This work revealed several key findings that are relevant to PCAPS:
There is often a mismatch between user needs and the WWIC services provided in polar regions.
The importance of tailored services that consider the specific contexts and needs of different user groups.
The need for actionable knowledge that can be applied to users' specific decision-making processes.
The value of interdisciplinary collaboration and user engagement in developing effective WWIC services.
These findings align closely with PCAPS objectives, particularly PCAPS SERVICES (enhancing environmental forecasting services) and PCAPS SUSTAINABILITY (enabling informed decision-making to enhance human safety and reduce risks to polar environments). I hope to be able to apply my prior experience, at the very least, in these areas, supporting PCAPS' efforts to improve the actionability and impact of environmental forecasting services.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work, and something that PCAPS exemplifies, is the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. The PCAPS team consists of an international and multi-disciplinary Steering Group, bringing together experts from various fields. This approach mirrors my own belief in the power of inter- and trans-disciplinary research to address complex environmental and social challenges in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Looking ahead, I am honoured to be able to contribute to an ambitious international, interdisciplinary project like PCAPS that will, hopefully, also support and contribute to building the next generation of polar scientists and operators, who will have to increasingly engage with the challenges facing the polar regions – from climate change to expanding human activity. These issues require innovative, collaborative approaches, which as we prepare for the fifth International Polar Year, must be collaboratively tackled.
By leveraging international collaborations and cutting-edge technologies, we can significantly enhance our understanding of polar regions and their impact on global climate systems.