- 1Cardiff University, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (crawl@cardiff.ac.uk)
- 2School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- 3Centre for Glaciology, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
- 4British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
- 5Diversity and Inclusion consultant
- 6Centre d’Etudes de la Neige, Grenoble, France
- 7Neils Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 8School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- 9School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
Research in the polar sciences demands a wide range of practical engineering and field work skills which many early-career researchers (ECRs) do not learn as a part of their formal education. These skills are often learned directly through field experience or from senior colleagues. This perpetuates a culture where only those who are fortunate or judged capable enough by others will gain the skills they need to work safely and effectively in the polar regions, leading to the systematic exclusion of some groups from field-based polar research.
We developed a week-long residential field course, CryoSkills, to provide experience in engineering and fieldwork in cold environments to ECRs, many of whom might not have an opportunity to learn those skills elsewhere. The first iteration of the course took place in Haugastøl, Norway in April 2024, with all costs covered for those selected to attend. The six day course was structured around participants constructing and deploying a bespoke temperature datalogger and deploying it in a snowfield near to the accommodation. To help them achieve this, participants undertook a mix of indoor and outdoor practical exercises covering electronic, mechanical and software engineering, field skills and teamwork. Course materials and design files will be released as open source for use by the community.
We conducted an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) survey of all applicants, and course participants filled out a comprehensive feedback survey on their experience. Course participants reported improved confidence across all areas covered in the course, and particularly noted the positive impact of the inclusive culture on their learning outcomes and experience. The results of the EDI survey show a narrowing in the diversity of participants compared to applicants, which we attribute to the prioritisation conditions of the course funding. Access to funding remains a major barrier to disseminating vital engineering and field skills to the wider polar science community.
How to cite: Craw, L., Bagshaw, E., Doyle, S., Fisher, E., Frater, D., Filhol, S., Hawkins, J., van der Laan, L., Prior-Jones, M., Smith, E., and Young, T. J.: Cryoskills: an inclusive engineering and field skills course for polar scientists, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18442, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18442, 2025.
