Researchers on ice? How the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Antarctic researchers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic-related measures have impacted the lives and work-related activities of Antarctic researchers. To explore these impacts, we designed, piloted and disseminated an online survey in English, Russian, Spanish and Chinese in late 2020 and early 2021. The survey explored how the pandemic affected the productivity of Antarctic researchers, their career prospects and their mental wellbeing. Findings exposed patterns of inequities. For instance, of the 406 unique responses to the survey, women appeared to have been affected more adversely than men, especially in relation to mental health, and early-career researchers were disadvantaged more than their mid- or late-career colleagues. Overall, a third of the research participants reported at least one major negative impact from the pandemic on their mental health. Approximately half of the participants also mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic had some positive effects, especially in terms of the advantages that working from home brought and opportunities to attend events, network or benefit from training workshops online. We conclude with a series of recommendations for science administrators and policymakers to mitigate the most serious adverse impacts of the pandemic on Antarctic research communities, with implications for other contexts where scientific activities are conducted under extreme circumstances.

Disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on early career researchers and disabled researchers in volcanology

“…This signals a potential loss from academia of talented individuals within these groups. The disproportionate impacts of the pandemic identified through our survey align with other studies, such as ECRs in Antarctic research (Liggett et al, 2023) and disabled researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Douglas et al, 2022). We postulate that disabled researchers encounter various barriers that could exacerbate longer-term challenges posed by the pandemic.…”

“…The pandemic has brought to light significant disparities in various research disciplines and among scientists of different demographics or backgrounds. The pandemic disproportionately affected women researchers (Cui et al, 2022;Myers et al, 2020;Korbel and Stegle, 2020;Squazzoni et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2021;Liggett et al, 2023), under-represented racial minorities (Staniscuaski et al, 2021;Douglas et al, 2022), researchers with childcare responsibilities (Myers et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2021;Krukowski et al, 2021), early career researchers (Fosci et al, 2020;Jackman et al, 2022;Liggett et al, 2023), and researchers with physical or mental health disabilities (Armitage and Nellums, 2020;Sarju, 2021;Douglas et al, 2022). The pronounced disruption experienced by these groups raises concerns as the impacts could potentially be long-lasting and the extent of such impacts remains uncertain (Johnson et al, 2021;Gao et al, 2021), with the possibility of exacerbating existing inequalities within the research community (Heo et al, 2022).…”

Towards intersectional approaches to gendered change in Antarctic research

“…Caring responsibilities can thus significantly impede career advancement, especially in sectors in which international mobility either is required or is linked to networking and prestige. Barriers for caregivers have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Antarctic research (Liggett & Herbert 2021).…”

“…In their study of Australian Antarctic research, Nash et al (2019) identified a range of challenges that women Antarctic researchers face, from physical barriers, unpaid work and gender bias to lack of opportunities and sexual harassment (see also Nash & Nielsen 2020, Barros-Delben et al 2020. These challenges are widespread, manifesting both in Antarctic fieldwork and in other Antarctic work settings across the world, as has been underscored in numerous publications (see Bell & Koenig 2017, Starkweather et al 2018, Nash & Nielsen 2020 (Liggett & Herbert 2021).…”