Shifting from capacity building to capacity sharing in Arctic research: Considering transformative shifts in collaborative research at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting

Arctic research is progressing towards research in collaborative partnership with as opposed to on or in Arctic Indigenous communities (Henri, Martinez-Levasseur, Provencher, Debets, Appaqaq Houde 2022; Wong, Ballegooyen, Ignace, Johnson, Swanson, Gùdia Swanson 2020; ITK 2018). These collaborative, often cross-cultural partnerships are more equitable and impactful and have proven to be particularly effective at generating actionable knowledge that can enhance evidence-based decision making (Henri, Martinez-Levasseur, Provencher, Debets, Appaqaq Houde 2022) In recent years funding bodies and governance institutions have emphasized the need to build Indigenous community capacity to conduct Arctic research, however, this framing fails to acknowledge the crucial skills, unique place-based knowledge, and research capabilities that Arctic Indigenous peoples already possess and actively contribute towards research processes. As such, we argue for a shift away from capacity building (a one-way and top-down information flow often involving training Arctic residents in western science tools and methods) towards capacity sharing (a two-way exchange process that builds on Indigenous and western science knowledge and practices). Capacity sharing is developed from a foundation of reciprocity, communication, and collaboration and involves multi-directional knowledge exchange between research partners. At present, this terminology is applied across many research spheres yet there is no prevailing universal definition for capacity sharing, which leads to confusion and uncertainty (AOS 2022). We refine the definition of capacity sharing in the context of collaborative and community-engaged research and identify the elements critical to this process and to successfully transitioning from capacity building to capacity sharing in Arctic research. In December 2022, we facilitated a conference session on capacity sharing in collaborative research occurring in Inuit Nunangat at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting in Toronto, Canada (Archambault, Dawson, Barnard, Baird, Demers,