On October 19, 2018, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) released a special report introducing 10 innovative research plans that will be prioritized in the future. These specifically include: The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier, Growing Convergence Research, Harnessing the Data Revolution, Mid-scale Research Infrastructure, Navigating the New Arctic, NSF 2026, NSF INCLUDES, Understanding the Rules of Life, and Windows on the Universe. NSF began soliciting research proposals for the 10 Big Ideas in 2016 and established a dedicated fund to support them in 2017. After screening, the above plan contents were officially announced this year, and NSF plans to invest $30 million in each of these 10 areas in 2019.

      Among the 10 announced Big Ideas, the Navigating the New Arctic plan has the closest relationship with the field of resources and environment. On October 24, 2018, NSF released the "Navigating the New Arctic Program Announcement", which clarified three main goals of the plan: to improve the understanding of Arctic changes and their global impacts; to achieve interdisciplinary integration, with an emphasis on exploring the connections between the ecological environment and socio-economic systems; and to serve the national security of the United States and enhance the sustainability of the Arctic region. At the same time, the report also identified 5 key research directions:

      (1) Focus on innovation in the construction of observation networks, instruments, and technologies, improve the level of data sharing, achieve intelligent data management and analysis, and emphasize the comprehensive simulation of natural ecosystems and socio-economic systems.

      (2) Conduct comprehensive simulation and prediction, and analyze the interdependencies and change trends among biogeochemical, geophysical, biological, ecological, institutional, and social factors in the Arctic region.

      (3) Carry out basic scientific and engineering research on current and future challenges in the Arctic, with a focus on directions that affect the stability of regional systems, such as sustainability, adaptability, and resilience.

      (4) Promote comprehensive research to explore the complex relationships between Arctic residents and their natural and cultural landscapes.

      (5) Understand and predict the global changes caused by Arctic changes, as well as their consequences and opportunities.

      Emphasizing interdisciplinary integration is an important feature of this Big Ideas research, which is most prominent in the Navigating the New Arctic plan. While focusing on basic observations, this plan hopes to break through the regional human-land relationship and feedback mechanisms by incorporating socio-economic research methods, so as to achieve the stability and sustainable development of the Arctic region.

      (Compiled by Song Xiaoyu, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Original Title: NSF's 10 BIG IDEAS