UAF political scientist receives NSF grant

Submitted by Anita Hartmann
Phone: (907) 474-2633
06/03/04

Amy Lovecraft, assistant professor of political science at UAF’s College of Liberal Arts, has been awarded a $120,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the use of science in natural resource policy. Lovecraft, along with Ian Urquahart from the University of Alberta, Canada, will investigate northern sustainability debates. Their research will focus on the use of science by competing interests to make claims on governments for natural resource policies in the north.

Canadian and American perspectives differ on issues of regional sustainability that are inherently transnational in Alaska and the Canadian Northwest. However, there are also intracountry disagreements and transboundary agreements. Lovecraft and Urquahart will investigate the relationships between science and policy in two key regional issues: oil drilling in protected lands and the salmon fisheries decline. They will analyze the role of science as a tool of policy advocacy in the regional policy domains of energy and fisheries.

Their research has practical applications. The duo seeks to examine the role of science in the pressure tactics of organized interests. Their work promises benefits for the local, state, and federal level agencies, the public (including aboriginal groups in Canada and the United States), and political officials.

Contact: Amy Lovecraft at (907) 474-2688 or ffall@uaf.edu