Knowledge Exchange Fellowship: Environmental Science Exchange with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The Mount Paektu Research Centre (MPRC) is an international partnership that promotes collaborative geoscience and environmental research in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, the formal name for North Korea). To our knowledge, it is the only long lived partnership of its kind active today and has been sustained during one of the most politically turbulent periods on the Korean Peninsula.

It shows that with shared scientific goals and mutual trust, durable and productive partnerships are possible. Our work has shown that environmental projects, particularly those with impacts beyond the borders of DPRK, such as an eruption of Paektu Volcano or impacts of climate change can be sustained through these turbulent political climes. This has led many to suggest that environmental projects are excellent vehicles to build science diplomacy engagement with DPRK and other countries in a similar political situation and help develop relationships and trust during times of political strain.

In this NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, I plan to build on these successes to work closely with the UK Government and DPRK organisations to establish a MPRC office in Pyongyang called the Mount Paektu Science Exchange. This would be the first international science office within the DPRK. The impacts of this will be wide reaching and last beyond the length of the fellowship.

It will primarily act as a vehicle to bring together DPRK and international scientists around co-developed environmental science themes. Its remit will include (i) development of new research programmes focussed on co-developed environmental themes (e.g., current discussions include responding to the impacts of climate change, disaster risk reduction and working towards the sustainability development goals), enabled through an annual topical workshop; (ii) Facilitate networking between international scientists, NGOs working in country, international diplomats and local organisations (iii) facilitation of projects at pre-award and funded stages (identifying partners, advising on sanctions compliance, assisting with formal procedures); and (iv) sharing knowledge and experience of what it takes to build lasting and effective collaboration in DPRK.