We are soliciting participation from anyone who has attended any of the five UArctic Institute for Applied Circumpolar Policy (IACP) Arctic policy conferences, which were initiated in 2008 and have been held under the auspices of Dartmouth College, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the University of the Arctic.
 
Briefly, the goal of the Arctic Virtual Forum is to establish a permanent virtual conference that serves as a quasi-think tank and foresight group for the Arctic Council and other policy groups interested in Arctic issues. The Forum will draw on the expertise represented by the network of IACP conference participants to provide access to and discussion about five critical issues in Arctic policy that have been addressed in IACP conferences: Health, Security, Shipping, Governance, and Climate Change. Enclosed herewith is the most recent conference report as well as a summary of the mission, goals, and components of the Arctic Virtual Forum.

We are working with a design lab at Dartmouth to build the theoretical and technical framework for the Arctic Virtual Forum website, but we need your help in building the core content of the site. We plan for the Arctic Virtual Forum to develop around a sustained discussion of the issues most pertinent to conference participants.

Help us take the initial steps by sending the following to arctic@dartmouth.edu :

- The top three or more websites that best represent your specific work and the institutions with which you are affiliated. 

- Links to or copies of policy reports that you have participated in that are relevant to this project, with a focus on reports produced in the past two years.

We invite your participation and suggestions about how to best support and encourage a productive Arctic policy dialog.
Sincerely,

James F. Collins, Ambassador (ret.), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Kenneth S. Yalowitz, Ambassador (ret.), Fellow, Dickey Center for International Understanding

Professor Ross A. Virginia, Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth

Professor Michael Sfraga, University of Alaska Fairbanks