As early-career researchers in polar science, we are extremely concerned over the intergovernmental Arctic Council’s first-ever failure last month to agree on scientific priorities (see go.nature.com/2efubti). In our view, polar science is being held back by the very institutions that stand to benefit from such research. Three things are needed to improve management and influence policy in polar regions.

Polar research should draw on knowledge co-produced with Arctic communities and others who are directly affected by rapid climate shifts. Academic reward structures need reforming to recognize that community, communication and policy involvement are as crucial as funding and publishing: inclusion, retention and service efforts must be rated more highly by universities, funding agencies and governments. And those bodies should strengthen ties across subfields of polar science to promote genuinely transdisciplinary research.