The Arctic faces multiple pressures including climate change, shifting demographics, human health risks, social justice imbalances, governance issues, and expanding resource extraction. A convergence of academic disciplines—such as natural and social sciences, engineering and technology, health and medicine—and international perspectives is required to meaningfully contribute to solving the challenges of Arctic peoples and ecosystems. However, successfully carrying out convergent, international research and education remains a challenge. Here, lessons from the planning phase of a convergence research project concerned with the health of Arctic waters developed by the Arctic Science IntegrAtion Quest (ASIAQ) are discussed. We discuss our perspective on the challenges, as well as strategies for success, in convergence research as gained from the ASIAQ project which assembled an international consortium of researchers from disparate disciplines representing six universities from four countries (Sweden, Japan, Russia, and the United States) during 2018–2020. Bringing together scientists from across multiple disciplines is required to solve societal and ecological issues resulting from a changing Arctic. However, working together across disciplinary, international, and cultural boundaries poses challenges. We describe our efforts to overcome these challenges to bring about meaningful understanding of the vulnerability of Arctic peoples and ecosystems, where we applied particular focus to Arctic waters. Over three years, we brought together researchers from six universities and four countries across many disciplines, from sociologists to human health specialists to oceanographers to permafrost microbiologists to engineers. Here, we chronicle our successes and hurdles, and outline strategies for successful future collaborations. Convergence across disciplines and nations is required to address the complex impacts of a changing Arctic on society and ecosystems Convergence research requires consensus‐building, cross‐disciplinary relationship building, and new institutional reward structures Challenges and benefits of purpose‐driven, societally relevant research in the Arctic are discussed, and strategies for success are shared Convergence across disciplines and nations is required to address the complex impacts of a changing Arctic on society and ecosystems Convergence research requires consensus‐building, cross‐disciplinary relationship building, and new institutional reward structures Challenges and benefits of purpose‐driven, societally relevant research in the Arctic are discussed, and strategies for success are shared