Rethinking Arctic Collaboration - project funded by the UArctic and UiB (2023-2025)
Western countries and the EU have paused bilateral and institutional collaboration and contact with Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This applies to scientific organisations as well. The war has led to severe drawbacks in the international Arctic cooperation needed for security, climate change mitigation, biodiversity, combatting pollution, ecosystem conservation, and food security.
Main content
is a network of universities, colleges, research institutes, and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. University of Bergen (UiB) is a member of the network.
Academia Europaea Bergen, hosted by UiB, initiated an application for economic support for a study on how the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russian actors affect Arctic Science and Arctic Science Diplomacy, and to discuss what may become the characteristics of the future Arctic science collaboration architecture. This as a continuation of a study commited by Academia Europaea Bergen that resulted in the report听The Future of Science Diplomacy in the Arctic (2023) (see below).听
The project recieved funding for 2023-2025, and a consortium is established.听
Background and project description
The tight connection between science and diplomacy in the Arctic has traditionally helped reduce geopolitical tensions and facilitated international resource management. However, after Russia鈥檚 full scale invasion in Ukraine, the Russo-western relationship has entered an ice-cold face. Due to the war and international sanctions, science, science-informed decisions, and science diplomacy suffers severely.听Reduced international Arctic science collaboration may have severe consequences for climate research and other important scientific topics like social science and ocean ecosystems.听The objective of the project is, as described in the grant proposal to听:
- To understand what the effects of war are on scientific collaborations and the volume and value of arctic science in the north.
- In the light of various discussions in the scientific community, to elevate a discussion on what principles should be the foundation for political decisions on science collaboration across borders in turbulent times.
- To discuss what may become the characteristics of the future Arctic science collaboration architecture.
Completed project events and spinn-offs
Science Diplomacy Summit, hosted at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, on April 14鈥�15, 2025. Project manager Ole 脴vretveit听contributed to the session Polar Diplomacy: Arctic & Antarctic听with a talk titled . Spinn-off: Chapter in the Special Paper (September 2025) by the Institute for Security and Development Policy (Sweden): The 鈥淣ew鈥� Frontier:听Sino-Russian Cooperation in the Arctic听and its Geopolitical Implications, Chapter 8,听Science at the Top of the World: Sino-Russian Cooperation and听Contestation in the Arctic, by听Ole Rasmus 脴vretveit, Marco Volpe, and Nataliya Shok.
Arctic Frontiers Conference 2025: Beyond Borders, January 27th,听side-event -听
- Project workshop (18-22 November 2024) at听The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College, USA. Kick-off for writing a paper on Science Diplomacy in the Arctic and a potential policy brief. The work is still in progress.听
- The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College, USA, November 18th, 2024,听. .
- Completed a Nordforsk application (June 2024):听Arctic knowledge and knowledge systems in flux 鈥� threats and coping strategies for a sustainable Arctic听future (not funded).
- , a听contribution to the Berlin Science Week 2024,听4 November 2024 at the Nordic Embassies, Berlin.
- , October 19th,听Rethinking Arctic 鈥� Scenarios on future Scientific cooperation and diplomacy:
- 听- roundtable session (by invitation) on October 19th, 2024
- 听on May 8th, 2024
- 听on February 3rd, 2023 (part of a pre-project on Science Diplomacy in the Arctic)
Follow up plans (post UArctic-project)
- Navigating the North: Climate and Geopolitical Shifts in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, September 11, 2025, in Bergen, public event chaired by project manager Ole 脴vretveit. Followed by a workshop,听September 12, involving some of the UArctic project partner institutions, in adittion to representatives from the French and German Embassies to Norway,听where elements from the UArctic project will be included in discussions on potential future project collaborations.听
- Accepted event at Arctic Circle, October,听2025:听Towards a New Era of Arctic Exceptionalism: Collaboration, Knowledge, and Resilience in a Changing Arctic听
- Berlin Science Week听2025
- UArctic Assembly, Faero Islands, June 2026, event proposal submitted:听Revitalizing Arctic Science Diplomacy in an Era of Geopolitical Transformation.听
Academia Europaea Bergen Report (2023) - The Future of Science Diplomacy in the Arctic
Currently, Arctic climate research does not have access to climate data from 45% of the Arctic area. This is because climate data from the Russian Arctic areas is largely no longer available to the global research community, as a by-product of the Russia sanctions.
This is one of the findings in the report听, by Academia Europaea Bergen, the Nordic-Baltic hub for the European science academy Academia Europaea.
The topics of the report were central to a successful听听with key stakeholders at the 2023 Arctic Frontiers conference. The issue has also been the topic of a听, with project manager Ole 脴vretveit and hub director Eystein Jansen as guest.听
Relevant Litterature
- , Vaughan Turekian and PeterGluckman, Issues in Science and Technology听41, vol. 1 (2024)
- .听,听.听
- .听Arctic Review on Law and Politics,听Vol.听14,听2023, pp.听112鈥�131
- Health and disease surveillance:听Shok, Nataliya, and Katherine Ginsbach. 鈥溾�澨�Issues in Science and Technology听40, no. 3 (Spring 2024): 42鈥�45.
- Heather Exner-Pirot,听Managing Editor,听Arctic Yearbook,听听(response to article above)
- (Nature article)
- (The Barents Observer, February 2024)
- 听(Alfred Wegner Institute)
- 听(Academia Europaea Bergen)
- (call for abstracts)
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