Norwegian and Icelandic Institutes Lead a New Nordic Centre of Excellence for Arctic Research

Norwegian and Icelandic Institutes Lead a New Nordic Centre of Excellence for Arctic Research

The Stefansson Arctic Institute, the University of Iceland, and the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network are Icelandic representatives in ´ARCPATH´ - a NordForsk-funded Nordic Centre of Excellence in Arctic Research.

The international and multidisciplinary project Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Resilient, Sustainable Societies (ARCPATH) is one of four, out of 34 applications, to be awarded a grant of 28 million NOK for 5 years as a NordForsk Nordic Centre of Excellence in Arctic Research.

The project’s home and leadership will be shared by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NERSC) in Bergen (Dr Yongqi Gao as lead) and the Stefansson Arctic Institute (Dr Astrid Ogilvie as co-lead).

Icelandic representatives include: Dr Níels Einarsson, Director of the Stefansson Arctic Institute (SAI); Dr Edward Huijbens, Professor at the University of Akureyri and Senior Scientist at SAI; Dr Marianne H. Rasmussen, Director of the University of Iceland Research Centre in Húsavík; Dr Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir, Professor at the University of Iceland and Director of the School of Environmental and Natural Resources; Tom Barry, Executive Director of CAFF; and Embla Eir Oddsdóttir, Director of the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network and researcher with the SAI.

Other Nordic team members are from the following institutes and countries:
Norway: The University of Bergen (UiB); The Arctic University of Norway (UiT); and The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).
Denmark: The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).
Sweden: The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).

Other International Collaborators: Professor Leslie King, School of Environment and Sustainability, and Director, Canadian Centre for Environmental Education, Royal Roads University (RRU), Canada; Professor James R. McGoodwin, Department of Anthropology, and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, USA; Dr Shari Fox Gearheard, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Colorado; Professor Sergey Gulev, P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Science (IORAS), Russia; Dr Vladimir Semenov, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Science (IAPRAS), Russia; Professor Ke Fan, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; Professor Guðrún Magnúsdóttir, Chair Earth Systems Science, University of California; Dr Michael Karcher, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany; Dr Baoqiang Tian, Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre, China; Dr Francois Massonnet, University College London, UK; Professor Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT); Professor Rasmus Gjedssø Bertelsen, Barents Chair in Politics, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT); Dr Yvan Orsolini, Senior Scientist, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway; Professor Cecilia Bitz, University of Washington, USA; Dr Burkhardt Rockel, of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Institute for Coastal; Lawrence C. Hamilton, Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, USA; Michael Bravo, Fellow of Downing College, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, and Head of the Circumpolar History and Public Policy Research Group at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.

The ARCPATH project seeks to combine improved regional climate predictions with enhanced understanding of environmental, societal, and economic interactions in order to supply new knowledge on Arctic "pathways to action". This will be achieved through extensive cross-disciplinary collaboration including: climatology (regional and global modelling; dynamic downscaling; historical climatology); environmental science; environmental economics; oceanography and cryosphere research; marine and fisheries biology; fisheries management; anthropology; governance systems; human eco-dynamics; and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Drawing on these separate but interlinking disciplines will enable ARCPATH to form a truly synergistic centre of excellence where the overarching goal is to foster responsible and sustainable development in northern communities.

The Stefansson Arctic Institute is also a part of Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities (REXAC) that is another project awarded NordForsk funding for a Nordic Centre of Excellence in Arctic Research. The SAI participant is Senior Scientist and Research Director Dr Joan Nymand Larsen.

Further information here.