Seminar series
The Centre for the Arctic and Antarctic provides a platform for research, collaborations, and scholarly activities connected to the Arctic and Antarctic regions at Luleå University of Technology. As one of the Centre's communication channels, the Centre organises a seminar series aimed at presenting ongoing research and open up for discussion on important matters concerning the Arctic and Antarctic.
How to increase the international recognition of Swedish Polar science?
Speaker: Katarina Gårdfeldt, Director General of the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
As a government agency, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat is mandated to co-ordinate and promote Swedish polar research. The agency’s primary mission is to organise and support research expeditions to the polar regions and manage research infrastructure. The Secretariat also helps to create favourable conditions for polar research that does not involve fieldwork.
During my presentation I will present the agency's research infrastructure, ongoing activities, and strategy on national and international polar collaborations.
After the Arctic Truth Commissions: The Role of Education
Speaker: Daniel Fjellborg, Post doctor in Political Science
In recent years, several Arctic states have initiated Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to address historic injustices committed against ethnic minorities and Indigenous peoples. These processes have examined, for example, the assimilative policies targeting the Sámi, Greenlanders, Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset across the Nordic countries. As these Commissions conclude their work, we are now entering a crucial post-Commission phase.
This presentation provides an overview of Truth and Reconciliation initiatives in the Arctic, identifies key research gaps that remain underexplored, and examines the vital role of education in fostering reconciliation and renewed relationships between groups in contemporary society.
Organizing a ‘green’ transition in the Swedish Arctic
Speaker: Johan Sandström, Professor of Accounting and Control
In the Swedish Arctic, massive investments are underway in 'green' steel with the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The investments also promise economic development and attractive communities in a depopulating county. But the investments make great demands on places and people expected to make them possible. Against this background, different organizations have been created solely with the aim of mobilizing actors around the investments. Two such organizations, Bodenxt and AGON, are in focus in this presentation based on an on-going research project. How are they organized, whose interests do they represent, what influence do they have, and how are they held accountable? By studying how such initiatives function and exert influence, we learn more about how democratic and inclusive the investments are, whose interests are captured, and how accountability for possibly broken promises can be demanded.
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