UW representation at UArctic Congress in Torshavn, Faroe Islands
A very fruitful conference of UArctic (University of the Arctic) took place last week, where 1,400 participants from all over the world met in the Faroe Islands to discuss and share information on interdisciplinary topics related to the Arctic. UArctic is a network of Arctic universities, and UW has been a member from the very beginning. Through UArctic, our students enjoy exchange opportunities with other institutions, and our staff and instructors work together on teaching exchanges and research.
At the meeting in Torshavn, we were present in a few ways. First, Director Catherine Chambers was invited to speak on a panel about the importance of higher education in rural societies, something UW knows very much about! Here we highlighted our strong connection with University of Akureyri as a success story in the relationship between small and large Arctic institutions.
Next, Matthias Kokorsch and Jóhanna Gísladóttir, our two research specialists, presented their case study in the „Lost to Climate“ project in a session dedicated to the project. Matthias and Jóhanna are hard at work on this project and another NORDFORSK project and it is exciting to be able to showcase our research projects in their early stages at conferences to get good feedback from colleagues.
CMM master’s student Una Lilja Erludóttir presented her preliminary results from her thesis research on ocean literacy in a poster session. There was significant interest in the topic of ocean literacy since one of the themes of the whole conference was „Ocean Connectivity” so there were many ocean professionals in attendance.
Finally, one very fun surprise was how many other UW connections were at the conference. A board member, four instructors, three graduates, one current student, and three staff, all busy networking and learning. But, we managed to snap a picture of us. Well, most of us, and then the others joined for a second picture. We are proud of our broad network and the various ways we contribute to conferences like UArctic.
Una Lilja’s thesis supervisor is Catherine Chambers, and they showed up in matching jackets. Coincidence… or just Faroese weather?
