APECS Nordic Project 2013-2015

APECS conducted the APECS Nordic “Bridging Early Career Researchers and Indigenous Peoples in Nordic Countries” project from 2013 - 2015. Funded through the Nordic Council of Ministers' Arctic Cooperation Programme, the project leveraged the research, education and outreach experience of the APECS network to identify ways to enhance engagement between Early Career Researchers and Indigenous peoples in Nordic regions.  

This research initiative had been developed in response to some of the challenges in polar research. As stated during the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change in Anchorage (2009) “Indigenous Peoples have an important role to play in addressing climate change through their knowledge, experience and rights over land and development…however, this contribution has been largely ignored”. This is often a result of the communication gap between researchers and Indigenous peoples. Better incorporation of this knowledge into Arctic research as well as better communication between Northern residents and researchers is crucial. Thus, a demand for more training of Arctic researchers in how to approach Indigenous peoples, how to work with local experts and how to successfully and respectfully incorporate Traditional Knowledge in research projects is urgently needed.

Outcomes:

The final report of the project is available here.  

A paper was published about the partial results of the survey conducted in the project: 

• Sjöberg, Y, Gomach, S, Kwiatkowski E., and M. Mansoz (2019): Involvement of local Indigenous peoples in Arctic research — expectations, needs and challenges perceived by early career researchers. In: Arctic Science, 2019, 5(1): 27-53, https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0045.

Activities:

The APECS Nordic Project was working towards enhancing engagement between Early Career Researchers and Indigenous peoples in several ways and you can read more about the various activities conducted here on this page. 

APECS wants to thank:

... the APECS International Directorate sponsors - Research Council of Norway, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Polar Institute - for their continued support through which projects like this are made possible. For the APECS Nordic Workshop, additional funding for travel support was provided by the US National Science Foundation, the International Arctic Science Committee and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.

APECS Nordic Project Team:

• Gerlis Fugmann (APECS / UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway) (Project Manager)
• Laura Fleming-Sharp (Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History, United States) (Project Coordinator)
• Karolina Paquin (APECS / UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway) (Project Officer)
• Sandra Juutilainen (University of Oulu, Finland) (Workshop Organizing Team)
• Laura Lukes (North Carolina State University, United States) (Workshop Organizing Team)
• Julie Renee Bull (NunatuKavut Community Council / Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council, Canada) (Workshop Organizing Team)
• Jocelyn Torma (University of Waterloo, Canada) (Webinar Team)
• Yulia Zaika (Khibiny educational and scientific base, Faculty of Geography M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia) (Webinar Team)
• Ylva Sjöberg (Stockholm Universit, Sweden) (Survey Team)
• Mathilde Mansoz (France) (Survey Team)
• Sarah Nuernberger (University of Denver, United States) (Survey Team)
• Julia Skupchenko (Syktyvkar State University, Russia) (Database Coordinator)