Council 2014-2015

The following early career researchers served on the 2014-2015 Council. In addition, the members of the APECS Executive Committee 2014-2015 are also part of the Council: Jean-Sébastien Moore, Ivan Dubinenkov, Ruth Hindshaw, Heather Mariash, Trista Vick-Majors as well as Jennifer Provencher (ex-offio), and Yulia Zaika (ex-officio).

We would also like to recognize our past leaders as they continue to serve our organization as Ex-Officio members of the Council: Russell Fielding (USA), Christie Logvinova (USA / Russia), Allen Pope (USA), Kim Jochum (USA), Tosca Ballerini (France), Alexey Pavlov (Norway) and Mariette Wheeler (South Africa).

• Hanne Nielsen - Australia – Council Co-Chair 2014-2015

  University of Tasmania

  Hanne Nielsen is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania, working on a project entitled 'Not for sale? Symbolic representations of Antarctica for commercial purposes.' This project involves examining adverts that use Antarctica to sell products and experiences, and looking at the different ways Antarctica has been used as a symbol for a range of ideas. She has also worked as a guide on Antarctic tour ships, lecturing on human interactions with the southern continent. As an active member of the New Zealand Antarctic Society, Hanne enjoys sharing her passion for the Southern Continent with all those who will listen. Hanne speaks English and German and graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA (Hons) in English and German literature in 2011. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, writing and exploring the outdoors.

• Michael Laiho - United Kingdom - Council Co-Chair 2014-2015

  Durham University

  I am a half British, half Finnish, with an interest in cosmopolitanism, equality and global environmental and social justice. Between 2009-10 I studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, and obtained an MSc. in European Studies: Ideas and Identities at the European Institute. After graduating in London I moved to Turku, Finland, to complete my military conscription service and in 2012 started a Doctoral programme in International Relations at the University of Lapland's Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi. The primary focus of my Doctoral thesis was the relevance of Arctic governance for the European Union's energy policy. However, I did not stay in Finland to complete this thesis: during 2013 I took part in an Erasmus student exchange for four months, where I studied and gave lectures at the Metropolitan University of Prague (MUP), Czech Republic, on European Security and Defence and Energy Policy-Making; next I took part in a North2North student exchange for four months, where I studied Polar Law at the University of Akureyri, Iceland, and worked as an intern at the Stefansson Arctic Institute, assisting Dr. Joan Nymand Larsen with editing the Arctic Social Indicators (ASI) and Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR); and finally, in 2014, I left the Arctic Centre to begin a new, exciting Doctoral programme at Durham University's Department of Geography, in the UK. Nowadays, my postgraduate research still involves a critique of EU policy-making, although it does so against the grain of International Relations scholarship, thematically deconstructing discourse on 'Arctic space' from a post-structural lens. Both critical geopolitics and political ecology contribute the most to my theoretical approach. In my spare time I enjoy marathon running and swimming but would like to take up cycling, diving and learn to play the violin again. This year I will be organising the Durham Marxist Society and taking part in other exciting social events. I also enjoy micro-blogging about Arctic Space @https://twitter.com/arcticspace and life in general @https://twitter.com/LaihoMika.

• Jennifer Balmer - United States

  Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme

  Jennifer Balmer is an environmental toxicologist with strong interest in the understanding the routes of exposure and sublethal health effects of legacy and emerging anthropogenic contaminants on marine wildlife and how environmental factors, such as global climate change and ocean acidification, may serve as cumulative impacts affecting chemical toxicity. After receiving her PhD in Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, she completed a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and served as a staff scientist in the Marine Immunology Program at Mote Marine Laboratory. She currently serves as a scientific secretary for the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, helping to compile the next assessment report for emerging contaminants in the Arctic. Her research has focuses on human-related impacts on the health and immune function of protected marine species and validating non-invasive methods for assessing wildlife health. Previous and current research topics include contaminant exposure and health assessments of small cetaceans, immunotoxicity of harmful algal blooms in marine mammals and sea turtles, health monitoring of offshore shark and fish species following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and cumulative effects of contaminants and ocean acidification on corals. She is also active in environmental education and wildlife rehabilitation. Several recent trips to the Alaskan Arctic and Antarctic regions have prompted her to finally pursue her longstanding interest in polar biology research and conservation.

• Erik Behrens - New Zealand

  NIWA

  Grew up in Germany and started to study physical oceanography in Kiel (Germany) in 2003. Finished in 2008 with a Diploma and a thesis about the variability of the Indonesian Throughflow in numerical simulations. After that warm water science, I continued in Kiel as a PhD student but switched to a more exciting region, The High Latitudes. The focus of my PhD was to investigate the oceanic response to Greenland Melting in high resolution ocean simulations. Apart from the theoretical work, I embarked on some research voyages, one which brought me to Greenland. During my PhD, I was involved in exciting science in the North Atlantic and met a lot of great polar researchers. After my PhD (2013), I moved to Wellington (New Zealand) for a PostDoc and have since worked on climate change impacts on the Southern Ocean, New Zealand and Antarctica, using coupled climate models. (www.erik-behrens.de)

• Roxanne Beltran - United States

  University of Alaska Anchorage

  I am particularly interested in the influences of dynamic environments on the behavior, demographics, physiology and foraging ecology of high trophic level marine mammals. I obtained my bachelors degree from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2013, where I worked with a variety of captive and non-captive pinnipeds. My current Masters thesis research is focused on Weddell seals in Antarctica. Specifically, I am working construct a standardized bioenergetics model to estimate baseline and reproductive energy requirements for Weddell seals, and subsequently evaluate the impacts of fishing and climate change on those requirements. When I moved North to begin my graduate work at the University of Alaska Anchorage, I was astonished by the sense of community among polar researchers. I look forward to joining the polar research community and to bringing awareness about the activities and resources offered by APECS.

• Alice Bradley - United States – Co-Chair Research Activities Committee

  University of Colorado Boulder

  I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder. I am working in the Aerospace Engineering department, in the Remote Sensing, Earth and Space Sciences focus area. My research focuses in sea ice - ocean - atmosphere interactions in environments with partial sea ice cover using unmanned aircraft as a sensing platform. My research includes both the marginal ice zone in the Arctic and polynyas in the Antarctic, looking how sea ice floes respond to wind forcing (among other things) in both regions. I grew up in Chugiak, Alaska with a family of geoscientists. I attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where I studied electrical engineering. After a year at MIT's Lincoln Lab working on border surveillance systems, I moved to the University of Colorado for graduate school. I received my M.S. in aerospace engineering in spring 2014, with a focus in remote sensing technology.

• Archana Dayal - India

  National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR)< /p>

  My name is Arcchana Dayal. I am a woman scientist-in-the-making (!), aged 23 and a citizen of India. I have a Master's in 'Climate Science & Policy' from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University, New Delhi and Bachelors in 'Biological Sciences' from the University of Delhi. During my third semester at TERI, I joined an expedition to Kolahoi glacier in the Western Himalayas (in Kashmir) to study the geomorphological features of glaciers during my course work on 'Glacier Hydrology'.
  I worked on my Master's thesis and summer internship at the Ice Core Laboratory of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, (which is India's nodal centre for polar research). I was selected as a student researcher for the 33rd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (December 2013 to April 2014) where I carried out my research project on the biogeochemistry of blue ice and cryoconite holes. I am currently awaiting the results of my Junior Research Fellow (JRF) interview at NCAOR. In the future, I wish to pursue a PhD in the field of biogeochemistry of snow and ice.
  I was elected as the Vice-President of the Research, Education and Outreach (REO) working group of the Indian Polar Research Network (IPRN) in August 2014.

• Alena Dekhtyareva - Norway

  UiT The Arctic University of Norway

  I have grown up in Murmansk, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle. Since upper secondary school, I became interested in environmental protection issues and technologies. I graduated with honours in 2010 from the Murmansk State Technical University with the specialist degree (5 years education) in environmental engineering. Since 2011, I have been studying in Norway, at the University of Tromsø (UiT). During my Master studies I spent one semester at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) studying polar meteorology in order to improve my understanding of physical processes of cold climates and gain an experience in the meteorological field work and advanced data processing. I have been awarded a diploma for the degree of Master of Science in Physics at the UiT within the specialization in energy and climate in 2014. I have started my 4-years PhD in Environmental surveillance technology at the Department of Engineering and Safety of the UiT The Arctic University of Norway in 2015. My research fields are polar meteorology and atmospheric chemistry in the Arctic. The work is dedicated to modelling and monitoring of pollution transport and dispersion processes from regional emission sources in the Arctic such as ships and power plants.

• Rachel Downey – Germany – Co-Chair Research Activities Committee

  Naturmuseum Senckenberg

  I am a PhD student researching the ecological impacts of environmental change on sponge communities, specifically the biological impacts of the Larsen AB ice-shelf collapse in Antarctica. I have broad skills in Southern Ocean marine taxonomy and have managed and contributed to large-scale data collaborations, such as the SCAR-MarBIN/TOTAL Foundation Bioconstructors project, which compiled, and made freely available, over 30,000 records of corals, bryozoans, and sponges in the Southern Ocean for scientists, policy makers and conservation managers. I am by discipline, a physical geographer, having specialised in environmental change research in the cryosphere regions (University of Bristol). I gained experience of the environmental impacts on biological communities during my post at ZSL (Zoological Society London), working on reports, posters and organising conferences on the impact of climate change on corals and migratory species. This was furthered within my post as a marine biologist at (BAS) British Antarctic Survey, in which I worked on a broad range of Antarctic marine invertebrate taxonomy, biogeography, and marine geology projects. I gained experience of fieldwork in the Southern Ocean, during a 2-month marine biology and geology expedition to the Weddell Sea in 2012.

• Francyne Elias - Piera – Spain / Brazil - Co-Chair Education and Outreach Committee

  Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain / Brazil

  I have a degree in Biological Sciences from University Mackenzie (Brazil-2000) and have worked in the Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR) with Antarctic Macro fauna since that year. I have taken courses in Molecular Biology and Taxonomy of peracarids and developed a Masters in Biological Oceanography in the University of São Paulo (Brazil-2005). In 2003, I participated in a campaign to Antarctica and in 2014 I participated in two campaigns with a project of bethos and trophic relationships of various coastal organisms. During eight years I taught in Elementary and Secondary Schools (Science, Biology and Chemistry), always exploring Antarctica and environmental education topics, giving talks at public and private schools. Now, I am on the last year of the PhD at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain-since 2010) working with trophic relationships using different biomarkers (Stable isotope, biochemical balance and fatty acids) and interested in how climate change affects this interaction. My PhD fellowship is of Ciência sem Fronteiras - CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development / Brazil). I am a participating member of APECS-Brazil leading numerous educational activities at APECS Brazil, including POLAR WEEKS and the first Polar meeting in the Amazon.

• Ellyn Enderlin - United States

  University of Maine

  I received by B.S. in Environmental Science from Lehigh University in 2008, my M.S. in Geological Science from Ohio State University in 2010, and my PhD from Ohio State University in summer 2013. For the past year I have been working as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. My research aims to develop a better understanding of marine-terminating outlet glacier dynamics and ice-ocean interactions using a combination of remote sensing and in situ data and numerical modeling techniques. As a glaciologist, my work primarily focuses on changes in glacier behavior and potential triggering mechanisms responsible for the recent dynamic acceleration and thinning observed at outlet glaciers in western and southeastern Greenland. My work on ice-ocean interactions is inherently collaborative in nature: in order to develop a better understanding of ocean forcing at glacier termini, my ongoing analysis of iceberg submarine melting is performed in collaboration with several oceanographer colleagues. In the future, I hope to expand upon my current collaborative efforts and develop effective methods to communicate my research findings to the general public.

• Laura Ferguson - United Kingdom

  Hariot-Watt University, Scotland

  With a career beginning in media and communication, Laura studied at the University of Paisley (now UWS), specialising in documentary filmmaking. During these years she also studied with the Open University for a humanities degree in philosophy and literature. Following two media jobs, in journalism and in publishing, she completed a PhD in media, as well as a postgraduate certificate in film journalism, at the University of Glasgow.
  She began studying for a BSc with the Open University during her PhD, selecting a range of modules in physics, ecology and biology, before completing a module in collaboration across organisational and cultural boundaries to finish the degree. When the recession forced her out of her original industry, she enrolled on an MSc Water Resources course on a part-time basis with the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society at Heriot-Watt University.
  Laura has a specific interest in Arctic hydrology and Arctic water engineering, particularly with regards to hydropower development. In 2013 she successfully completed the ARTEK/DTU Arctic Engineering Field Course in Greenland, and followed this in 2014 with the Cold Regions Field Investigations Course at UNIS on Svalbard in 2014. In 2014 she also co-authored a paper that was published in the Journal of Coastal Life Medicine.! ! She also continues to research in the field of science communication, presenting a paper at the Fifth International Science in Society Conference (Warsaw, November 2013). She was also an Associate Editor for two issues of the Science in Society Journal.
  Her LinkedIn profile can be found at: uk.linkedin.com/pub/laura-ferguson/95/2b9/b74/

• Dave Grant - United States

  Representing American Littoral Society,

  Polar Educators International (PEI) on the APECS Council
  I am fortunate to share science with students in the best of both worlds - as a formal educator in a traditional teaching role and as an informal educator in non-traditional field environments. Although I have taught extensively in biological and marine sciences, my preferred topics are Human Geography and Earth Science because they offer a wide variety of relevant and current topics to students of different ages and skill levels. Significantly, they allow me to introduce climate issues and applied technology to their interdisciplinary studies.
  As an educator, experience has demonstrated that the most valuable and enduring lessons for students are those that include relevant experiential, hands-on activities; and this has benefitted my students through STEM lessons and applied technology.
  As a member of the Earth Science panel developing statewide science proficiencies for high school students, I championed the inclusion of satellite imaging and remote sensing in our state standards. In practice, I immerse students in those same technologies and apply them to many courses as a connection to geography and climate.
  As a curriculum developer I employ state and national standards for guidance and continuity, and have received a number of accolades for programs we have developed and present. This includes the USEPA Environmental Quality Award.

• Laura Kelvin – Canada – Co-Chair Education and Outreach Committee

  University of Western Ontario

  I am a PhD candidate at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. My research uses an archaeological ethnographic approach to explore how perceptions of the past and archaeological research vary within the Inuvialuit community of Sachs Harbour, NWT, to determine how archaeology can best complement Inuvialuit understandings of the past. This research is part of Dr. Lisa Hodgetts' Ikaahuk Archaeology Project on Banks Island. I completed my BA in Anthropology, minor First Nations Studies at Western University in 2009 and my MA in Archaeology at Memorial University in Newfoundland in 2011. My MA research combined oral history and archaeological evidence to compose an ethnohistory of the Inuit-Metis in Sandwich Bay, Labrador. My research interests include Indigenous knowledge, researcher-community relationships, archaeology, the history of archaeological research in the North, and intellectual property rights. When I am not studying I enjoy amateur astronomy, beading, hiking, and drawing. I am also a program coordinator for the Public Humanities@Western, an active member of the Committee for Women in Anthropology, and a volunteer at the McIntosh Art Gallery.

• Alia Khan - United States

  University of Colorado – Boulder

  A native of the Tarheel state, I completed my BS in Public Health in the US at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, School of Public Health. My research interests began in detecting fecal contamination in rural drinking water in developing countries. After travelling in the high mountains in the Himalayas between research field stays in South Asia, I discovered a love and passion for cold environment field work. In May 2010 I began my MS at the University of Colorado – Boulder, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Studies. During that time I completed a UNIS field course on 'Fate and Modeling of Pollutants in the Arctic, and was also a member of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Long Term Ecological Research Site (LTER), 'Stream Team'. The Stream Team is tasked with measuring discharge of ephemeral glacier fed streams in the Dry Valleys which flow 6-10 weeks per year, as well as collect water samples for chemical and biological analysis. We spent almost four months camping in the dry valleys and hiking to and from the stream sites. I then stayed on at CU-Boulder for a PhD in Environmental Engineering, and am now in my third year. My dissertation specific research interests are in local and long range transport of contaminants and pollutants to the cryosphere, and their resulting impacts on albedo reduction, the hydrological cycle and water quality. I am also very interested in the social and human impacts of climate change and have worked with the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo. Like many researchers in the polar sciences, I love the great outdoors! I'm an avid backcountry splitboarder and also enjoy rock and ice climbing.

• Elena Kuznetsova - Norway – Co-Chair Membership and Involvement Committee

  Representing the Permafrost Young Researcher Network (PYRN) on the APECS Council
  Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

  I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Road group of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. I had the privilege to complete my bachelor/master studies and PhD research at the Department of Geocryology (Faculty of Geology) of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia). My PhD dissertation was focused on thermal properties and phase composition of water in the frozen volcanic ash and scoria (region – Kamchatka, Far-East of Russia). Since 2012, I have been living and working in Norway, 2012-2013 I was working as a research scientist at SINTEF - the largest independent research organization in Scandinavia, and from 2014 I started my 3-years postdoc in NTNU. My research interests focus on frost heaving with special application to roads in cold climate regions. Currently I am IASC (International Arctic Science Committee) fellow in Cryosphere Working Group (CWG) and a member of PYRN ExCom.

  My main hobbies are practicing yoga, skiing (both cross-country and downhill), drawing, and photography.

• Silvia Lourenco – Portugal – Co-Chair Membership and Involvement Committee

  Universidade de Lisboa

  I am a Marine Biologist with a MSc in ecology, management and modeling of marine resources by the University Nova de Lisboa. I am a PhD Student in the Oceanography Centre of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, where I'm studying the effect of environmental factors in the life cycle of octopus. My research interests are mainly fish and cephalopods marine ecology studies, particularly the ones dedicated to growth, trophic ecology and population dynamics.Since 2009 I've been working in the Polar Project under José Xavier coordination (IMAR University of Coimbra) in collaboration with Martin Collins, John Watkins (British Antarctic Survey), Carlos Assis (University of Lisbon) and Yves Cherel (CEBC-CNRS, France). My work field is mainly dedicated to fish and cephalopods ecology, growth and population dynamics studies.I am a member of the APECS Portugal executive committee and member of the APECS council since October 2010. Under APECS I also collaborate in the Funding Resources working group.

• Minkyoung Kim - South Korea

  POSTECH

  I have my BSc in the Earth ScMinkyoung Kimience Education from Chonnam National University in Korea. During my undergraduate days, I experienced various works. I worked as a student-teacher at middle school in Korea and did an internship as a teacher at Kingston Heath Primary School, in Melbourne, Australia. Also, I joined in field trips with professors of my department, for 3 years, two times of geology and one oceanography field.
  I was interested in paleoclimatology, geology and oceanography. At the end, I decided to study oceanography. I am now studying ocean chemistry in Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea. It is my 5th semester as an integrated course student. My target area is the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica and East/Japan Sea. I am also interested in Canada Basin, too. My main technique is a radiocarbon analysis from a bulk size samples. I am focusing on the different sources of sinking Particulate Organic Carbon. To start the experiment my adviser and I made two vacuum manifolds. Additionally I learned how to use gas chromatography to analyze alkenone. I participated in several cruises. Especially, I joined in the Amundsen Cruise two years ago. This winter, I will go to the Amundsen Sea again.

• Lydie Lescarmontier - France

  2007-2008: Master sciences in oceanography and meteorology
  2008-2012: PhD in glaciology studying the Mertz Glacier in Antarctica (Adelie Land), and in particular the mechanical interaction between the ice-shelf and the ocean leading to its calving. During my PhD I had the opportunity to participate to 4 field work seasons in Antarctica, setting up GPS beacons on the Mertz glacier. I did my PhD in cotutell between the LEGOS in Toulouse-France (Laboratoire d'Étude en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiale) and the University of Tasmania in Australia, Hobart-Tasmania.
  2012-2015: PostDoctorate in geophysics at the Australian National University in Canberra-Australia. My work focused on integrating satellite data (Gravity, Global Positioning System and Altimetry) to calculate the mass balance of Antarctica (e.g. The accumulation of snow and/or the ice loss). A part of my project was to organise two field work season in Antarctica, in order to set up GPS stations in Enderby Land and in the Amery region to measure the post-glacial rebound, signal then removed from the gravity data used.
  Since 2014 I participate to guided cruises in the Arctic, where I share my knowledge of glaciers through conferences.

• Claudia Marturana - Chile

  I have always lived in the north part of Chile, where the desert becomes dominant. From this point of view, Antarctica always seems very far away and unknown for me; eventually this place becomes very intriguing and fascinating. At school I was interested in biology and evolutionary trends in organisms, especially in extreme environments. It was only until many years later that I found my place at the Molecular Ecology Laboratory, where I could combine this childhood motivation with scientific knowledge. During my master study, I developed laboratory skills using molecular tools in marine invertebrates focus on the genetic consequences of a particular mode of development in Antarctica. Now, I am on the first year of my PhD, when I am going to test two biogeography hypotheses regarding of the evolutionary history of this group in Antarctica using a phylogeographic approach. Through all this years I traveled and met a lot of interesting people all over the world because of the network that I was able to make thanks to APECS. Now I am very excited and I want to make more things with you.

• Adam Naito - United States

  Texas A&M University

  I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Geography at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, United States, having completed my PhD there in August 2014. I have been a member of APECS since 2010, and I served on the APECS Council for the 2013-2014 term. Since January of 2014, I have been the sole editor and developer of the APECS Quarterly Newsletter.
  Broadly, my research interests are in the domains of biogeography, landscape ecology, ecological modeling, and environmental science applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. My dissertation work focused on furthering scientific understanding of the historic dynamics of Alaskan Arctic shrub expansion and its landscape-scale processes through: 1) quantifying the historic spatial patterns of shrub expansion using historical aerial photography and current satellite imagery; 2) developing a simulation model to understand how landscape-scale environmental characteristics influence shrub development; and 3) conducting scientific outreach via public presentations to primarily Alaskan Native communities in northern Alaska. I also received a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant to expand this work to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in cooperation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Prior to my doctoral work, I pursued BS and MS degrees in Geography at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. I also interned in the Maps Division of the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC.
  I currently teach two sections of introductory physical geography, each with more than 100 students. I have also taught introductory GIS courses, as well as laboratory courses in physical geography and cartography at Texas A&M University and Penn State University.
  In my spare time, I enjoy running, hiking, cycling, and playing the guitar.

• Daria Shapovalova - United Kingdom

  University of Aberdeen

  I was born and raised in Yalta, the southernmost city of Ukraine. In my school years, I have founded and headed the school parliament and decided that extra-curriculum activities are the best way to enhance and complement the studies. I graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree summa cum laude from the National Law Academy of Ukraine in Kharkiv. During my undergraduate studies I was an active member of the European Law Students Association, to which I served as a VP for Seminars and Conferences at the Ukrainian national board. I was also a performing actress at the university drama theatre. I focused on Public International Law and Energy Law and Policy during my LLM studies at the University of Groningen. That is when my interest for the Arctic region sparked and I have applied for a PhD position at the University of Aberdeen with a research proposal on the effectiveness of the current legal framework for the environmental protection in the Arctic Ocean with regards to oil and gas development. I am currently in the 1st year of my research programme and am doing my best to be an active participant of the academic events on the Arctic.

• Laura Sharp - United States

  Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

  Originally from Ontario, Canada, I am now living in Washington, DC, where I am the Research/Program Assistant at the Arctic Studies Center, Anthropology Department at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Prior to moving to the United States, I completed my B.A in International Development Studies and Geography (2005) and my M.A. in Geography (2009) both at the University of Guelph, Ontario. My graduate research focused on adaptation and the role of formal and informal institutions (local norms, customs, traditional knowledge) in facilitating adaptation to climate and other changes in the Inuit community of Hopedale, Nunatsiavut in Northern Labrador, Canada. My research contributed to the 2007-2009 International Polar Year Community Adaptation and Vulnerability in the Arctic Regions (CAVIAR) project, and was part of the ArcticNet Phase I Project 4.2, and Phase II Project 1.1. Following my graduate program, I held the position of Research Associate at the Global Environmental Change Group in the Geography Department at the University of Guelph where I provided support to the IPY CAVIAR and ArcticNet programs. In 2011 I joined the Arctic Studies Center and in 2012 was the 18th Inuit Studies Conference Coordinator and later transitioned to Research/Program Assistant where I now support the Arctic Studies Center and staff. Currently, I am the Main Project Coordinator for the APECS Norden research project "Bridging Early Career Researchers and Indigenous Peoples in Nordic Countries".

• Astrid Surmatz - Netherlands

  University of Amsterdam

  Since some years, I do research on how the arctic, subarctic and Antarctic is depicted and described, for instance how expeditions are expressed in travel literature and expedition accounts, but also in images, photography, opera, music and film. I am also interested in institutional representations and how they interact with the public, e.g. the stories museums and libraries tell of the North. I have researched on early arctic and subarctic descriptions and manuscripts like the Linnaeus Lapland journey. More recently, I have looked into the depiction of the arctic and Antarctic in children´s literature, picture books, diaries and illustrations. Also I am interested in the role of climate change in discourse, text and image, and on digital emotions about the arctic and arctic as expressed in blogs and online diaries. I give lectures, teach Scandinavian literature and culture, am a member of several research groups on the high north and Nordic Colonialism. Research affiliations to Linnaeus university in Sweden, Umeå in Sweden, Tromsø in Norway, Cambridge in England, Edmonton and Winnipeg in Canada. Enjoy organizing and co-organizing workshops. Have participated in several excursions in Lapland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and on Spitsbergen. Likes to be out in the Scandinavian nature with family, loves cross-country skiing, skating on lakes and the Sea.

• Zuzanna Swirad - United Kingdom

  Durham University

  I got hooked on the Arctic when, as an undergraduate student, I took part in the 32nd Polish Polar Expedition to Hornsund, S Svalbard. I am originally from Wroclaw, Poland, where I completed my BSc and MSc in Georgraphy. My major field of study was Geomorphology and in my thesis I focused on morphology, evolution and controls of High-Arctic coastline of Hornsund. In 2012, I served an internship in polar remote sensing at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK and in 2013 I took part in Permafrost and Periglacial Landforms course at the University Centre in Svalbard. After graduating from Wroclaw University I returned to Cambridge to get more experience in the use of GIS and remote sensing techniques in polar studies. I worked on creating global cryosphere maps and studies tundra-taiga interface dynamics. I was a fieldwork assistant on an expedition to the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia. In 2013 I got involved in a project whose aim was to map ice-related landforms on Mars, as well as in IAG Rocky Coast WG and APECS Council. I have shared knowledge about the Arctic through volunteering for Polar Museum in Cambridge and giving physical geography classes in secondary schools. Currently, I am starting a PhD at Durham University, UK. My research focuses on evolution of post-glacial rocky coasts.

• Anna Varfolomeeva - Hungary

  Central European University

  My name is Anna Varfolomeeva, I am an environmental anthropologist from Russia, currently starting my PhD at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. I received my Master's Degree (2012) from CEU as well, and my thesis was devoted to the evolution of the concept of indigenous people in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation with the case study of Vepses, a small ethnic minority residing in the North-West of Russia.
  In 2013/14 I was conducting research at Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies in Sweden; my research focused on the state policies of Sweden towards its indigenous population in comparison with Russia. I am specifically focused on the topics of indigenous land and natural resources rights in the Northern Europe and Russia as well as indigenous youth organizations and their activities. I took part in several European conferences on minority rights and youth policies and had an internship in event organization at a youth NGO in Slovenia in 2012/13. Now I am at the next step of my career and will study the complex relations of indigenous communities to mining in the North-West of Russia.

• Amanda Winegardner - Canada

  McGill University

  While I grew up in Southern Ontario, Canada, I have always had a deep interest in diverse places in Canada and as a result have lived and worked in many different Canadian provinces and territories. My first real introduction to the North started in the provincial norths; in Churchill, Manitoba and the boreal regions of northern Saskatchewan. I was drawn to both the history and resourcefulness of these places, key factors that continue to draw me towards northern research and lifestyles. I completed a BSc in environmental biology at the University of Guelph in 2005. It was during this degree this degree that I first travelled to Churchill, for a field course in subarctic ecology. Since that two week course in 2007, I have returned to Churchill nearly 20 times, for MSc fieldwork (also completed at the University of Guelph), as well as work with citizen science groups and PhD research. I also lived in Churchill for a year between my MSc and PhD, working as a research assistant and technician at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). I continue to work actively in Churchill, through collaborations with scientists at the CNSC as well as the EarthWatch Institute. In 2012, I started a PhD at McGill University (Montréal). A large part of my research involves research in Subarctic Canada. Northern freshwater systems face significant stressors, with the potential to impact biodiversity, water quality and even human health. With climate change a serious challenge in many of these systems, it is all the more important to understand the interaction of multiple stressors. I am using a combination of paleoecology (lake sediment records) and molecular approaches to ask questions about recovery of plankton communities in the North from regimes of multiple stressors, specifically in areas of intense mining. The plankton are a key group in these systems, acting as indicators of water quality. For this work, I am working and studying lakes in two areas of Northern Québec (Schefferville and Fermont) with similar histories of anthropogenic disturbance, as well as field sites in Churchill, Manitoba, an area undergoing significant and rapid climatic change.

• Scott Zolkos - Canada

  University of Alberta

  I am a MSc. Student in the biological sciences program at the University of Alberta. My graduate focus in ecology stems from my longstanding fascination with the impact of climate change on earth systems. After completing my B.A. in environmental science at Middleburgy College (2011), I joined the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) as a Research Assistant. For 2.5 years at WHRC, I was part of research teams investigating the impacts of climate change and land disturbance on river chemistry and land-ocean linkages (Global Rivers Observatory), with much focus on the Arctic. My participation as a team member on the international Polaris Project expedition (2012) to the Siberian Arctic inspired me to pursue graduate studies in arctic science. As a graduate student in Dr. Suzanne Tank's lab, I am studying the influence of massive permafrost degradation on carbon cycle dynamics and aquatic ecosystems in the Peel River watershed (Northwest Territories, Canada). I find this area of research both rewarding and fascinating because it draws upon an international group of fantastic researchers while engaging local communities to tackle critical questions about the impact of climate change on arctic ecosystems.