NordForsk, a subsidiary of the Nordic Council, has granted funding for nine Arctic research projects, three of which involve researchers from the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The total funding received by Minna Turunen, Timo Koivurova and Florian Stammler is almost 900,000 euros.
For the first time, the Nordforsk Arctic funding round also included parties from Canada, the United States and Greenland. Nearly 30 million euros were to be distributed, and the themes of the funded projects highlight climate change, natural resources and security. Indigenous perspectives are also central.
University Researcher Minna Turunen is involved in the FROST project, a project led from Canada: Arctic freshwater food systems: Influence of warming winters and increased snow cover. The research sites are in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, where the main sites are in Kilpisjärvi and Muddusjärvi. In a project lasting until 2029, the Arctic Centre financing is € 370,000.
A doctoral researcher hired for the Arctic Centre will interview local fishers about the effects of climate change, especially on winter fishing. The study combines local fisher's knowledge and experience-based observations of changes in ice and fish populations with scientific knowledge of lake food webs and ecosystem modelling.
Research Professor Florian Stammler is involved in a Norwegian-led study Sustainable Multispecies Relations in the Arctic (SPECIES). Researchers Nuccio Mazzullo, Heidi Konttinen and Päivi Soppela also participate in the work from the Arctic Centre. The Arctic Centre's share of the funding is approximately € 350,000.
The target areas of the study are the northern Bothnian Bay, Lapland, Finnmark and certain areas of Greenland. The Finnish team will study how different knowledge systems — traditional, local, and scientific — can be fruitfully connected to solve conflicts of interest between people and various species of animals, such as the Baltic Seals, fish and domestic Lapland cattle.
Research Professor Timo Koivurova leads the Arctic Centre's contribution to the Norwegian-led project Critical minerals in the Arctic: Challenges and perspectives for the Nordic countries (CRIMINA). The funding for the Arctic Centre is close to € 170,000 and two researchers, Krittika Singh and Pavel Tkach, are involved in the work in addition to Koivurova.
Arctic Centre research involves investigating challenges to indigenous rights and the inclusion of indigenous peoples’ perspectives concerning critical mineral activities in the Arctic.
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Additional information:
University Researcher Minna Turunen, minna.turunen@ulapland.fi, +358 40 539 1182
Research Professor Timo Koivurova, timo.koivurova@ulapland.fi, +358 40 551 9522
Research Professor Florian Stammler, florian.stammler@ulapland.fi, +358 40 013 8807