Rethinking Arctic Collaboration - project funded by the UArctic and UiB (2023-2025)
Western countries and the EU have paused bilateral and institutional collaboration and contact with Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This applies to scientific organisations as well. The war has led to severe drawbacks in the international Arctic cooperation needed for security, climate change mitigation, biodiversity, combatting pollution, ecosystem conservation, and food security.

Main content
The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a network of universities, colleges, research institutes, and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. University of Bergen (UiB) is a member of the network.
Academia Europaea Bergen, hosted by UiB, initiated an application for economic support for a study on how the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russian actors affect Arctic Science and Arctic Science Diplomacy, and to discuss what may become the characteristics of the future Arctic science collaboration architecture. This as a continuation of a study commited by Academia Europaea Bergen that resulted in the report The Future of Science Diplomacy in the Arctic (2023) (see below).
The project recieved funding for 2023-2025, and a consortium is established.

Background and project description
The tight connection between science and diplomacy in the Arctic has traditionally helped reduce geopolitical tensions and facilitated international resource management. However, after Russia’s full scale invasion in Ukraine, the Russo-western relationship has entered an ice-cold face. Due to the war and international sanctions, science, science-informed decisions, and science diplomacy suffers severely. Reduced international Arctic science collaboration may have severe consequences for climate research and other important scientific topics like social science and ocean ecosystems. The objective of the project is, as described in the grant proposal to UArctic:
- To understand what the effects of war are on scientific collaborations and the volume and value of arctic science in the north.
- In the light of various discussions in the scientific community, to elevate a discussion on what principles should be the foundation for political decisions on science collaboration across borders in turbulent times.
- To discuss what may become the characteristics of the future Arctic science collaboration architecture.
Academia Europaea Bergen Report (2023) - The Future of Science Diplomacy in the Arctic
Currently, Arctic climate research does not have access to climate data from 45% of the Arctic area. This is because climate data from the Russian Arctic areas is largely no longer available to the global research community, as a by-product of the Russia sanctions.
This is one of the findings in the report The Future of Arctic Science and Science Diplomacy, by Academia Europaea Bergen, the Nordic-Baltic hub for the European science academy Academia Europaea.
The topics of the report were central to a successful event with key stakeholders at the 2023 Arctic Frontiers conference. The issue has also been the topic of a SAPEA’ podcast, with project manager Ole Øvretveit and hub director Eystein Jansen as guest.
Relevant Litterature
- Science Diplomacy and the Rise of Technopoles, Vaughan Turekian and PeterGluckman, Issues in Science and Technology 41, vol. 1 (2024)
- Science Diplomacy Challenges at the Poles. Corine Wood-Donnelly, Charlotte Gehrke. https://doi.org/10.1126/scidip.adt9924
- Science at Stake – Russia and the Arctic Council. Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 14, 2023, pp. 112–131
- Health and disease surveillance: Shok, Nataliya, and Katherine Ginsbach. “Channels for Arctic Diplomacy.” Issues in Science and Technology 40, no. 3 (Spring 2024): 42–45. https://doi.org/10.58875/HGCJ5356
- Heather Exner-Pirot, Managing Editor, Arctic Yearbook, Global Diplomacy for the Arctic (response to article above)
- Towards an increasingly biased view on Arctic change (Nature article)
- We should not close those doors and throw the keys away," says Norway PM on Arctic Council cooperation with Russia (The Barents Observer, February 2024)
- Science Diplomacy in the Polar Regions (Alfred Wegner Institute)
- The Future of Arctic Science and Science Diplomacy (Academia Europaea Bergen)
- The Arctic Barometer – June 2022
- Arctic Yearbook 2024 - Arctic Relations: Transformations, Legacies and Futures (call for abstracts)