The transatlantic cooperation on Arctic research has been a historically significant call for proposals under Nordic auspices. In collaboration with research funders from eight countries, NordForsk has allocated a total of more than 330 million Norwegian kroner. This marks the first time NordForsk has collaborated with Canada and the USA, as well as the first time Greenland has participated as funder in a NordForsk call.
Despite the wide thematic range, climate change, natural resources, and security are common themes among the nine funded projects. Additionally, Indigenous perspectives are a central element in all the funded projects.
“At NordForsk, we have worked strategically on this call for proposals for many years, and we are very pleased and proud to present the results of this effort,” says Arne Flåøyen, Director of NordForsk.
“The projects now receiving funding have undergone two thorough evaluation rounds. The high number of applications, along with the emphasis on interdisciplinarity and Indigenous perspectives, means they have passed through a highly competitive selection process. Together, the nine projects align well with the call’s three inspiration areas: security, natural resources, and societies in transition. This also means we have high expectations for the projects, and we look forward to following them throughout the project period,” says Flåøyen.
186 researchers at 66 organisations
In the first application round, which had a deadline in June 2024, NordForsk received a total of 199 applications. Of these, 36 advanced to the second round, which was decided this week.
The projects involve a total of 186 researchers from 66 different universities, institutes, and other research organisations across 10 countries. The largest share of researchers comes from Canada, with 54 participants in the projects. Norway has the second highest number, with 46 researchers, followed by Finland with 25 and Denmark with 24. Greenland and the Faroe Islands contribute seven and four researchers, respectively. See the full figures in the tables below.
Projects to be funded
- Sustainable Human Use of the Marine Environment (SustainME)
Project leader: Jackie Dawson, University of Ottawa, Canada
Project participants from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, United Kingdom
- Addressing Unavoidable Non-Economic Losses to Climate-Induced Events for Communities in the Arctic (LostToClimate)
Project leader: Rico Kongsager, University College Copenhagen, Denmark
Project participants from Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, United States of America - Arctic freshwater food systems: Influence of warming winters and increased snow cover (FROST)
Project leader: Milla Rautio, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Canada
Project participants from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, United States of America - Sustainable Multispecies Relations in the Arctic (SPECIES)
Project leader: Richard Fraser, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Project participants from Denmark, Finland, Norway, United Kingdom - Sustainable and Resilient Communities in remote settlements in the Arctic in the Age of Climate Change (ARCHAIC)
Project leader: Eirik Albrechtsen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Project participants from Denmark, Iceland, Norway - Marine phycotoxins in the Arctic: an emerging climate change risk (PHATE)
Project leader: Sofia Ribeiro, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
Project participants from Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway - Adapting LAw for MOving Targets: Climate Change, Overtourism and Biodiversity in Indigenous Arctic National Parks (ALAMOT)
Project leader: Minna Pappila, Finnish Environment Institute
Project participants from Finland, Norway, Sweden - Critical minerals in the Arctic: Challenges and perspectives for the Nordic countries (CRIMINA)
Project leader: Gørild Merethe Heggelund, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway
Project participants from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
- Responsible mine restoration - Integrating local engagement, ecology, and engineered solutions in Arctic environment (RestoMine)
Project leader: Christian Maurice, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Project participants from Denmark, Greenland, Norway, Sweden
Co-operation partners in the call
The call Sustainable Development of the Arctic is a collaborative effort between the Research Council of Norway, Research Council of Finland, Independent Research Fund Denmark, Research Council Faroe Islands, Swedish Research Council (VR) and Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas), Greenland Research Council, Rannis – Icelandic Centre for Research (with funding from the Ministry of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education), Science and Innovation, National Science Foundation (USA), Canada Research Coordinating Committee (Canada), and NordForsk.
Data on researchers and partner organisations in the Arctic projects
Table 1: Number of researchers per country
| Country | Number of researchers |
| Canada | 54 |
| Norway | 46 |
| Finland | 25 |
| Denmark | 24 |
| Sweden | 11 |
| Iceland | 8 |
| Greenland | 7 |
| United States of America | 5 |
| Faroe Islands | 4 |
| United Kingdom | 2 |
| Total | 186 |
Table 2: Number of partner organisations per country
| Country | Number of partner organisations |
| Canada | 19 |
| Norway | 18 |
| Finland | 6 |
| Denmark | 9 |
| Sweden | 4 |
| Iceland | 4 |
| Greenland | 2 |
| United States of America | 2 |
| Faroe Islands | 2 |
| Total | 66 |
