Christina Berg Johansen

Christina Berg Johansen ,Ph.d., External Associate Professor, Dpt. of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, says, "North2North gave me the opportunity to engage in two important sets of activities: First, 5 days of seminars and outreach activities in Nuuk, Greenland and secondly, a 10 day PhD course including field trips and network meetings in Sisimiut, Greenland. Both parts of the journey provided me with data and insights invaluable for my further academic work."

Christina took part in a 2-day seminar on Public Participation in Arctic Extractive Industries organized, by the Arctic Oil and Gas Research Centre at the University of Greenland.

 From this seminar, Johansen adds, "The discussion of and interest in the positive and negative effects amongst core experts and agents in Greenland gave me a new perspective on my existing work on imaginaries and postcolonial strategies for sustainability in Greenland."

Johansen also participated in a series of Thematic Network meetings in Sisimiut.

"My own research on Arctic sustainability strategies and temporalities as well as Anthropocene challenges was deeply enriched by the many cross-disciplinary perspectives, and the many different locations that all participants brought to the discussions. I gave two presentations myself during the course, and it was good academic fun to see how my specific interests in temporal aspects of sustainability and Arctic challenges could play into a broader field and vice versa".

Finally, Christina speaks to the impact and importance of two field trips that occurred during her research stay, "I should also mention the two intense field trips to the Itilleq settlement and the White Mountain mine. The topic of infrastructure came intensely alive through these visits and gave me a much deeper understanding of planning and strategies for development in Greenland...This connection of natural resources to global consumption became poignant, situating local Arctic needs in a complex network of modern global capitalism – with all the opportunities and not least environmental challenges that this offers".

Overall, Johansen says that, "Without the North2North grant, I would have been close to impossible for me to engage and explore all the above, since my department would not have been able to fund the trip. So this report is followed by sincere appreciation to the North2North and UArctic funding structure! Thank you".

Árni Jóhan Petersen

Árni Jóhan Petersen, PhD fellow at Copenhagen Business School and assistant professor at the University of the Faroe Islands, says of her research stay, "The stay in Greenland has really inspired me in so many ways. To meet with the other members of the network and the students of the course from different regions in the Arctic has broaden my horizon and opened up for great opportunities for further academic collaboration in the future".

Petersen also participated in Thematic Network meetings in Sisimiut, and speaks of the value in meeting face-to-face, "The opportunity to discuss these aspects face-to-face is of high value because of the increased level of progress and development in each topic put forward on the agenda - when compared to digital meetings".

"As a PhD fellow I took part in the PhD and Masters’ students course “Sustainability, extractives industries and social responsibility: Greenland and beyond” that took place on 23rd to 27th October 2017 in Sisimiut. I am at the final phase of my PhD on “Oil Explorations and Expectations in the Faroe Islands” and the course gave me the last remaining ECTS required by the PhD school. Since I had a dual membership at the course, student and instructor, I also had the opportunity to give a lecture on the theoretical aspects of my own work. This really forced me to work with the ideas in my PhD project and to present my research to a broader audience beyond CBS and the Faroe Islands. Instrumental and valuable learning".

Through each of the experiences from the five Thematic Network members, it is easy to see how beneficial and enriching north2north funding can be. The same research stay can provide a diverse learning and teaching experience based on individual interests and needs.