The MAREC was granted 10,5 million Norwegian Kroner by The Research Council of Norway (RCN), as well as partner universities from the RCN Work program: Research Programme on Societal Security and Safety (SAMRISK). The project was dedicated to understanding the challenges of large-scale emergency response, including the knowledge on the management systems, as well as exercise schemes. The following members of the UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Safety and Security contributed to the project during 2017-2022: Nord University, World Maritime University, University of Greenland, Marine Institute of Memorial University, University of Iceland, UNIS University Centre in Svalbard, Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping, UIT the Arctic University of Norway and Norwegian Police University College.

World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden, kindly hosted the final scientific meeting, which was led by Professor Dimitrios Dalaklis and Professor Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs, in the end of May this year. Five member universities of the UArctic Thematic Network on Safety and Security participated in the meeting:

  • Nord University was represented by associate professor Natalia Andreassen, MAREC project leader, prof. Odd Jarl Borch, leader of NORDLAB and former project manager in the MAREC, advisor at the High North Center Andrey Kazakov, senior advisor at NORDLAB Rune Elvegård, Associate professor Ensieh Roud, and delivered speeches on the project results, on importance of the Arctic Safety and Security Research and joint training in inter-organizational collaboration.
  • Research associate Anastasia Christodoulou and professor Claudio Aporta from the Word Maritime University introduced their research on arctic marine governance and maritime transportation system infrastructure.
  • Research scientist Rob Brown from the Memorial University of Newfoundland discussed learning from search and rescue exercises, and presented thoughts for the next ARCSAR exercise.
  • UNIS – The University Centre in Svalbard was represented by research associate Nataly Marchenko, demonstrating an online GIS tool for mapping high risk incidents and its use in light of competence development efforts.
  • Uffe Jakobsen, professor at the University of Greenland, presented research on the development of Arctic sea routes and their implications for Greenland.

 

The partners are also grateful for a fantastic, guided tour through the WMU Headquarters, including the maritime simulator that is used for research. The visit to WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute demonstrated that WMU has many  international students all over the globe, and the project has learned about offered programs and some of the PhD projects. WMU was founded in 1983 by the International maritime organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, as its premier centre of excellence for maritime and oceans postgraduate education, research, and capacity building.

Looking through the activities performed during the project, the meeting gave an opportunity to understand the importance of such joint international scientific collaboration and the impact of the project. We are continuing our research efforts on maritime emergency preparedness and response, with special focus on governance perspectives, extending our knowledge on incident coordination and situation awareness, as well as collaboration training and exercising withing MRO and high-risk maritime incident response operations. The efforts will strengthen and improve collaboration strategies of the emergency response system in the Arctic.

By Natalia Andreassen, Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Safety and Security, Associate Professor, Nord University.