Project title: Graduate field course in Arctic (geo)politics and Indigenous governance led by University of Bergen and linked to the UArctic Thematic Network Arctic and Northern Governance.

Project partners: University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

The University of Bergen (UiB), University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC),
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and UiT The Arctic University of Norway will develop, deliver, and institutionalize a biennial graduate field course in Arctic (geo)politics and Indigenous governance. Involving 16 M.A. and Ph.D. students from the partner institutions, the course will commence with preparatory readings and assignments, followed by travel to Arctic Norway for 10 days of immersive learning in and around Tromsoe. Teaching by course leaders will complement field visits, guest lectures, and discussions with Sarni leaders and culture-bearers, Norwegian authorities, climate and wildlife researchers, mining and tourism officials, and polar historians.
After returning home, students will complete a final project involving circumpolar collaboration. The course will launch January 2024 and recur every two years thereafter, alternating between the partner-institution countries.

Project title: The Governance Challenge of Arctic Regions led by UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Project partners: University of Bergen, Nord University, University of Lapland, Luleå University of Technology, and University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Over the last four decades, processes of decentralization and democratization have established and strengthened representative institutions at the local and regional levels as well as for Indigenous people. Social sciences have been marked with "methodological nationalism". Hence more focus has been on the eight countries in the Arctic, leaving a knowledge gap about the political development of the twenty regions and local and indigenous institutions. This network wants to assemble researchers interested in studying the local and regional political development in the Arctic research drawing on the vast, but understudied quantitative data available on the lower level (i.e. demographic, economic and territorial data).

Project title: UArctic Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education led by UArctic Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education.

Project partners: Nord University, Trent University, University of Northern British Columbia, Lakehead University, University of Alaska Anchorage, and Yukon University.

This project will support the development of the UArctic Circumpolar Studies (CS) program, a longstanding and critical component of UArctic's mission to promote education across the Circumpolar North, as well as the development of the UArctic Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education (Læra Institute), which supports the CS program. The funding will primarily be used for workshops and conferences open to all UArctic faculty and students involved in CS, the promotion and development of CS as a discipline of study, and other activities and initiatives designed to encourage collaboration and engagement in education and pedagogy among UArctic member institutions. Part of the funding will also be used to supplement the contributions made by UArctic member institutions to administering the CS program, as well as the day-to-day operations of the Læra Institute, including expansion of its website (laerainstitute.org) to include a database of CS resources, and efforts to diversify its funding.

Project title: Establishment of an UArctic Research Network for Microtomography of Arctic Marine Organisms led by UiT The Arctic University of Norway and The Arctic University Museum of Norway​ (UMAK).

Project partners: Luleå University of Technology, and University of Copenhagen.

Natural history museum collections provide historical records of species in place and time. This is especially relevant for the Arctic, where climate change is affecting the ecosystem at an alarming rate. A vastly unknown part of the Arctic ecosystem could be lost forever as species go extinct, and some specimens can be difficult to store in museum collections due to their small size and fragility. To document animals of the Arctic Ocean for future generations, we want to scan specimens and reconstruct them digitally through X-ray microtomography. This will allow us to make a 'digital collection' of the Arctic fauna, to describe new species, discover new anatomical and morphological characters, facilitate open science, and to make museum exhibitions for the public based on digital or 3D-printed reconstructions of individual animals. The digital specimens will be openly accessible for everyone to use in research and education.

Project title: Living in the Landscape Summer School 2023-2024: Hybrid Development Project led by Nord University and linked to Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD).

Project partners: University of Lapland, University of the Highlands and Islands, Umeå University, Yukon University, University of Alaska Anchorage, and University of the West of Scotland.

Living in the Landscape Summer School 2023-2024: Hybrid Development Project (LiLa) is a two year project that seeks to develop and establish a hybrid realization model of international Summer School of education for sustainability for Ma and PhD students of 7 universities (Norway, Finland, Sweden, UK/ Scotland, US/Alaska and Canada/Yukon). Long-term transdisciplinary partnerships between arts, natural sciences and humanities within the partner universities of UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Art and Design (ASAD) is designed to meet the emerging challenges of environmental, social, cultural and economic changes in the North and the Arctic caused by megatrends such as globalization and climate change. The collaboration produces an art-based academic course to support new understanding and creative capacity, research methods, pedagogical processes and aesthetic products to support people's sustainable living in the North and the Arctic. Each annual realization of the Summer School is evaluated and further developed using Art-Based Action Research and Design Research methodologies.

Project title: Optimal arctic ship routing from energy-emission-economy perspective within AI and data analytic framework: alternative fuels and lifecycle (costing) analysis considerations led by UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Project partners: Technical University of Denmark, Lund University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Concordia University.

The project aims at reaching an optimal tradeoff model between energy efficiency and emission out from maritime fleet in the arctic ship routes by applying a well-established AI method and using a realistic operational situations of the vessel. The optimization algorithm is then applied to reduce the fuel cost as well as emission, while simultaneously maximizing the energy efficiency. The environmental factors, engine performance, vessel position in time series format are considered as input variables, while energy efficiency operational indicator (EEOI), global worming potential (GWP), and net present value (NPV) are three KPis for decision making on choosing the optimal ship routing in the arctic settings. The target groups are ship industry and maritime navigation, energy segment and fuel market, and environmental communities. The optimized smart ship navigation path according to fuel type based on data-driven soft modeling approach is the main deliverable that has an online adaptability feature in the arctic context. The educational program involves dissemination of knowledge by workshops as well as the online instruction of the outlines in virtual medium to postgrad students within the selected UArctic institutes to empower and expedite the progress of green shipping.

Project title: Joint education and research in Arctic environmental forensics and pollutant remediation (JAF) led by Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and linked to UArctic Thematic Network POPs and Chemicals of Emerging Concern in the Asian Arctic.

Project partners: Harbin Institute of Technology, Aarhus University, University of Iceland, and Yukon University.

The JAF team intends to extend the existing educational and research network on Arctic environmental pollution science towards sustainable remediation and mitigation strategies for local pollution sources including mining and domestic wastes. The here gathered expertise will be actively implemented in the UArctic educational curricula. The scientific and complementary educational profile of our partner universities will compound into a joint Arctic environmental forensics educational plan addressing urgent scientific issues in environmental pollutant characterization, source elucidation and mitigation. With the JAF program we will implement under-graduate and graduate UArctic registered courses at the hosting Universities into a joint comprehensive academic educational UArctic package within Arctic environmental forensics. Consequently, we will expand and strengthen already existing long­ term co-operation program on environmental pollution research within UArctic.

Project title: Thematic Network of Social Work, University of the Arctic (TNSWUA) led by Nord University and linked to UArctic network on Social Work.

Project partners: University of Lapland, Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU), University of Alaska Anchorage, UiT University of Iceland, Umeå University, University of Regina, Aalborg University, Humboldt State University and University of Stavanger.

Our aim is to develop UArctic education and research in social work, by focusing on social work topics relevant to our part of the world. This also includes social effects of climate change, the resources and challenges to and among indigenous peoples and questions on rurality and urbanism in the high North. This year we edit two issues of"Journal of Comparative Social Work" on Covid 19 and its effects on different aspects of social work. We also give webinar and publish lectures on our website. Our audience are teachers and students of social work in the Arctic. The network has eight universities as partners. By newsletters and other information/invitations we serve approx. 27 academic institutions.