News


September 2022 - Schools break on through to the future with AFO-JIGG / CRAFT Lab

How will Tromsø look like in 2050? We asked this difficult question to ten 9th-graders in a classroom at Steiner School, Tromsø. We used futures methodology and focused on specific aspects of their daily life. We received and discussed their contributions, which came in the form of drawings, notes and statements (many). This is part of our activities in “Bestill en forsker / Invite a researcher” promoted by the UiT /BFE under the Forskningsdagene / Research Days, which we greatly enjoy. Next on the list are high-school students in Skjervøy, whom Melania and Jorge will visit in November.





August 2022 - Going Nor-fishing!

Taking advantage of the COVID restrictions being lifted, a strong AFO-JIGG delegation attends the Nor-fishing exhibition in Trondheim. August 2022 is the first edition of this fair after four years, and 44 countries are represented. “Nor-fishing is the fishing industry’s largest and most important meeting place, thus we are very glad that we can attend this event in person”, says Helene, who used to work as a fisher herself. “It is also interesting to compare technological development in the digital domain in this industry with the one in the shipping industry, as we also attended Nor-shipping in April this year, in Lillestrøm”, adds Hasini, whose research on the impact of autonomous fishing technologies builds on a review of advancements in autonomous shipping.





October 2021 - One more crew member on board the AFO-JIGG!

AFO-JIGG is happy to announce a new member of the research team: Lakshika Hasini from Sri Lanka. She has a socioeconomic research background that has a special focus on the fisheries supply chain, value chain and value networks. During her Masters, Hasini got an opportunity to come to Tromsø as an exchange student of the UiT under the Erasmus+ Global Mobility programme in 2018. As she said, “I grew up in a coastal region of the Southern part of Sri Lanka. Since my childhood, I loved to stay on the beach looking at the fishing activities of the local fishers and small fishing boats sailing along the coast. It gives me the same kind of pleasant feeling to see the fishing boats sailing in the fjord surrounding Tromsø and its outstanding beauty". In October, she started her PhD at NFH, UiT, affiliated to the AFO-JIGG project. Hasini will study the future of the Norwegian small-scale jigging fleet, focusing on three different research perspectives: impacts of autonomous technologies, future skills, and future business models.

August 2021 - AFO-JIGG welcomes a new crew member!

Our team expands with a new member: Helene Skjønhals Jensen. She grew up on different islands along the coast of Norway, due to her family working in fisheries. Originally from Sørøya in Finnmark, she has also lived on Lovund in Nordland, Frøya in Trøndelag, and Kvaløya in Troms. "I’ve worked in different parts of the industry from a young age, from cutting cod tongues to unloading trawlers at dock, but most of my experience stems from the shrimp industry and the coastal fisheries using jig, line, and net", tells Helene. Aligned with the objectives of the AFO-JIGG project, in which she's taking her PhD, Helene's research interests are the past and future technological development of the small-scale fisheries and fishing gear technology. Welcome on board, Helene!