News
CCA RG PhD candidate presents policy brief at Arctic Frontiers 2025: Beyond borders
On 27 January 2025, PhD candidate Stian K. Kleiven participated in Arctic Frontiers: Beyond boarders with a poster presentation of a policy brief titled “The vulnerability of fish transportation from climate change-induced hazards in Arctic Norway, Sweden, and Finland”.
In this year’s Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, an interdisciplinary team of PhD candidates presented a poster feauturing a policy brief titled “The Vulnerability of Fish Transportation from Climate Change-Induced Hazards in Arctic Norway, Sweden, and Finland”. The team included Stian K. Kleiven from UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Are Frode Helvig Kvanum from The Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET), and Punam Noor Jahan from the University of Lapland.
The policy brief examined the potential impacts on fish transportation and the broader societal consequences if climate change-induced hazards were to disrupt roads and railroads in Arctic Norway, Sweden, and Finland. As Norway is the largest exporter of fresh unprocessed fish globally, any disruption in transportation infrastructure could lead to spoilage and pose a threat to food security. Therefore, the brief emphasized the importance of implementing measures to prevent such disruption in fish export.
The policy brief was submitted under the science theme “Climate model data to assess climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation strategies”. This theme aimed to explore the use of advanced climate model data to assess the impacts of climate change and evaluate mitigation and adaptation strategies, while encouraging innovative approaches and co-designing projections to meet the needs of end users.
The development of the policy brief began after the PhD candidate team participated in the interdisciplinary NordForsk-funded Scenario Analyses Regarding Climate Change Hazards and Critical Infrastructure in the Arctic (CCCI) PhD Summer School 2024 led by Dr. Dina Abdel-Fattah from MET. The purpose of the CCCI PhD summer school was to develop scenario analyses and strategies for managing risk, resilience, and adaptation to extreme climate change-related hazards impacting critical infrastructure and societal functions in the Nordic region, through interdisciplinary collaboration.
Published: 31.01.2025
Link to this page
Arctic Frontiers 2025 summary
The annual Arctic Frontiers conference was held in Tromsø this week, and several of our research-group members have participated in various activities over these past few days.
The Arctic Frontiers is an annual conference held in Tromsø, gathering “scientists, businesses, policymakers and representative of local and indigenous peoples for holistic discussions about the future of the Arctic region.”
On Monday 27th of January, our PhD student Stian Kleiven presented his poster “"The vulnerability of fish transportation from climate change-induced hazards in Arctic Norway, Sweden, and Finland" in the interdisciplinary poster session. More on this in a separate post!
On Tuesday 28th of January, our PhD student Laurien de Korte gave a presentation on “Translating adaptation science: connecting research to reality” at the engaging side event Science on Tap! Here she discussed various science communication strategies we have used in our dissemination and outreach efforts with different stakeholders in our research group. Additionally, she shared insights from her current PhD research, which explores how inter-municipal networks can enhance collaboration in addressing climate change impacts in Norway.
And on Wednesday 29th of January, a total of four members of our research group participated in the interactive workshop “Exploring Policy and Decision Making for Climate Hazards”. This workshop was arranged in collaboration between Arctic Frontiers and the NordForsk-funded Scenario Analyses Regarding Climate-Change Hazards and Critical Infrastructure in the Arctic (CCCI) PhD summer school project, which has been a part of the UiT Climate Change Adaptation research group portfolio. Here, PhD candidates and Early Career Researchers got the opportunity to engage in an interesting discussion with more experienced researchers and experts from the field of climate adaptation and research funding, discussing topics relating to the science-policy nexus. Our research group member Bjarte Rød (post doc) has been involved in arranging the CCCI summer school, while Stian Kleiven (PhD student) participated in the CCCI summer school event in 2024. PhD students Laurien de Korte and Leikny Bakke Lie have been involved in research resulting in policy briefs on climate adaptation and do research within this nexus, and found it to be a very relevant and insightful workshop to partake in. The workshop was followed by an interesting panel discussion “showcasing cross-cutting approaches to dealing with climate hazards more broadly, from an academic, policy and industry angle”.
Published: 30.01.2025
Link to this page
Climate change, impacts, and adaptation efforts in the context of Tanzania.
In October, Leikny Bakke Lie, one of our PhD students, was one of the lucky ones selected to attend the 2024 CATER Schools on Transdisciplinary Climate Risk and Action in Arusha, Tanzania. The primary aim of the CATER school is to support and enhance transdisciplinary cooperation for mutual learning across countries and disciplines. By inviting PhD students, early-career researchers, lecturers and practitioners, the school provides an excellent space for linking science and action, and for knowledge-sharing on topics relating to climate change and action.
Some reflections from Leikny on the CATER School 2024:
The course consisted of 11 days focused on transdisciplinary climate risk and action, diving into topics such as the physical climate science, honest brokerage of climate information, serious gaming, transdisciplinarity in practice, and transgressive approaches to power, climate, and justice. One of the highlights of the course was our field visit to a Maasai community, where we learned about how climate change is impacting their livelihood and how they are attempting to adapt in the face of climate risk. Illustrating the value of broadening your horizon through attending schools such as CATER, I was able to transform this experience with the Maasai community into a lecture for my students in the course Climate change and resilient societies at UiT- The Arctic University of Norway when I got back home to Tromsø.
We also visited the Arusha Climate Environmental Research Centre at the Aga Khan University campus to hear about their community-based research, which focuses on co-creating knowledge and understanding the needs of the communities as the starting point for their research. Adapting to a changing climate and its impacts will largely necessitate community collaboration, and hearing from Dr. Emmanuel Sulle provided valuable insight that I take with me into my upcoming research.
I highly recommend attending workshops and schools such as the CATER School, it is a massive learning experience, your horizon will be broadened, and your network expanded. Also, you get to meet some inspiring and knowledgeable people along the way that makes the journey even more enjoyable. Oh, and a fun fact: since Mount Kilimanjaro was located right next to our course premises, I couldn’t resist the urge to attempt to climb the roof of Africa. And on the 17th of October, I summited Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters above sea level! I feel very privileged and extremely thankful in that my PhD journey allow me to embark on these adventures that facilitates not only academic growth but tremendous personal growth and development as well. Asante Sana.
- Leikny
.jpg "VideoCapture_20241104-191721 (1).jpg")
Published: 15.12.2024
Link to this page
