Complete GENI program structure

Basic course descriptions

• NORD 830 – Introduction to Graduate Academic Writing: This course will introduce you to academic writing and skills relevant to a university research degree. You will learn the form and function of key academic documents, such as a summary, research paper, and literature review. You will learn about academic integrity and different strategies of avoiding plagiarism.
• JSGS 806 – Public Policy Analysis: This course focuses on the analysis of the processes whereby public policies arise and are enacted in Canada. The course compares theories and models of policy making and decision making to illustrate the special requirements of the Canadian environment and examines the roles of various participants in the policy process: legislators, political parties, interest groups, administrators and administrative structures, citizens, and the judiciary.
• NORD 806 – Northern Public Policy Analysis: This course focuses on the analysis of the processes whereby public policies arise and are enacted in the northern regions of Canada and the Circumpolar North. The course applies the theories and models of policy making and decision making within the unique northern environment, and examines the role of its participants and interest groups. This course is required to be taken parallel to JSGS 806 Public Policy Analysis.
• IND-3012 – Research Methods and Indigenous Research Ethics: This course provides insights into quantitative and qualitative methodologies, emphasizing their theoretical and technical foundations. It fosters skills relevant for designing research, selecting appropriate methods, collecting and handling data, and writing up research. It also provides guidelines for identifying and addressing practical challenges associated with research in difficult and post-conflict settings. It introduces students to the ethical questions and requirements surrounding research related to Indigenous peoples. Students are required to successfully complete this course before undertaking IND3013 Applied Research Project.
• STV-3040 – Northern Governance: This course will introduce students to theories of governance so they can apply them in the northern context, as well as give them knowledge about different historical experiences of colonization and state integration, and contemporary policies and management of selected circumpolar countries. The course consists of two main parts. The aim of the first, the theoretical and conceptual framework, is to give students necessary tools to analyze different aspects of governance in northern areas. In the second part, the goal is to introduce students to different cases of governance, both to illustrate different aspects of governance and to understand the variety of challenges in Northern areas.
• NORD 835 – Professional Communication: This course will introduce government and other professional communication relevant to the North. You will learn the form and function of key documents, such as the professional email and briefing note, as well as principles of oral communications in a professional environment
• NORD 857 – Northern Resource Economics and Policy: This course will explore the economic concepts related to the management of renewable and non-renewable resources in the northern world. Students will examine competing theories and learn to apply analytic models and policies that enhance their understanding of how resources are distributed and managed.
• IND-3013 or NORD 870 – Applied Research Project: The GENI Applied Research Project (ARP) builds on the research proposal and brief literature review completed in the “GENI Research Methods and Indigenous Research Ethics” course. In cooperation with the course instructor, an academic supervisor, and a host supervisor, students negotiate a final research contract. The ARP must have academic merit but also serve the needs of the host. In most cases, the methodology will consist of a knowledge synthesis; a case study; a program evaluation; a feasibility study; a needs assessment; or some combination of the above. Students undertake largely independent research, ideally on site with the host, and complete a final written report. The work undertaken sharpens students’ research skills, professional experience working with industry, government, indigenous organizations and institutions, and other organizations and stakeholders. The ARP fosters students’ professional networks and illustrates a positive research relationship by serving the research needs of northern community organizations and other stakeholders. Students may not enroll in this course before completing IND-3012 Research Methods and Indigenous Research Ethics.
• NORD 847 – Circumpolar Innovation and Entrepreneurship: This course examines the manner in which scientific and technological innovation is shaping the circumpolar world. Nations around the world have identified innovation as being the cornerstone of economic competitiveness and critical to everything from job creation to environmental sustainability. Comparatively little effort, however, has been made to develop the research capabilities, highly qualified personnel and commercial environments necessary to promote northern economic and social development. This course looks at the global role of scientific and technological innovation and examines ways in which new technologies and new commercial processes can have a beneficial impact on the North.
• IND-3014 - Negotiations and Consultations in Northern and Indigenous Areas: This course is an interactive examination of Indigenous consultations and Negotiations. Consultations and negotiations are central to managing relations among Indigenous governments and organizations, municipal, provincial, and federal/central governments, and industry. This course has three objectives: (1) Provide an overview of the state of legal and political environment on consultation, including legal benchmarks arising from court decisions on the duty to consult and accommodate, (2) Examine seminal and current research on consultation and negotiations between among Northern actors, and (3) Provide applied learning experience through negotiation simulation exercises.
• JUR-3621 – Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Land, Resources and Livelihood: This course offers the students an overview of legal protections for the rights of indigenous peoples to enjoy their culture, lands and livelihood. The teaching will be based on international legal instruments of relevance to indigenous peoples such as, among others, the 1989 ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 2007 United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. National law protecting indigenous livelihood in Norway will also have a wide place in the course.
• IND-3902 – Thesis: The GENI Thesis requires students to reflect and write independently on a theme from the program, drawing broadly on the research, courses and seminars they completed. Students are expected to participate consistently in monthly thesis seminars, sharing their own work and commenting on the work of others.

Electives

A list of approved elective courses at UiT can be found here.