NordForsk, a subsidiary of the Nordic Council, has granted funding for nine Arctic research projects, three of which involve researchers from the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The total funding received by Minna Turunen, Timo Koivurova and Florian Stammler is almost 900,000 euros.

For the first time, the Nordforsk Arctic funding round
also included parties from Canada, the United States and Greenland. Nearly 30
million euros were to be distributed, and the themes of the funded projects
highlight climate change, natural resources and security. Indigenous perspectives
are also central.

University Researcher Minna
Turunen is involved in the FROST project, a project led from Canada:
Arctic freshwater food systems: Influence of warming winters and increased snow
cover. The research sites are in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and
Finland, where the main sites are in Kilpisjärvi and Muddusjärvi. In a project
lasting until 2029, the Arctic Centre financing is € 370,000.

A doctoral researcher hired for the Arctic Centre will interview local fishers
about the effects of climate change, especially on winter fishing. The study
combines local fisher’s knowledge and experience-based observations of changes
in ice and fish populations with scientific knowledge of lake food webs and
ecosystem modelling.

Research Professor
Florian Stammler is involved in a Norwegian-led study
Sustainable Multispecies Relations in the Arctic (SPECIES). Researchers
Nuccio Mazzullo, Heidi
Konttinen and Päivi Soppela also
participate in the work from the Arctic Centre. The Arctic Centre’s share of
the funding is approximately € 350,000.

The target areas
of the study are the northern Bothnian Bay, Lapland, Finnmark and certain areas of
Greenland. The Finnish team will study how different knowledge systems —
traditional, local, and scientific — can be fruitfully connected to solve conflicts
of interest between people and various species of animals, such as the Baltic Seals,
fish and domestic Lapland cattle.

Research Professor
Timo Koivurova leads the Arctic Centre’s
contribution to the Norwegian-led project Critical minerals in the Arctic:
Challenges and perspectives for the Nordic countries (CRIMINA). The funding for the
Arctic Centre is close to € 170,000 and two researchers, Krittika
Singh and Pavel Tkach, are involved in
the work in addition to Koivurova.

Arctic Centre research
involves investigating challenges to indigenous rights and the inclusion of
indigenous peoples’ perspectives concerning critical mineral activities in the
Arctic.

Link to NordForsk newsletter

Additional information:

University Researcher Minna Turunen, minna.turunen@ulapland.fi, +358 40 539
1182
Research Professor Timo Koivurova, timo.koivurova@ulapland.fi, +358
40 551 9522
Research Professor Florian Stammler,
florian.stammler@ulapland.fi, +358 40 013 8807