Program

THE THEMATICS

ARCI I Global change & Northern environments

The research encompasses physical geography, hydrology, water resources and ecohydrology, aquatic and terrestrial ecology as well as ecosystem processes. The research includes studies on geodiversity, permafrost thaw feedbacks, seasonal frost traits, snow dynamics in catchments, peatland hydrology, hydrological fluxes, and moisture sources, biodiversity effects on ecosystem resilience and health, trace gas feedbacks, and interactions among organisms within and among trophic levels. The research builds on long-term experimental studies, numerical modeling, and statistics to analyze past and future climate and land use. We analyze complex interactions between geodiversity-biodiversity-hydrology-ecology responses using novel modeling approaches, observational techniques, and ICT tools to understand complex feedback and processes and provide an integrated basis for decision-making and policies. 

The research in “Biodiversity change and ecosystem health”  determines how biodiversity protection and multiple pressures from climate and land-use change impact aquatic and terrestrial communities, ecosystem services, and their resilience considering various spatial and temporal scales.

ARCI II Human-environmental Relationship

This theme explores long-term changes in the ways people have lived in the Arctic. With an emphasis on past and present socio-cultural processes, the session focuses on human-environmental and human-animal relationships from a holistic perspective.

The presentations can pertain to, for instance, cultural histories and traditional environmental knowledge of natural resource uses in various scales; their meanings for local communities in the changing Arctic; extraction of natural resources and other industries in the Arctic; the social and cultural effects of transformations of reindeer herding practices; ethnic relations in the Sámi area; indigenous concepts of cultural environment; and finally, sustainable use and management of natural resources in the Circumpolar North for human wellbeing.

ArcI III Sustainable Systems, Resource Use and Development

This research area covers a broad set of expertise that is needed to provide sustainable solutions for urbanization, infrastructure, water and environmental protection, human health, and good quality of life. The current research also includes a strong focus on the sustainable use of Northern natural resources, sustainable winter cities, urban infrastructure (such as intelligent lighting, and transport systems) and massive-wood architecture, mineral resources and biomasses utilization, participatory action studies, and Arctic culture. Research methods include for example analysis of past solutions, process and product development with the industry, and research by design, which offers possibilities for modeling future solutions of the built environment and urban structure. 

The research in “Resource management in Arctic environment”  integrates natural resource management to understand complex interactions (across various systems, scales, pressures) and coupled phenomena (climate-land-water-energy Nexus) linked to the assessment of policies of e.g. carbon neutrality, impacts on the environment (water, biodiversity).