The Arctic research elite gathers for a historic summit in Bodø: See the full program

Up to 1,500 international participants gather for what will be the year's major research event in the Arctic, in Bodø, Norway.

Arctic Congress Bodø 2024 combines three Arctic congresses. Never before has an event of this calibre taken place in Norway. The Congress runs from 29 May to 3 June, and now the program is released.

Climate researcher and professor Grete Hovelsrud at Nordland Research Institute and Nord University says that top Arctic researchers will attend. She has worked with the program for a long time.

– It is spectacular, with so many Arctic actors gathered in the same place.

– We connect Indigenous Peoples, Arctic ambassadors, researchers, educators, politicians and businesses. This is quite unusual in a congress context.

• Read the program here: https://arcticcongress.com/program-details

Focus on Indigenous Peoples

The program's core is the sessions driven by the researchers. This is the very backbone of the Congress, with a lot of new and exciting research and perspectives, Hovelsrud says.

– The gathering points are the plenary panels, and there we can raise the discussions to a slightly different level than we do in research.

There will be a strong focus on Indigenous Peoples themes, she adds.

– We also have some side events with «pubinars» that address more sensitive topics, such as what we are doing now that Russian researchers are by and large absent.

Rapid changes

Hovelsrud believes that the relationship with Russia will probably become a hot topic among people «in the corridors».

Because it is challenging that such a big Arctic congress will be missing the country that accounts for half of the land areas in the region, she says.

– For 30 years, it has been natural for us to go to Russia and collaborate with Russian researchers.

– Now many questions arise: How do we proceed? Will it ever be the same? The fact that we also address the problematic questions shows that this is a Congress with a great deal of depth.

As a climate researcher, Grete has experienced firsthand how the Russian war against Ukraine has reduced access to important research data from the Russian side of the Arctic.

– There are rapid climatic changes, and when we no longer cooperate with Russia and do not know what they are up to, we lack access to their new knowledge.

Hovelsrud also elaborated on this when she guested on NRK's radio broadcast on Thursday morning this week:

– We are losing the knowledge we have regarding adaptation and how climate develops in the Arctic. It is simply terrible for us researchers that we lack the Russian component, she told NRK.

Unique event

Hovelsrud is looking forward to the Congress and says there is also great interest from non-Arctic countries.

– For example, France and India.

– This will be the largest congress that has taken place in the Nordic region. Due to the unique collaboration between three established Arctic organizations, it will be a unique event that has not happened before and will probably not happen again.

President Lars Kullerud at UArctic is also looking forward to the event.

Kullerud says that they follow the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, and therefore the congress has been planned for Norway this year.

– This will be the largest collection of Arctic academic expertise. In addition to the many important sessions, I am looking forward to the Chancellor's meeting hosted by Nord University.

CONTACT:

Professor Grete K. Hovelsrud: gho@nforsk.no