EVENTS & NEWS

Anna Bidgood, Postdoc Researcher at the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) is this year's winner of the Marine Institute's 'Emerging Leaders' competition.

Background

Arctic Frontiers Emerging Leaders is an Arctic early career and mentoring program in Northern Norway for young professionals with special interest in Arctic topics. If you are an aspiring Arctic leader under 35 years and want to learn about Green Shift and issues within environment, resource management, security, climate, business and technology in the Arctic, you are welcome to apply. Please note that travel to Norway will be subject to all public health advice in place at that time.

Emerging Leaders is an early-career and mentoring program in the Arctic for young professionals from the academic, industry and policy sector. The program brings together leaders and mentors, and indigenous, business, and policy representatives, to tell the Arctic stories in an educational journey through Northern Norway. Through training, educational and cultural activities, and the contributions of competent and committed partners, the Emerging Leaders program serves as an international and cross-cultural platform for dialogue and exchange to support the arctic leaders of the future.

The full program is an immersive seven-day experience, which includes a five-day journey throughout the Norwegian Arctic. The journey starts in Bodø, continues to the Lofoten islands, and ends in Tromsø. Along this trip, the participants will meet with various mentors and representatives of different sectors and engage in contemporary discussions and workshops on current visions, trends and challenges of Green Shift in the Arctic. The lectures, discussions and workshops around Green Shift will cover issues within environment, resource management, security, climate, business and technology in the Arctic.

The program finishes off with the two-day attendance of Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø. Here, the participants will make their own contribution to the conference and engage with high-level Arctic representatives. Highlights from previous Emerging Leaders programs can be found on this page.

Competition

The Marine Institute, in partnership with the Embassy of Ireland in Oslo and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is running a competition for a young professional from the academic, industry and policy sector to participate in the Arctic Frontiers Emerging Leaders programme 2023. Candidates must be no older than 35 years of age (born 1987 or later) to participate.

DFA has secured funding for one Irish student to attend the program. This will cover the full registration & participation fee which includes all accommodation; internal programme transport (ferries, coaches etc.); meals & activities; and registration at the Arctic Frontiers 2023: Moving North 2023 Conference. The Marine Institute will support the participants travel and subsistence, to a maximum value of €750. Travel claims must be submitted on return to Ireland, and include vouched expenses and a report of the programme and conference. Successful candidates will be expected to proactively engage with the Network of Arctic Researchers in Ireland (www.nari.ie) for 2023.

Scientific Themes

The Emerging Leaders program 2023 revolves around the theme of the Green Shift and will cover issues within environment, resource management, security, climate, business and technology in the Arctic. The workshops during the program will be used to develop high-quality questions, content, and contributions, to be delivered to and presented directly at the Arctic Frontiers conference.

Session 1: Occupational health and safety in the Arctic

Session 2: City transformation by and for citizens using digital technologies and visualisation

Session 3: Modelling and monitoring challenges to maritime safety in a changing Arctic

Session 4: Plastic pollution, priorities and perspectives in the Arctic

Session 5: Impacts and adaptations in response to Atlantification/Borealisation of the Arctic Ocean

Session 6: Adaptive management of rapidly changing Arctic ecosystems using interdisciplinary and system-science approaches

Session 7: Assembling the valuable and vulnerable North

For the sponsorship from DFA, the evaluation of submissions will also be linked closely to the Working Groups of the Arctic Council.

The activities of the Arctic Council are conducted through six working groups (WGs) composed of representatives at expert level from sectoral ministries, government agencies, and researchers.

The six Arctic Council WGs are: • Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP) • Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) • Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) • Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) • Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) • Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)

How to apply

Early-career professionals under 35 years of age, meaning that candidates should have entered their work life already, and have finished their professional studies and education (e.g. completed Bachelor and/or Masters); and PhDs and Post-docs engaged in Arctic issues should send applications via email.

Applications for the Emerging Leaders program 2023 must contain the following:

· A letter of motivation describing the candidate’s field of interest, why the candidate wants to participate in Emerging Leaders 2023 and which expectations the candidate has for their participation in the program. Maximum one page, written in font size 12.

· A second page should be attached stating how your research aligns with the scientific themes of the conference and the Working Groups of the Arctic Council and how you propose to engage with the Network of Arctic Researchers in Ireland (www.nari.ie) throughout 2023. Maximum one page, written in font size 12.

· CV (including the candidate’s date of birth), maximum 2 pages.

· A letter of support signed by the candidate’s superior/supervisor and administrative responsible.

· Note: All documents must be bundled as a single pdf in the same order as listed above (CV, motivational letter, letter of support).

· Short 30 second motivational video of you, presenting your expectations and vision of Green Shift in the Arctic. In the video, answer the questions “What is green shift to you” and “What are your expectations towards a green shift in the Arctic?” For video format and further guidance, see video guidelines.

Applications should be sent by email before 16.00h on Friday, 14 October 2022 to fiona.grant@marine.ie with a delivery and read receipt. Applications will be reviewed by the Embassy of Ireland in Oslo and the Marine Institute. Late applications cannot be considered.

The successful candidate will subsequently be notified and the outcome forwarded to the Emerging Leaders secretariat before 20 October 2022.

The Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic programme now has an open call for preparatory projects and will close on 19 September 2022 11:00am Irish time. The Monitoring Committee will decide the successful project applications on 23 November 2022. For more details, click on the article link below!

Last month NARI spoke with Chloe Richards, the winner of the Marine Institute's competition to send one early-career resercher from Ireland to join the Arctic Frontier's annual voyage through the Norweigen arctic archipelego as part of their Emerging Leaders program.

The First Call for main project applications for the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2021-2027 is open from 27th April 2022 to 20th June 2022, for Priorities 1 & 2.

PRIORITY 1: Strengthening the innovation capacity for resilient and attractive NPA communities

PRIORITY 2: Strengthening the capacity for climate change adaptation, and resource sufficiency in NPA communities