Authors and Contributors

Karla Jessen Williamson

Assistant Professor at Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan in Canada. She is a kalaaleq, an Inuk born in Appamiut, western coast of Greenland, and grew up in Maniitsoq. She speaks her Inuktut dialect fully because she was totally immersed into the worldview of the Inuit. As a matriarch, she has two adult children and three grandchildren. The latter are fluent speakers of their grandmother's Inuktut language while growing up in Iqaluit, Nunavut. As an Indigenous researcher, she focuses on the well-being of Indigenous children, their families, and communities and always looks for ways in which the aspirations for their autonomous rights are materialised. She speaks and writes about Indigenous paradigms and philosophies and remains committed to making contributions to Indigenous ancestors' insights into humanity. Karla is well-appreciated locally, nationally, and internationally and is involved in significant national and international bodies where she emphasises decolonisation processes. She is also an accomplished poet.

“Inuit across the Arctic, made up songs, sayings, or utterances unique to each child, aqaq. As a child, one such to me was “Kaaleralanngortartoq, Makkanngortartoq” and that aqaq was repeated each time I met a man from my birthplace, older than my parents. His utterance is like “at one point, you are silly, little Karl; and the next you are Margrethe.” He evoked Inuit thoughts on gender fluidity, and the transformative quality of his aqaq mesmerized and puzzled me. I was, after all, growing in strongly assimilation oriented Danish school system where gender was non-negotiable, static, and rigid, and captured the bearers of sex into stereotypical role. My academic work unravels that arrest using Inuit paradigm on the matter of gender.”

Sara Fusco

PhD student in environmental law and indigenous rights at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lapland. Her research focuses on the concept of Environmental Justice in the Arctic under indigenous right and through national constitutional comparison. She currently lectures in Comparative Law at the University of Akureyri, where she graduated in Polar Law in 2019. She collaborates as Research Assistant at Stefansson Arctic Institute and Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network. She holds an MA in Law from the University of Florence (2017) and enriched her academic career at University of in Oslo (in Gender Equality, 2015), University of Helsinki (in Human Rights law, 2015-2016) and the University of Greenland (Natural Resources Management, 2018) and at University of Copenhagen (in Political Science, 2016). She collaborates with the Icelandic academic E-Journal Nordicum- Mediterraneum as Special Editor for legal and arctic studies. She is also Vice-President of an Italian non-profit association "Ferma Le Tue Mani", which deals with assistance and information for victims of sexual violence in Italy.

Andrii Gladii

Andrii Gladii holds a Ph.D. in political science from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, where he conducted a research on the origins and nature of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. Since 2019, he has been working at the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network. His spheres of scientific and private interests include geopolitics, linguistics, theory of international relations.

Tonje Margrete Winsnes Johansen

Tonje Margrete Winsnes Johansen works as an adviser for the Saami Council's Arctic- and Environmental Unit. Johansen comes from a small coastal-Sámi village in the northern parts of Sápmi on the Norwegian side and is currently residing in Guovdageaidnu. She has a political science background from NTNU. Within the Saami Council Johansen focuses most of her work on sustainable development and socio-economic issues in Sápmi.

Sarah Seabrook Kendall

Sarah Seabrook Kendall is a master’s student in the Environment and Natural Resources program at the University of Iceland and holds a B.A. in English and Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has also completed coursework at the University Center in Svalbard. She is passionate about the Arctic and better understanding how its societies function as a part of the natural environment. Her research interests include Arctic governance, sustainable development, climate change adaptation, and environmental management. In addition to her work as a co-lead author on Security chapter within the GEA III Report, she is writing her thesis, Social Cultural Valuation of Whales and Climate Change Adaptation in Húsavík, Iceland, through the University of Iceland’s participation in ARCPATH, a project that aims to promote sustainable societies in the Arctic as a part of the Joint Nordic Initiative on Arctic Research. Apart from her studies and research work, Sarah is an avid outdoorswoman who loves spending as much time in the Icelandic sea and mountains as possible.

Siff Lund Kjærgaard

Siff Lund Kjærgaard has a bachelor in Sociology and Cultural Analysis, including a semester at University of Melbourne and an interdisciplinary master in human rights from University of Oslo and the Norwegian Centre of Human Rights. She wrote her thesis on Greenlandic Indigenous women’s rights to access to justice in cases of gender-based violence.

Siff Lund Kjærgaard has previously worked for NGO’s in Denmark and the UK, as a student assistant for the Justice Department in Greenland, and later for the Greenlandic Constitutional Committee as a specialised secretary in human rights. She currently works as a coordinating assistant for the project JUST SOCIETY at University of Southern Denmark.

Bridget Larocque

Bridget Larocque is an Indigenous resident of the Northwest Territories, has extensive knowledge of the Northwest Territories and the broader circumpolar world, brings a distinct worldview from that region, and also shares a comprehensive knowledge of research methods and Indigenous and gender issues. She serves as a policy advisor and researcher with the Arctic Athabaskan Council (ACC) and was executive director of Gwich’in Council International (GCI) from 2007-12, so she has tremendous expertise on the Arctic Council and Arctic governance issues. Her other recent work includes managing self-government negotiations for the Gwich’in Tribal Council, serving as land claim implementation coordinator and project analyst with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and as assistant negotiator with Executive and Indigenous Affairs in the Government of the Northwest Territories, and as Executive Director of the Fort Norman Community in the Northwest Territories.

Samantha Michaels

Samantha Michaels is a Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Can-ada. She leads research on issues affecting Inuit women and children to advance policy and program development. Her principal files include housing, violence against women and the administration of justice. She also advises on social, economic and health trends. Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, incorporated in 1984, is the national representative organization of Inuit women in Canada and is governed by a 14-member Board of Directors from across Cana-da. It fosters greater awareness of the needs of Inuit women, advocates for equality and social improvements, and encourages their participation in the community, regional and national life of Canada. Samantha holds a Master’s Degree in Justice Studies from the University of Regina and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Law and Society from York University.

Federica Scarpa

Federica Scarpa is currently Communications Manager for the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network (IACN) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), both based in Akureyri, Iceland. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Venice, Ca-Foscari (2011). For her thesis, she conducted fieldwork in Angmagssalik (East Greenland) on the economic, social, and cultural relevance of traditional seal-hunting considered from a Greenlandic perspective and opposed to the „EU ban on seal products“ (Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009). After her graduation she moved to Akureyri where she earned a Master‘s degree in Polar Law (2013), with a thesis titled “The EU, the Arctic, and Arctic Indigenous Peoples”. Her work focused on the need for EU to integrate more consistently Indigenous peoples issues within a developing EU Arctic Policy.

Sigrún Sigurðardóttir

Dr. Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, an Associate Professor, at the University of Akureyri, Iceland.

The Police Academy in Iceland, 1993, a Police Officer, BS in Nursing 2001 and MSc. in Health Sciences 2007 from the University of Akureyri and PhD. In Nursing from the University of Iceland, 2017.

Sigrún has been working as police officer in some rural areas in Iceland; in Ísafjörður, Akureyri, Höfn, Vestmannaeyjar and Stykkishólmur. I Was also a Security Guard at the Olympics Game in Atlanta, USA, 1996. She has been working as a Nursing student at psychiatric rehabilitation and at a Psychiatric Unit, for people with addiction. I have been working as a Nurse at the Health Institute of Ísafjörður and at a Vocational Rehabilitation in Akureyri, developing and supervising the Wellness-Program (Gæfusporin), a holistic therapy for women suffering from Childhood Sexual Abuse. I also worked as a Head of Nursing at a Nursing Home for elderly people in Ólafsfjordur.

At the University of Akureyri, she has been developing and supervising a MSc. Course on Psychological Trauma and Violence, 10 ECTS, since 2010. Her research interest is psychological trauma and childhood sexual abuse, consequences and holistic intervention, as well as Trauma Informed Care.

Sveinbjörg Smáradóttir

Sveinbjörg Smáradóttir is a project manager for youth engagement at the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network, a researcher at the Stefansson Arctic Institute and a part-time teacher at the University of Akureyri. She holds a BA degree in Social sciences and Arctic studies and finished a Master of Arts by Research within the social sciences from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Akureyri. Her research fields are Youth in the Arctic and quality of life in the Arctic and she has participated in projects such as Seawomen of Iceland, JustNorth and Arctic Youth and Sustainable Futures.

Karen Birna Þorvaldsdóttir

Karen Birna Thorvaldsdottir is a PhD student in Health Sciences at the University of Akureyri, Iceland, and is currently a Fulbright scholar at the University of Michigan, USA. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in Health Sciences with a specialization in psychological trauma and violence.

Karen's research interests surround help-seeking for trauma recovery and understanding the socio-cultural influences of that process. Her specific area of focus is gender-based violence, and in her doctoral studies, she is exploring the barriers and facilitators to help-seeking among intimate partner violence survivors in Iceland. Karen is a board member of the Research Center against Violence at the University of Akureyri and a member of the MiStory group, a research collaborative working around the world to use safe and trauma-informed methods that illuminate the interactions among cultural context, the self, gender, and healing after violence.

Karen was born and raised in the North of Iceland and is fascinated by the strength and resilience of people in the Arctic region. She has a passion for creative research methodologies and dissemination strategies to bridge the gap between science, practice, and the community.

Bergljót Þrastardóttir

Bergljót Þrastardóttir is an Assistant Professor at the University of Akureyri and worked previously as the head of the Educational Division at the Directorate of Equality in iceland, an institution under the Prime Ministers’ Office (2008-2020). Her main teaching has been on gender studies, gender, human rights, inclusion and democracy in education and gender based violence. Her research field is related to gender and empowerment, gender and education, inclusion and power and resistance in the classroom and critical pedagogy.