29 March 2026 | 15:30 - 16:30 CEST / UTC+2
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: Per Kirkeby Auditorium
Session Description:
This session showcases work that crosses disciplinary and sectoral boundaries to address complex Arctic system questions. It integrates perspectives from multiple research areas and knowledge systems, combining methods from natural and social sciences and Indigenous knowledge.
Oral presentations:
Name: Kate Ortenzi (Dalhousie University)
Title of presentation: Beneath and Beyond: Decolonizing Benthic baselines to understand risk and resilience
Abstract text: This presentation will demonstrate a community-driven approach to establishing social-ecological baselines in the marine environment that centers Inuit knowledge and experience. The Nunatsiavut Government signed a land-claims agreement with Canada in 2005 and has been in the process of restructuring resource management towards a definition of conservation that seeks to strengthen the connection between Labrador Inuit and the species in which they depend. Using semi-structured interviews and adapted network analysis, we explore how Labrador Inuit conceptualize benthic species as deeply interconnected with the entire social-ecological fabric – from fish and marine mammals to birds and terrestrial plants. Benthic species hold significance beyond their ecological roles, as they are important for food security, harvesting, crafting, medicine, research, and other aspects of daily life. By approaching ecological baselines from a perspective that takes into account the myriad way the benthos and Labrador Inuit are connected, this research challenges Western scientific frameworks that impose artificial divisions between land and sea, people and the environment. Importantly, it highlights how community-engaged approaches can provide richer, more meaningful insights into risk and resilience in the face of climate change, and speaks to the importance of understanding how values affect resource management decisions.
Name: Diana Matos (Aarhus University)
Title of presentation: Exploring Arctic Plastic Pollution: Insights from iNaturalist
Abstract text: Plastic pollution is increasingly recognised as a major threat to all Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems. While many studies have quantified plastic loads, much less is known about the direct interactions between wildlife and plastic debris, particularly in high-latitude regions where data remain scarce. To help close this gap, the citizen science initiative “Plastics & Wildlife in the Arctic, Subarctic and Northern Europe”, part of the Horizon Europe ArcSolution project, invites observations from nature enthusiasts, hunters, fishers, students, researchers, and citizens at large. The project collects records of both harmful and non-harmful interactions between wildlife and plastic litter, including entanglement in nets or packaging, ingestion, use of plastic as nesting material, biofouling, and other direct contacts. Observations can be submitted through the iNaturalist platform, ideally with photographic evidence, and identified to species or higher taxonomic levels. Observers are asked to provide metadata such as animal condition (alive or dead), type of interaction, litter category, and location, enabling the compilation of harmonised datasets across a broad geographic range, species, and interactions. Preliminary results reveal emerging patterns: seabirds, especially gannets and gulls, are the most frequently reported group, followed by cormorants/shags and ravens/crows, but also mammals. The most common interaction among birds is the use of plastic as nesting material, followed by fatal entanglement. Marine and terrestrial mammals are also reported, primarily entangled individuals (mostly alive) and cases of plastic ingestion. 124 entanglement events have been recorded, mostly affecting birds found along coasts and beaches, but also in freshwater systems. This growing dataset supports environmental monitoring and conservation while raising public awareness of plastic impacts in the Arctic, contributing to AMAP’s goals and the protection of fragile northern ecosystems.
Name: Laura Boffi (Spirited Design Office)
Title of presentation: The Embassy of Reindeers: a participatory project with Finnish reindeers herders
Abstract text: The "Embassy of Reindeers" project is inspired by a fieldwork in Lapland with a few herders of the Muonion and Kolari herders cooperative.The project is about getting the reindeers point of view about pasture conditions due to land use and climate change. Land use is meant from both sides: land used by the grazing reindeers and by other humans, responsible of clearing forests and building infrastructures or industrial plants. Getting the reindeers point of view means taking pictures from reindeers when they perform specific grazing behaviours, such as eating from the ground or digging in the snow to find food. This will be achieved combining movements data from an accelerometer with a reindeer-borne camera attached to the collar and pointing to the ground. The pictures will be collected onto an online platform, which would stand as the online instance of the Embassy. The herders will be the one encharged, and entitled, to describe the pictures taken by their own herd as reindeer ambassadors. “The herders think as reindeers”: this is an insight from the fieldwork.The creation of a fictional "Embassy" could allow to restore a territory which is real, yet split into different districts, through an online presence. Within the “Embassy”, reindeers wouldn’t be divided into administrative territories, they would come together as one herd giving voice to their animals and raising husbandry issues in front of local administrators and policy makers. Therefore, the online platform of “The Embassy of Reindeers” will work as an alternative political tool for reindeer herders. "The Embassy of Reindeers” project would offer herders a new way to partner with their herds and amplify their voice in front of local administrators and policy makers. On the other way around, herders themselves could gain new insights on their herds’ grazing situation and overpasture.
Name: David Hik (Polar Kowledge Canada)
Title of presentation: Integrating priorities, sharing perspectives: Lessons from Canadian arctic science ecosystem
Abstract text: Partnerships based on mutual priorities and enabled by best practices are enabling world-class science in the Canadian Arctic science landscape. The systems and processes that support the advancement of science goals through various levels of collaboration and partnership and through a multi-variate and multidisciplinary lens will be necessary to address complex problems. This presentation will discuss the principles, practices and systems that are putting Canada into a leadership position globally in Arctic science and offer lessons learned and best practices to share with others.