Scandinavian Seminar Group

The Scandinavian Seminar Group (SSG) included the mother organization Scandinavian Seminar (SS), New York, established in 1956, and the Danish foundation Scandinavian Seminar College (SSC) established in 1966 and which was discontinued in 2012.

In 1996 SSC, the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen Institute and UN’s GRID-Arendal co-sponsored a Nordic Policy Seminar on Arctic Development and Environmental Challenges with participants from the five Nordic countries, Canada, Russia and the United States. SSG took from the very beginning an active part in the planning of the University of the Arctic.

Scandinavian Seminar is a not-for-profit organization sponsoring educational and cultural interaction between Scandinavia and the United States and annually provides fellowships totaling $50,000 to outstanding American students, researchers, and artists for projects relating to the Arctic and pursued at UArctic member institutions. The purpose of these fellowships is to increase knowledge about the Arctic and issues relating to the Circumpolar North. Past fellowship winners have included scholars pursuing Arctic projects in marine biology, geology, the environment, and indigenous peoples, as well as artists photographing Arctic landscapes. These competitive fellowships are awarded in partnership with the American-Scandinavian Foundation.

Over the years Scandinavian Seminar Group has allocated more than one million euros and in-kind activities and has thus been a major contributor to the development of UArctic.

Scandinavian Seminar member Rune Rydén has been, since the UArctic launch in 2001, a representative in the Council of UArctic. He has also acted as the chair of the UArctic Membership and Nominations Committee in 2008-2015 and as vice-chair in 2003-2008.

Facts and figures

Web http://www.scandinavianseminar.org
Year Established 1949
Total Number of Staff 5