The Seminar took place in Arktikum museum in Rovaniemi, Finland. We had a great pleasure of hearing the speeches from Ambassadors including Nikolay Korchunov, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, Ambassador-at-large of Russia's MFA, Petteri Vuorimäki, Finland’s Ambassador Arctic and the Antarctic, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, French Ambassador to the Poles, and Ian Campbell, Chargé d’Affaires, US Embassy in Finland. The personal speeches were followed by Ambassadors’ dialogue, on Arctic cooperation for peace and stability and the role of science and education.
Outi Snellman introduced a brief history of UArctic before its launch in 2001.
The Seminar introduced two series of speed talks. The topic of the first speed talk was Climate and ecosystem change. It was a pleasure to hear the panelists: Hanna Lappalainen, John Moore, Riku Paavola, Arja Rautio, Bruce Forbes, and Sébastien Gadal. The second speed talk session had the theme of people in the Arctic. Among the panelists were Liisa Holmberg, Kamrul Hossein, Florian Stammler, Harri Saarnisaari, and Timo Jokela. Peter Sköld, Chair of the Board of UArctic, gave his concluding remarks after the speed talks.
Further into the Seminar, Liisa Holmberg was awarded with the title of Chevalier by the French ambassador. Congratulations, Liisa!
The Seminar concluded with speeches from UArctic President Lars Kullerud, UArctic Board student representative Juho Kähkönen, Member of the Board of UArctic Anne Husebekk, Chair of the University of Lapland Advisory Board and member of the Board of UArctic Johanna Ikäheimo, Stephen Heal, the Founders of UArctic, and Liisa Holmberg.
You can watch the recording of the Seminar here: