Mon projet nordique/My Northern Project Competition winners 2025
On October 17, 2025, during the Arctic Circle Assembly, PhD and master students from Québec and UArctic universities had an opportunity to present their work through lightning talks.
Caroline Elisabeth Haas, a PhD Candidate at the University of St Andrews & University of Iceland, and her project "Eavesdropping on Northern Bottlenose Whales: Acoustic Insights into their Occurrence Across
Space and Time" won in the audience public voting.
The competition's jury has announced two winners: Michaël Thibault, a PhD Candidate in Earth Sciences at National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) and his presentation "Hotter Than It Looks:
A Geothermal Story from Canada’s Northwest Territories" and Caroline Elisabeth Haas, a PhD Candidate at the University of St Andrews & University of Iceland, with her presentation "Eavesdropping on Northern Bottlenose Whales: Acoustic Insights into their Occurrence Across
Space and Time".
My Northern project aims to organize an international science popularization contest involving students from Quebec and the Nordics. The partners in this project are the Institut nordique du Québec and the University of the Arctic (UArctic).
This is the 7th time the two partners have organized a competition for doctoral and master students to reward them for their efforts in popularizing science. While promoting the transfer of knowledge and the popularization of science and offering an unprecedented academic experience to finalists, the competition aims to strengthen the ties between the Institut nordique du Québec and UArctic.
In 2025 the competition was very successful once again, and audience got to hear inspiring talks from the following students:
- Victorine Lambert, MSc Student in Renewable Resources, McGill University, Canada: Dining with Giants: Tracing the Arctic Menu of Killer Whales Through Isotopes
- Tordis Tróndarson, PhD Candidate, University of the Faroe Islands: The APN FO Project – Advancing Healthcare in the Faroe Islands: An Action Research-Based PhD Project
- Cindy Dumais, PhD Candidate in Microbiology, Université Laval, Canada: A Breath of Northern Air: When Mould Sneaks In
- Lluïsa Puig Moner, PhD Candidate, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway: Resolving the Arctic Sea Ice Puzzle
- Elisabeth Guillet-Beaulieu, PhD Candidate in Biological Sciences, Université de Montréal, Canada: Beehold, It's Cold!: Characterising Nunavik's Pollinating Insects
- Marianna Leoni, PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Oulu, Finland: Phygital Arctic Experiences: Opportunities and Challenges of Communicating Sustainability and Climate Change through Technology
- Michaël Thibault, PhD Candidate in Earth Sciences, National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS), Canada: Hotter Than It Looks: A Geothermal Story from Canada’s Northwest Territories
- Caroline Elisabeth Haas, PhD Candidate, University of St Andrews & University of Iceland: Eavesdropping on Northern Bottlenose Whales: Acoustic Insights into their Occurrence Across Space and Time
- Alexandrine Roy, MSc Student in Public Health, Université Laval, Canada: Exploring How Traditional Food Antioxidants Protect Nunavimmiut Red Blood Cells from Methylmercury