Arctic Health and Well-being researchers convened at the UArctic Congress 2026
Members of the Thematic Network on Health and Well-being in the Arctic were actively engaged at the UArctic Congress 2026 in the Faroe Islands. Read the report by the network’s lead, Anastasia Emelyanova, on its extensive participation, sessions, and collaboration activities.
We thank every and each members of the UArctic TN Health and Well-being in the Arctic for their valuable participation and bringing health so much forward in the congress agenda. The UArctic TN Health and Well-being in the Arctic was widely represented and arranged a lot of sessions and social activities during the biannual conference UArctic Congress 2026 in the Faroe Islands, on 26-28 May 2026.
Health topic was an important part of keynotes, for example, Pál Weihe, Professor of Public Health from the Faroe Islands, talked about Arctic dilemma and contaminated traditional food. Likewise, our TN members have arranged, moderated and presented their most recent research in multiple conference sessions and poster platforms. In the following we are mentioning some of the sessions and meetings held by the networks sub-groups and projects.
Christine Ingemann and Janat Ibrahimi from the TN Sub-group on Circumpolar Maternal and Child Health chaired a session on Strengthening Indigenous Models of Maternal and Child Health in the Arctic, followed by a roundtable discussion on Carrying Birth Knowledge Forward: A Roundtable on Indigenous Maternal and Child Health in the Arctic.
TN Sub-group of Healthy Ageing convened the panel session on Healthy Ageing for all in the Arctic, moderated by Anastasia Emelyanova and Bodil Hansen Blix, where panelists from various Nordic ageing related projects focused in the discussion on what societal challenge their projects address and how it responds to it via opportunities and promising output. The session was funded mainly by the NAPA funded project “Nordic Arctic Healthy Ageing Communities”.
Members of the TN Sub-group on One Health hosted or participated in several sessions related to various aspects of One Health in the Arctic e.g. sessions One Health Solutions Toward the Health of Humans, Animals, and Environment in the Arctic, and One Health as an Innovative Strategy for Sustainable Pollution Regulations in the Arctic.
PhD student of the network Charlotte Brandstrup Ottendahl presented at the session Social Inequalities in Health in the North Atlantic and Community Based Participatory Research on Social and Mental Well-being in Northern Communities: Recent Research in Advances in Methods. The latter one also featured the work of other TN members such as Peter Collings, Ulla Timlin, and the sub-group on Health Surveys represented by Christina VL Larsen.
Educational courses of the health network were presented by Christopher Fletcher and Allison Crawford in the interactive session Co-designing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Circumpolar Health. Alex Drossos with other TN members led the session on Paediatric Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Arctic and presented at the session Intergenerational Healing, Inuit Leadership and Partnership in Addressing Health Crises in Nunavut.
All visiting TN members had the opportunity to connect at the joint lunch meeting, and we were happy to see so many of you. As part of the TN project “Strengthening Arctic Health networks”, a small dinner was arranged to expand the project with new project partners, especially from the Faroe Islands.
The full program of the event is still available through this link.