Interactions between knowledge and policy in the different working groups of the Arctic Council

Nasiffik - centre for foreign & security policy invites you to a public lecture with Galadrielle Pommereau - a doctoral student of International Relations at the University of Iceland.

The title of the public lecture is: "Interactions between knowledge and policy in the different working groups of the Arctic Council".

The Arctic Council has changed enormously in the past few years and has known many difficulties, but as it persisted, and as working group-level activity resumed as of Fall 2024, the idea is to draw lessons from the various ways the woking groups have adapted to such difficulties.

This ongoing doctoral research looks for similarities and differences in how the knowledge-policy interactions are organized in the Arctic Council’s (AC) different working groups.

This involves looking at what kind of knowledge is included, who gets to participate, how often - among other factors.

The research also looks at the geopolitical changes in recent years and how they have affected these interactions.

Then, by looking at what kind of work is done in each working group, the research will look for correlations between the type of knowledge-policy interactions and the type of work done.

For this, the researcher uses primarily interviews with experts who have worked with one or several AC working groups for a long time, completed with the AC’s archives.

This will allow to differentiate what is context-specific and what is (potentially) a general trend.

The goal is to produce a «toolbox» for policymakers, funders and activists; showing which kind of knowledge-policy interaction is linked to which kind of results: so that when new projects or policies are being considered, the practical organisation of these interactions can align better with the goals.

Galadrielle is a doctoral student of International Relations at the University of Iceland, doing a two months scholarly visit at Nasiffik - centre for foreign & security policy at Ilisimatusarfik. She has been working on the Arctic Council since her graduate studies and has great interest in the topics of knowledge-to-policy and so-called science diplomacy, particularly in relation to the climate crisis.

Everyone is more than welcome - and coffee and tea will be served.