New major grant for Arctic research: Inughuit knowledge at the heart of new project

Ilisimatusarfik has received a grant of DKK 6,451,244 under Arctic Research from the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

The funds will go to the research project MITEQ: Inughuit-Directed Responses to Environmental Change in the High Arctic that places local knowledge and experience at the center of understanding environmental change in North Greenland.

The project is based on the Inughuit in Avanersuaq and their many generations of knowledge about Pikialasorsuaq - the North Water, the large open sea area between Greenland and Canada. The area is one of the Arctic's most productive ecosystems and is of crucial importance to both wildlife and human livelihoods. At the same time, it is currently under pressure - both from climate change and from political tensions and border disputes.

Where Pikialasorsuaq is often described as a purely natural phenomenon, the MITEQ project takes a different perspective. Here, the area is understood as a close interaction between people and the environment, shaped by daily practices, movement, hunting, and experiential knowledge. Based on Qangaaniit Inughuit Ilisimasaat - the Inughuit's own forms of knowledge - the project examines how changes are felt, understood, and dealt with in everyday life.

In close collaboration with hunting families and local communities, the project combines fieldwork, archaeological studies of the landscape, and analyses of political decision-making processes. The aim is to document how indigenous practices and historical traces function as collective memory structures - and how contemporary boundaries, rules and management systems affect local access to resources and livelihoods.

With MITEQ, Ilisimatusarfik contributes to new knowledge about the relationship between people and the environment in the Arctic. At the same time, the project strengthens the voice of the Inughuit in the political processes that shape the future of the region and creates a new basis for sustainable management in a time of rapid climate change.

For more information about the research project, please contact rector Mari Kleist (PI) at [email protected], assigned associate professor Matthew Walls (co-PI) at [email protected], or head of department Pauline Knudsen (project partner) at [email protected].