Apr 16, 2025: Rudolphina Magazine Features Research by Peter Schweitzer
The University of Vienna’s research magazine, Rudolphina, recently featured Peter Schweitzer, principal investigator of InfraNorth, and his long-standing anthropological engagement with Arctic communities. Schweitzer’s research focuses on issues related to the built environment, mobility, remoteness, and the social impacts of climate change on community life in the Arctic.
The article, which includes a video interview with Schweitzer, highlights how the ERC Advanced Grant project InfraNorth team is investigating the role of transport infrastructure in sustaining northern communities. It also features Schweitzer’s involvement in related research projects such as the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Nunataryuk and its follow-up Horizon Europe project ILLUQ, which examine how thawing permafrost affects both global climate systems and the lives of Arctic residents.
Drawing on years of fieldwork, Schweitzer’s research offers critical insights into how geopolitical shifts, rising militarisation and tourism, climate change, and infrastructure development are reshaping the future of community life in the far north. Through scenario workshops and long-term engagement with Arctic residents, Schweitzer and his team work to ensure that local voices are included in shaping the region’s future. At the same time, ongoing geopolitical restrictions (particularly, limited access to the Russian Arctic) pose challenges to fully representing the heterogeneity of Arctic ways of life.
You can read the full article in the Rudolphina magazine.
