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Dec 3, 2024: InfraNorth Participation at the 6th Nordic Conference for Rural Research

Two members of the InfraNorth team, Timothy Heleniak (a senior research fellow at Nordregio) and Ria-Maria Adams, will participate in the 6th Nordic Rural Research Conference, held in Kiruna, Finland, from December 3-5. This year’s conference theme is “New Pathways to Sustainable Transitions?”

Timothy Heleniak is coordinating working group 1.1, “The benefits of migration in Nordic rural areas,” which will gather on Tuesday, December 3, at 15:30 EET. The group will bring together researchers investigating mobility in rural areas, including internal and international migration, to explore its potential for rural development policies in the Nordic region.

On Wednesday, December 4, at 13:00 EET, Ria-Maria Adams will present the paper “Capitalizing stigma: Counter-narrating regional decline through local initiatives within Finland’s fastest shrinking town,” as part of working group 3.2.1, “Local communities as main actors in rural change.” Her presentation is based on a forthcoming article she is part of led by Grete Gansauer and co-authored by Johanna Lilius for the journal Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. They examine how local initiatives in ‘left behind’ places can transform broader political discourses of decline. The study explores how local initiatives challenge stigmatizing discourses and discusses the groundwork for a re-imagined ‘politics of possibility’ for seemingly hopeless places with sparse (transport) infrastructure connections.

The full conference program is available online through this link.

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Jun 17, 2025: Panel and Presentation by Ria-Maria Adams at the Finnish Anthropological Society Conference 2025

InfraNorth researcher Ria-Maria Adams will be convening a panel and presenting a paper at the 2025 Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society in Helsinki. This year’s conference, which marks the Society’s 50th anniversary, will be held under the theme Comparisons in Helsinki from June 16 to 18, 2025. The panel session “Rethinking Infrastructure through […]

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Jun 5, 2025: Keynote Speech by Philipp Budka at the IDSF 2025 Social-Science Track

InfraNorth researcher Philipp Budka will deliver the keynote address for the Social Science Track at the International Digital Security Forum (IDSF) 2025, held under the theme “Sovereignty and Solidarity in the Digital Age – a critical view.” Hosted by the Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE) and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, it will […]

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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 […]

Event

Apr 16, 2025: Presentation by Philipp Budka at the Manitoba Museum

InfraNorth team member Philipp Budka will deliver a public presentation of his research titled “Infrastructural Sovereignty and the Social Life of Transport: Ethnographic Insights from Northern Manitoba, Canada” on Wednesday, April 16, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM (GMT-5) at the Manitoba Museum Auditorium in Winnipeg, Canada. Churchill, Manitoba—a remote Subarctic town of approximately 870 residents—offers […]

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Apr 8, 2025: Nunatsiaq News Features Research by Katrin Schmid

InfraNorth team member Katrin Schmid’s recent presentation on transport infrastructure and food sovereignty in Nunavut was featured in Nunatsiaq News, a local newspaper in the region. Schmid shared her findings at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit on April 8, 2025, in a public presentation titled “Country Food Cargo: How Transport Infrastructure Shapes Food Sovereignty […]