Jun 1, 2024: Peter Schweitzer Receives IASSA Award 2024

Peter Schweitzer receives the IASSA Award 2024 in Bodø.

The International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) has granted Peter Schweitzer an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award in recognition of his sustained and significant contribution to Arctic social sciences. The award ceremony took place on June 1, 2024, during the 11th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS XI) and as part of the Arctic Congress Bodø 2024.

Besides his leadership of the ERC Advanced Grant project “Building Arctic Futures: Transport Infrastructures and Sustainable Northern Communities” (InfraNorth), Peter Schweitzer is Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Research Group Leader at the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI). In the past, he has been president of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA), chair of the Social and Human Sciences Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and director of the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI), among other roles.

IASSA is an international association that represents Arctic social scientists, established in 1990 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Since its inception, it has aimed to promote the involvement of social scientists in both national and international Arctic research.

Painted history of the Northern Sea Route, Tiksi. Photo by Olga Povoroznyuk (2019).

Oct 8, 2024: Polar Journal Features Research by Olga Povoroznyuk

In a recent article published by the online information platform Polar Journal, titled “In shrinking Soviet towns, Northern Sea Route is keeping hope alive,” journalist Ole Ellekrog talked with Olga Povoroznyuk, InfraNorth’s research coordinator and lead of the Russian Arctic study region, about the difficulty of conducting anthropological research on Russia today and how InfraNorth […]

Sep 30, 2024: Article by Alexis Sancho-Reinoso and Tim Heleniak in “Island Studies Journal”

Island Studies Journal has recently published several early-access papers prior to assignment to an issue, including the article “Turning the Faroes into One City. Demographic and Spatial Impacts of 60 Years of Transport Infrastructure Expansion,” by Alexis Sancho-Reinoso and Timothy Heleniak. Over the last six decades, the Faroe Islands, an 18-island archipelago in the North […]

Photo by Alexandra Meyer.

Sep 30, 2024: Call for Abstracts on “The Challenges of Arctic Infrastructure” for the ICARP IV Summit

The call for abstracts for the 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) taking place on 25-28 March 2025 in Boulder, Colorado (USA) as part of the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is now open until 30 September 2024. InfraNorth team members Peter Schweitzer, Olga Povoroznyuk, and Alexandra Meyer, together with Vera Kuklina (George Washington University) […]

Sep 2024: Article in “Études Inuit Studies” by Sophie Elixhauser

The latest issue of Études Inuit Studies (Vol. 47, No. 1-2, September 2024) features the article “Making and Unmaking Airports in Tunu (East Greenland): The Socio-Material Dynamics of Hope and Connectivity” by Sophie Elixhauser. Like many airports throughout the Arctic, Kulusuk Airport, the entrance to the sparsely populated East Coast of Greenland, is built on […]

Sep 16, 2024: Presentations by Peter Schweitzer and Ria-Maria Adams at the 29th International Polar Conference

InfraNorth members Peter Schweitzer and Ria-Maria Adams will be presenting at the 29th International Polar Conference, co-organized by the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI) and the German Society of Polar Research (DGP). This year’s conference will be held in Rauris, Austria, from September 16 – 20, under the motto “Dynamic Poles and High Mountain Environments.” […]

Announcement of the InfraNorth Workshop “Ethnography Beyond the Case Study: Possibilities and Limitations of Comparison”

Sep 10, 2024: InfraNorth Workshop “Ethnography Beyond the Case Study: Possibilities and Limitations of Comparison”

Date and time: September 10, 2024, from 09:30 to 18:00 CEST. Venue: Nordregio. Holmamiralens Väg 10, Skeppsholmen, 111 49 Stockholm, Sweden (See: Map). Register here for in-person attendance. Register here for online participation. The ERC Advanced Grant project InfraNorth, in collaboration with Nordregio, will host the workshop “Ethnography Beyond the Case Study: Possibilities and Limitations […]