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

Photo by Alexandra Meyer.

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) are convening a session titled “The Challenges of Arctic Infrastructure” (Session 3.17).

This interdisciplinary session delves into the unique challenges and future possibilities of Arctic infrastructure, encompassing perspectives from the social sciences, engineering, natural sciences, and the arts. The Arctic’s extreme climate, permafrost, and remoteness impose significant obstacles on infrastructure development. Despite many ambitious plans for Arctic development, the realization of projects is often hindered by limited community engagement and logistical challenges. From a societal perspective, different stakeholders can see infrastructural development either as a blessing or as a curse, depending on the type of entanglement with a particular infrastructure and the opportunity to participate in governance processes.

Session 7.3 will explore what distinguishes Arctic infrastructures from those in other regions, focusing on the interplay between the harsh physical environment of the Arctic and socio-economic factors. Building on the efforts of the IASC Research Initiative RATIC, this discussion aims to foster innovative approaches and actionable insights for identifying the challenges of Arctic infrastructure development. We invite papers that address socio-economic, environmental, technological, and artistic aspects of Arctic infrastructure, emphasizing the need for collaborative processes such as co-imagining, co-creating, and co-planning to envision sustainable infrastructural futures.

Abstract submissions can be made here until 30 September 2024.

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 […]

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 […]

Apr 9, 2025: Community Talk by Philipp Budka in Churchill, Manitoba

On April 9, 2025, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM CDT (GMT-5), Philipp Budka will present a talk titled “Navigating Change: How Transport Infrastructure Shapes Life in Churchill” at the Theatre of the Town Centre Complex in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. As part of this community event, the InfraNorth researcher will explore how transport infrastructures both shape […]

Arctic Science Summit Week 2024

Mar 20–28, 2025: InfraNorth at the Arctic Science Summit Week 2025

InfraNorth researchers Peter Schweitzer, Olga Povoroznyuk, Alexandra Meyer, Ria-Maria Adams, and Susanna Gartler will participate in the Arctic Science Summit Week 2025 (ASSW) from 20 to 28 March 2025 at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. This year’s summit, themed “Arctic Research Planning for the Next Decade,” will include the 4th International Conference on Arctic […]