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Events
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth in Aarhus and watched our video On the Edge!
March 25–April 1, 2026
Aarhus, Denmark
The Arctic Science Summit Week - 2026 (ASSW)
ASSW 2026 Science Day
Arctic Observing Summit 2026
We are also especially grateful to the organizers for making these three excellent events such a success and for hosting the SESTRA presentations.
March 29, 2026
Aarhus, Denmark
ASSW 2026 Science Day
We sincerely thank the ASSW 2026 Science Day organizers for the opportunity to present our project findings in both the oral and poster sessions.
Our Explainer Video On the Edge was on a tour in Iceland!
October 16-18, 2025
Reykjavík, Iceland
The Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest high-profile international annual forum dedicated to Arctic issues.
In 2025, it convened more than 2,000 participants from
over 70 countries.
Photos are courtesy of Marya Rozanova-Smith and the Arctic Circle Assembly.
SESTRA-RIMS Trainings in Mongolia in August 2025
On August 11, 2025, SESTRA research team organized RIMS training workshops in Mörön, August 15 – in Sukhbaatar, Selenge aimag on Rapid Integrated Mapping and data analysis System (RIMS) for SESTRA project developed at UNH.
The workshops generated great interest among various environmental specialists representing the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Hydrometeorological Service, Construction and Urban Development and Water Management Agencies as well as geography teachers from several local high schools who found that the RIMS tool is very useful for various educational applications.
March 20–28, 2025
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW)
Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV)
Session Arctic Riverine Systems and Communities: Changes, Adaptations, and Future Research Priorities
Description:
Many Arctic communities are located along the rivers. Rivers play a major role in supporting the Indigenous livelihoods in the Arctic throughout the millennia and enable transportation, commercial activity, and subsistence practices today. In the recent decades Arctic rivers and their basins experienced dramatic changes in respect to hydroclimatic regimes, biological diversity, environmental conditions, and industrial development. Although major efforts have been lately devoted to highlighting, understanding and addressing multiple challenges faced by coastal Arctic communities, riverine social-ecological systems (SES), specifically, received relatively limited attention. This session will gather papers focused on riverine Arctic SES and communities to elicit state-of-the-art knowledge about key changes and challenges and identity research priorities within the context of the ICARP IV process.
The session welcomed projects focused on interactions between changing climate, hydrology, cryosphere, and human processes in order to improve local-regional resilience and adaptive capacity.
The Session was organized by the SESTRA Project in cooperation with the ARCTICenter, UNI, and the Cold Regions Lab, GWU.
Our field visit to Mongolia
July 2024
The SESTRA Project research team conducted a field visit to Mongolia in July 2024, where they participated in a Workshop Interrogating the cooperative governance of water in Inner Asia and engaged with project partners and local stakeholders.
March 20–28, 2025
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW)
Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV)
Session Indigenizing Research Agenda and Methodology in Arctic Science
Description:
Indigenizing research agenda and methodology is an important priority to ensure that Arctic research is respectful and inclusive of Indigenous knowledge, is ethically conducted, and addresses urgent community needs and priorities.
We invite researchers, especially Indigenous scholars, to share their experiences in implementing the Indigenized and knowledge co-production approaches throughout the complete research process, including:
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The principle of community engagement at all stages of project implementation.
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FAIR, CARE, and other principles on Indigenous data sovereignty and governance.
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Local communities' cultural protocols for fieldwork.
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The Free, Prior, Informed Consent.
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The principle of transparency.
For this Session, we invited presentations on Indigenous leadership in Arctic research, data use and dissemination, with a special focus on community data ownership and sovereignty principles, as well as co-authorship/first-authorship with community members when publishing and disseminating research results.
The Session was organized by the ARCTICenter, UNI, Project Understanding the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic (COVID-GEA), and Project Measuring Urban Sustainability in Transition (MUST), and Project Socio-Ecological Systems Transformation in River basins of the sub-Arctic under climate change (SESTRA).
March 5-7, 2024
Washington, DC
The George Washington University
Session Transformations of Socio-Ecological Systems in Pan-Arctic River Basins under Climate Change
Description:
Cold regions are experiencing unprecedented environmental change that coincides with social and economic transformations. Given the vital role of water systems in cold regions, current changes in climate, land cover and water cycle have significantly impacted sustainability of many local communities through increased streamflow, river bank erosion, permafrost thaw, and changed precipitation pattern, vegetation and river/lake ice magnitude and timing. We propose a session aimed at understanding how changes in climate and hydrology impact people and ecosystems of riverine communities in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions.
The Session welcomes projects focused on interactions between changing climate, hydrology, cryosphere, and human processes in order to improve local-regional resilience and adaptive capacity.
The Session was organized by the SESTRA Project in cooperation with the ARCTICenter, UNI, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Cold Regions Lab, GWU.
April 16–20, 2024
Honolulu, Hawai'i
2024 AAG Annual Meeting
Session Indigenizing Research Agenda and Geography Research Methodologies
Description:
Indigenizing research agenda and research methods is an important priority to ensure that geographical research is respectful and inclusive of Indigenous knowledge, is ethically conducted, and addresses urgent community needs and priorities.
We invite researchers, especially Indigenous scholars, to share their experiences in implementing the Indigenized and knowledge co-production approaches throughout the complete research process.
Presentations:
• Global change impacts on the sustainability of Indigenous communities in Sakha Republic
Stanislav Saas Ksenofontov, ARCTICentre, University of Northern Iowa
Andrey Petrov, ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa
• "It is always about land”: Co-management as a pathway to homelands access for California Native Tribes
Dylan Moore, University of California Davis
• Co-Production of Arctic Sea Ice Knowledge: Bibliographic Review
Maria Monakhova, Arizona State University
Abigail York, Arizona State University
Shauna BurnSilver, Arizona State University
Tatiana Degai, University of Victoria
• Indigenizing STEM
Ulla Hasager, University Hawai'i
Hokulani Aikau, University of Victoria
Amy Sprowles, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
Amy Shachter, Santa Clara University
• Bridging Generations: Digital Storytelling in the Rarámuri Community
Rafael Gonzalez, University of Kansas.
Chairs/Organizers:
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Dr. Stanislav Ksenofontov, ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa
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Dr. Marya Rozanova-Smith, The George Washington University
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Prof. Andrey Petrov, ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa.
The Session is organized by the Project Socio-Ecological Systems Transformation in River basins of the sub-Arctic under climate change (SESTRA), the Project Understanding the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic (COVID-GEA), the ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa, the Project Measuring Urban Sustainability in Transition (MUST).
Photos courtesy of Marya Rozanova-Smith.
