On Tuesday, I ran an online ‘mini’ Model Arctic Council (MAC) for students taking Prof Heather Nicol’s third-year ‘Geography of the Polar Regions’ course at Trent University. Most of the participating students were from Trent, but they also included two students from Finnish universities taking the course through the UArctic Circumpolar Studies programme. The mini-MAC followed a similar …
Author: Anthony Speca
Lecture at University of Northern British Columbia
On Monday, I had the privilege of delivering a guest lecture to third- and fourth-year undergraduate students at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). The students were all taking part in the UNBC Geography Department’s course ‘Changing Arctic: Human and Environmental Systems’, convened by Prof Gail Fondahl. My lecture was entitled ‘”Greenshit go home” …
Trent-Yukon Model Arctic Council 1
Last week, 19 student delegates from seven universities in Canada, the Netherlands and the UK participated in the first Trent-Yukon Model Arctic Council (TRYKOMAC). TRYKOMAC was sponsored by Trent University (where I’m an adjunct faculty member) and Yukon University, funded by Universities Canada, and designed and managed by Polar Aspect. Taking place online due to …
Online Model Arctic Council 1
This past weekend, 18 pupils from ten secondary schools in four countries gathered online for the inaugural Online Model Arctic Council (OMAC). OMAC is the latest Polar Aspect educational initiative, designed to engage pupils anywhere in the world in a process of experiential learning about the Arctic through an online version of the Model Arctic Council …
Online Model Arctic Council Delegate Training
I’m extremely pleased to report on the latest Polar Aspect educational initiative—the Online Model Arctic Council (OMAC) delegate training and conference programme. This new initiative aims to engage pupils from secondary-schools anywhere in the world in a process of experiential learning about the Arctic through an online version of the Model Arctic Council programmes that I run …
Presentation at 2nd MUN Impact Global Summit
This past weekend, Polar Aspect had the privilege of giving a presentation to the second MUN Impact Global Youth Summit about the new Online Model Arctic Council (OMAC) programme that we’re about to launch. I say ‘Polar Aspect’ and ‘we’, because the presentation was actually given by my new OMAC Secretariat team—Joshua Gray, Olivia Silk …
Panel discussion at Centre of Gravity contemporary art exhibition
Yesterday I had the very enjoyable experience of participating in an ‘Arctic/Antarctic Symposium‘ connected with the Centre of Gravity (CoG) contemporary art exhibition. Originally planned as an in-person event in the old Soapworks in Bristol, which was turned over to the CoG artistic collective for a month of artistic and creative outreach, the symposium unfortunately …
Launch of UArctic Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education
I’m pleased to share the press release below, announcing the launch of the Læra Institute for Circumpolar Education, a new part of the international University of the Arctic, to which I’m honoured to have been appointed Managing Director. Our work formally began in early September, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with my UArctic colleagues …
Student remarks on 2nd online mini Model Arctic Council for Trent University
I was very pleased recently to read a blog post from Stephanie Masterman, an undergraduate student at the University of Washington who participated in the second online ‘mini’ Model Arctic Council (MAC) that I ran this past July as part of a Trent University course on the Circumpolar North. Stephanie seems to have found her …
2nd Online Mini Model Arctic Council for Trent University
Today I ran a second online Model Arctic Council (MAC) for students at Trent University where I’m appointed as an adjunct professor, as well as from other universities around the world participating in the University of the Arctic Circumpolar Studies programme. This ‘mini-MAC’ follows a similar one last year, though slightly expanded and more deeply …