Yesterday, I participated in a panel discussion on ‘Circumpolar Education for Environmental Change and Resilience’, moderated by Maeva Gauthier of the University of Victoria.  The discussion was the first step in a project, led by Jeff Birchall of the University of Alberta, to design a locally-centered and student-focused education programme on environmental change and resilience.  Maeva and Jeff convened it as part of Arctic Congress Bodø 2024, a major academic, diplomatic and professional event combining IASSA’s 11th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, UArctic Congress 2024 and High North Dialogue 2024.

It was a privilege to contribute my experience of designing and running Model Arctic Council diplomatic simulations for schools and universities, and to speak about the value of MAC and of experiential education more broadly in student-centred pedagogy — a topic about which I published a paper in Polar Geography last year.  Many thanks to Maeva and Jeff for the invitation to take part.