Dr. Jessica M. Shadian, February 27 at 7 p.m. on zoom
Dr Shadian is the President and CEO of Arctic360, Canada’s Premier Arctic think tank. During her 20 career she has lived and worked throughout the Nordic and North American Arctic as an Arctic researcher, professor, and consultant. Her peer reviewed articles, books, and media commentary focus on Inuit governance, Arctic geopolitics and governance, Canadian Arctic foreign policy and diplomacy, Arctic infrastructure, critical minerals, and innovation. Her expertise is regularly solicited by international media outlets, governments, think tanks, and other institutions throughout the circumpolar region and globally. Shadian’s 2014 book entitled: The Politics of Arctic Sovereignty: Oil, Ice, and Inuit Governance (Routledge) is the first in-depth history of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and Inuit sovereignty in global politics reaching back to pre-European discovery. Shadian holds a Ph.D. in Global Governance from the University of Delaware (2006) during which she wrote her dissertation at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), University of Cambridge, UK on a National Science Foundation (NSF) award. Shadian spent the following 5 years in the Norwegian High North as a post-doctoral researcher at the Barents Institute and then as a Senior Researcher at the High North Center for Business and Governance, Nord University, Bodø. During this time, Shadian became the co-creator and organiser of an Arctic Dialogue series which brought together state and local political leaders, oil and gas and other industry leaders, local Indigenous communities, and academia (from Norway, Alaska, and Greenland) concerned with Arctic offshore oil and gas development to share knowledge and ideas. Through a Marie Curie COFUND Fellowship award, Shadian served as an Associate Professor, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Denmark before completing a two-year Nansen Professorship, co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Akureyri, Iceland in June 2017. Having settled in Canada, her experiences around the Arctic made it clear that Canada needed its own Arctic specific think tank and working in collaboration with colleagues she dedicated herself full-time to build Arctic360.
Arctic360 is Canada’s Premier Arctic think tank. Its mission is to elevate the national conversation about Canada’s North and the Arctic region, and to provide an inclusive and coordinated platform for Canada to engage in Arctic discussions around the world. It is a Partnership with the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, Trinity College, and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
If you are a woman but not a member of CFUW Stratford who would like to attend this meeting, please email cfuwstratford@gmail.com and you will receive a link to the meeting a few days prior to the event.