Pauline Baudu, M.A.

Europe, NATO, Arctic security and climate change

Pauline Baudu works on issues of Arctic geopolitics and security, and the convergence of climate and security. Her research considers the climate-security nexus through policy analysis and strategic foresight on security in the European and North American Arctic, climate-driven migrations and the intersection between climate change and gray-zone tactics, with a special focus on the role of NATO in addressing these issues.  

Baudu’s expertise is regularly solicited including in the consultation process to develop Canada’s new NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE). She is also involved in an academic project to contribute to NATO’s strategic knowledge, planning and adaptability under the conditions of climate change. She also served as a Research Assistant at the Polar Institute and the Environmental Change and Security Program, Wilson Center (Washington D.C.). She is currently a Research Consultant with the Center for Climate and Security of the Council on Strategic Risks (Washington D.C.) as well as a member of the Network for Strategic Analysis (Ontario, Canada). 

Baudu’s Arctic research builds on her pre-existing experience and research on human rights, migration and asylum law. Since 2018, she has served as a public official at the French National Asylum Court in Paris, providing legal expertise and country-risk analysis to inform judges in the asylum decision-making process. She has also worked with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and diverse civil society organizations on issues of migrants’ rights and non-discrimination. 

Baudu is a graduate from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS Sup’) in Defense, Security and Crisis Management. She received the Third Place Award at the 2022 Defence Associations Institute graduate student conference (Ottawa) for her policy paper on paradigms for NATO’s High North engagement. Baudu also holds an M.A. in Crisis Analysis and Humanitarian Aid from Université Savoie-Mont-Blanc and a B.A. in Applied Linguistics (English and Spanish) from Université de Tours. 

Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot

Arctic resource development and Indigenous equity partnerships

Ayoe Kristiansen, M.A.

Greenland and critical minerals

Ayoe Kristiansen is an Inuk living in Nuuk, Greenland. She is the Associate Community Engagement and Nuuk representative for Greenland Minerals, a subsidiary of the Australian based, Energy Transition Minerals. 

Kristiansen has an M.A. degree in social science from the University of Greenland (Ilissimatusarfik). Her master thesis concentrated on potential mining projects in Southern Greenland with a focus on the needs and requirements around the ‘Social License to Operate’ when it comes to opening and operating a mine in Greenland. In particular, Kristiansen’s research examined the stakeholder engagement processes of the Kuannersuit(Kvanefjeld) project in Narsaq. In December 2022, Kristiansen’s thesis won an award by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science competition, “Thesis competition about the Danish Realm” on her work of the potential for mining to positively affect Greenland’s economic position in the Danish realm. 

During her M.A. studies, Kristiansen served as a research partner for a Ph.D. scholar from the University of Oxford. She served as a Student Fellow with Arctic360. There Kristiansen co-produced Arctic360’s special ‘Breaking the Ice’ podcast series on Canada-Greenland cooperation. 

Kristiansen received her B.A. in Social Science and psychology from Roskilde University in 2018. She has also been active in numerous non-profit organizations including Avalak (an organization for Greenlandic students in Denmark), Save the Children-Youth in Denmark, and the Red Cross in Greenland. During her BA studies, Kristiansen worked as a student consultant for Visiobox Consulting where she conducted analyses and interviews for other companies. 

Dr. Hema Nadarajah

Asian states and the Arctic

Dr. Nadarajah is a Post-Graduate Research Scholar with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and a consultant for WWF on energy-related issues. She has a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation examined international law governing the Arctic, climate change, and outer space from an international relations lens. Dr. Nadarajah has also published and presented widely on Asia’s role in the Arctic and formerly worked for the Government of Singapore on issues of international biodiversity conservation and climate change. She has a Master of Environment from the Australian National University where she specialized in Climate Change Policy, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto where she majored in Geography and Geology. 

Dr. Elana Wilson Rowe

Arctic cooperation, Russia, climate change 

Elana Wilson Rowe is a Research Professor and Head of the Center for Ocean Governance and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and an associate professor at the Norwegian Institute for the Life Sciences (NMBU).  She holds a PhD (2006) in Geography and Polar Studies from the  University of Cambridge. Wilson Rowe’s research areas include Arctic governance¨and diplomacy, Russia’s Arctic and foreign policymaking, and ocean governance. She is the author of’ Russian Climate Politics: When Science Meets Policy’ (Palgrave, 2013) and ‘Arctic Governance: Power in cross-border relations’ (University of Manchester, 2018). Her research is focused on methodologically rigorous approaches to polar geopolitics and governance at a regional/global level, as well as ‘experience-near’ studies of how the changing geopolitical climate is experienced by Arctic communities, peoples, and science-policy networks. She is currently leading a five-year research project awarded by the European Research Council comparing the politics of the Arctic, Amazon Basin and the Caspian Sea (‘The Lorax Project’, #loraxprojectERC).  She was a member of Norway’s committee establishing research priorities for the UN Ocean Decade.

Dr. Mike Sfraga

US Arctic Policy

Mike Sfraga is the founding director of the Polar Institute. President Biden recently appointed Dr. Sfraga incoming Chairman of the United States Arctic Research Commission. Dr. Sfraga is as An Alaskan and a geographer by training, his work focuses on the changing geography of the Arctic and Antarctic landscapes, Arctic policy, and the impacts and implications of a changing climate on political, social, economic, environmental, and security regimes in the Arctic.

Sfraga served as distinguished co-lead scholar for the U.S. Department of State’s inaugural Fulbright Arctic Initiative from 2015-2017, a complementary program to the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council; he held the same position from 2017-2019. He served as chair of the 2020 Committee of Visitors Review of the Section for Arctic Science (ARC), Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, and currently serves on the Finnish Institute for International Affairs Scientific Advisory Council (SAC). Sfraga previously served in a number of academic, administrative, and executive positions including vice chancellor, associate vice president, faculty member, department chair, and associate dean.

Sfraga has testified before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, he maintains an active national and international speaking and facilitation schedule, and his commentary has been featured in several major media outlets including MSNBC, National Public Radio, Voice of America, The Wall Street Journal, Alaska Public Media, CCTV/CGTN, Bloomberg News, and C-SPAN.

Sfraga is the author of the biography Bradford Washburn: A Life of Exploration, is affiliate professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, serves as the co-director of the University of the Arctic’s Institute for Arctic Policy, and has served on a number of non-profit boards and advisory committees.

Sfraga earned the first PhD in geography and northern studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.