Polar Law students in Sweden

The Polar Law Symposium was held late September this year at the Mid Sweden University in Östersund.

In a session on “Emerging Issues and Innovative Approaches of Polar Governance", Mitchell Sallis, Niall Janssen and Anna Lauenburger, all of them M.A. Candidates in Polar Law, presented their research-based ideas concerning various fields of Polar Law, ranging from Indigenous Peoples issues of self-determination in Quebec, Sámi-EU relations and emerging rights of nature in Antarctica. The session was jointly organized by the Polar Law Program and the Nansen Professorship in Arctic Studies at the University of Akureyri.

The Polar Law Symposium (PLS) was developed as one of several interlinked initiatives in 2008, such as the Polar Law Programme and the Yearbook of Polar Law.

Antje Neumann, associate professor and current Director of the Polar Law Program at UNAK, says that these opportunities for Polar Law students to present and discuss their research ideas with international experts in the field of Polar Law is essential to the program, “Getting the chance to introduce and discuss their research in a symposium like this, amongst peers and international experts of Polar Law, contributes not only to their master theses process but also provides significant experience in developing academic skills in their early career.”

Dr Neumann, Professor Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Nansen Professor Romain Chuffart and adjunct lecturer Sara Fusco from UNAK, all Polar Law alumni, also presented at the Polar Law Symposium, as did Polar Law alumni Mana Tugend, Apostolos Tsviouvalas, Katharina Heinrich, Jordane Liebeaux and Medy Dervovic, all now PhD candidates.