Heather Nicol (Academic Co-Director)
Heather Nicol is Professor of Geography and Director of the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University in Canada, where she coordinates the Circumpolar Studies Diploma. She is the author of many articles and books exploring the political geography of the Circumpolar North, with a specific focus on the North American Arctic and Canada-US cross-border relations. In 2015-16 she was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Fulbright Chair to the Center for Canadian Studies and Henry M Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. For further details, please see Dr Nicol's Trent University faculty profile.
Gary Wilson (Academic Co-Director)
Gary N Wilson is Professor of Political Science, and Coordinator of the Northern Studies Program, at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Canada. His research explores issues relating to governance and politics in the Circumpolar North, with a particular focus on comparative Inuit governance in the Canadian Arctic. He has served as the President of the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies, and as a Council Member for the International Arctic Social Sciences Association. For further details, please see Dr Wilson's UNBC faculty profile.
Anthony Speca (Managing Director)
Anthony Speca is Adjunct Professor at Trent University in Canada, and Honorary Lecturer at the University of East Anglia in the UK. He was formerly a senior policy official with the Government of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. Through his educational consultancy Polar Aspect, he designs and manages Model Arctic Council (MAC) experiential learning events for universities, as well as the world's only MACs for secondary schools. He is especially interested in Arctic 'philosophical geography', particularly the ethical issues surrounding how we think, teach and make policy about the region. For further details, please see Dr Speca's professional biography.
Michel Beaulieu
Michel S Beaulieu is Associate Vice-Provost Academic, Director of the Community Zone and Professor of History at Lakehead University in Canada. He previously chaired Lakehead's Department of History and coordinated its Interdisciplinary Program in Northern Studies. He is also a Docent of Social Science History at the University of Helsinki, and a Docent of Modern North American History at the University of Oulu. He has been involved with UArctic Circumpolar Studies for over a decade, teaching courses, and updating and reforming curricula. For further details, please see Dr Beaulieu's Lakehead University faculty profile.
Douglas Causey
Douglas Causey is Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the USA, Arctic Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, Global Fellow of the Wilson Center, and Principal Investigator at the US Department of Homeland Security's Arctic Domain Awareness Center of Excellence. He offers several courses with the UArctic Circumpolar Studies programme, including 'Arctic Environmental Security'. He and his students conduct field research across the North American Arctic, particularly on questions of climate change and environmental security. For further details, please see Dr Causey's professional biography.
Astri Dankertsen
Astri Dankertsen is Associate Professor of Social Sciences, and Head of Division for Research on Environment, International Relations, the Arctic and Security, at Nord University in Norway. A sociologist by training, her research has been mostly concerned with Sámi and Indigenous issues, youth, gender and communities in the Arctic, and she teaches courses in both Circumpolar Studies and Sociology. She a member of the Council of Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and she is also the leader of Sálto sámesiebrre, the local Sámi association in Salten, Norway. For further details, please see Dr Dankertsen's Nord faculty profile.
Amanda Graham
Amanda Graham is the Chair of the School of Liberal Arts at Yukon University, a founding member of UArctic. She has been enthusiastic advocate of Circumpolar Studies for more than twenty years, and she has taught UArctic's 'Introduction to the Circumpolar North' online course since piloting its initial delivery in 2001. She was involved in the early work to imagine the UArctic Circumpolar Studies programme, and she hopes to contribute to its future through the work of the Laera Institute. For further details, please see Ms Graham's Yukon University faculty profile.
