ASC Workshop 2025
As part of the Arctic Security Conference 2025, the ASC Workshop will bring together academics for in-depth discussions on three selected topics shaping ongoing debates among Arctic scholars.
When: September 17, 2025, 09:30 - 13:00
Where: Árdna at SALT, Langkaia 1, 0150 Oslo (next to the Opera House) (up to 80 seats)
Format: Closed academic workshop. Each session will begin with a keynote to set the stage, followed by a panel discussion with approx. five participants, concluding with an open floor for questions and input from the attendees.
Questions or interest in attending? Please contact Iselin Németh Winther (inwinther@fni.no) or Andreas Østhagen (ao@fni.no).
Tentative program
09:30 - 10:30
The Return of the Great Power Concert
10:45 - 11:45
Cooperation or catastrophe?
The international order faces perhaps most profound changes to date. From Russia's annexation of Crimea and the ongoing war in Ukraine to the rise of China as a global power and the increasing nationalism in U.S. foreign policy, especially under Donald Trump’s second term since 2025, the tectonic plates of geopolitics are visibly shifting. What does this mean for the Arctic? In this session, we will discuss whether the Arctic remains a zone of peace or whether the Arctic is poised to become a chessboard for a new great-power-driven great game.
Moderator: Erdem Lamazhapov, PhD Research Fellow, Fridtjof Nansen Institute
Keynote: Klaus Dodds, Professor, Royal Holloway University
Panelist: Rebekka Åsnes Sagild, Senior Researcher, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies
Panelist: tbc
Do Arctic cooperative institutions still matter – and to whom? As great-power rivalry sharpens under a new Trump administration and a protracted war in Ukraine keeps tensions high, institutions once praised for maintaining cooperation in the Arctic face an identity test. For three decades, the agenda has revolved around climate, environment, and indigenous rights – issues that today have lost priority on the global security agenda even as the risk of climate catastrophe grows. If these very topics slip from center stage, will the institutions themselves be reduced to soft policy and fragmented case-specific issues? Or will Arctic cooperation be placed in a larger geopolitical power battle? What do the Arctic institutions need to navigate these crises?
Moderator: Serafima Andreeva, Researcher, Fridtjof Nansen Institute
Keynote: Jennifer Spence, Director, Arctic Initiative, Harvard University
Panelist: Heather Exner-Pirot, Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Panelist: Monika Szkarłat, Assistant Professor, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University
Panelist: tbc
Heightened tensions and increased security concerns across the Arctic states have implications for local communities in the Arctic, as the northern areas in many of the Arctic states hold considerable strategic value, with some playing a vital role in national defence strategies. As their significance grows, understanding local perceptions on security becomes urgent. Yet, in discussions about security, we often talk past each other. What do we actually mean by ‘local security’ interest? Are our perceptions shaped – or limited – by theoretical frameworks? Are local interests seen as separate from or opposed to national ones? Whose local interest are we referring to? And is there actually anything ‘local’ or ‘Arctic’ about them?
Moderator: Iselin Németh Winther, Researcher, Fridtjof Nansen Institute
Keynote: Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Professor, UiT: Arctic University of Norway
Panelist: Ulrik Pram Gad, Senior researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies
Panelist: tbc
Panelist: tbc
12.00 - 13.00
What is ‘local’ about local security interests?
SALT began as an art project in 2014 on Sandhornøy, Northern Norway, centered around the traditional fish-drying rack (fiskehjell). After several years as a nomadic initiative, SALT found a permanent home in Oslo, where it now represents Northern Norwegian (Arctic) culture and architecture in the capital.
