Notes on Contributors
Julie Auffret-Cariou
holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from Sciences Po Bordeaux. She was a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland) which gave her the opportunity to focus on the French Arctic Policy following its first Polar Strategy as well as the role of Indigenous representatives in Arctic politics. Her research interests include comparative politics, diplomacy, Arctic governance, Arctic policies, and the civil society.
Romain Chuffart
is the Nansen professor in Arctic Studies (2024–2025) at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. He holds a Ph.D. in law from Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is also the Managing Director of The Arctic Institute – Center for Circumpolar Security Studies, a think tank and nonprofit organization (Washington D.C.,
Konstantinos Deligiannis-Virvos
is a Ph.D. research fellow with the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (nclos) at the Law Faculty of UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. His doctorate thesis is titled “The Implementation of an Ecosystem Approach in Shipping”. He comes from Greece and has studied law in the Democritus University of Thrace. He also holds two master’s degrees, one in Public International Law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and one in the Law of the Sea from UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. He is a member of the Athens Bar Association and has practiced law in Greece. His research interests include public international law, the law of the sea, environmental law, shipping, and Arctic law and governance.
Medy Dervovic
is a Ph.D. candidate at Reykjavík University, Department of Law, Iceland, where he focuses on the normative impact of climate change on the law of the sea in the Arctic. He holds an ll.m. degree in Polar Law from the University of Akureyri, Iceland. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland), a researcher at the Stefansson Arctic Institute (Akureyri, Iceland), and a researcher at the Centre for Law on Climate Change and Sustainability (Reykjavík, Iceland). Medy is the Editor-in-Chief of A Compilation of International and Regional Instruments and Case-Law on Minorities and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (Brill | Nijhoff, 2025–) His fields of research include the law of the sea, Arctic law and governance, Polar law, public international law, treaty law, environmental law, and human rights.
Gints Jegermanis
is a visiting lecturer at the University of Latvia and Riga Graduate School of Law. He served as ambassador of Latvia to Estonia (1998–2001), Denmark (2009–13) and Sweden (2013–17), as permanent representative to the
Stefan Kirchner
is a government advisor based in Germany who works on energy security, environmental protection and disaster risk reduction, and an Adjunct Professor at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. Formerly a Research Professor and Research Group Leader at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland, he has taught international law at universities in Finland, Germany, Greenland, Italy, Lithuania and Ukraine. He is the author or co-author of more than 500 academic publications and has (co-)chaired the American Society of International Law (asil) Rights of Indigenous Peoples Interest Group, Law of the Sea Interest Group, Space Law Interest Group and Disaster Law Interest Group. He is a member of multiple editorial and advisory boards, including the editorial advisory committee of International Legal Materials, the advisory board of asil’s International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group and the New Zealand-based International Disaster, Emergency and Law Network. His contribution only reflects his private opinion.
Marina Lomaeva
is a specially appointed assistant professor at Hokkaido University’s Nitobe College Graduate Curriculum. She received her Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in December 2024. Her research interests include global and regional environmental governance, marine wildlife (particularly, marine mammal) conservation, and the roles of subnational and non-state actors in multi-level governance, particularly in the North Pacific (Japan, Russia, the
Karen van Loon
is a research fellow at Clingendael’s Security and Defence Programme, where she specializes in Arctic geopolitics and broader security and defence issues. Before joining Clingendael, she was a researcher in the European Affairs Programme at egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations. She has also held roles as an Educational Assistant at the Political Science Department of ku Leuven Kulak and as a Lecturer in the Master of Teaching Programme at the University of Antwerp. Her research interests include Arctic geopolitics, the future of nato, and arms control.
Eline Lüschen
holds an m.a. in International Security from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. She is a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland). Her field of research includes Arctic governance and security. Eline also works as an information specialist at the Inspectorate of Justice and Security in the Netherlands.
Fujio Ohnishi
is a specially appointed associate professor at the Arctic Research Center, and co-affiliated at the Department of Slavic-Eurasian Studies, Division of Humanities, Hokkaido University. He also acts as a vice chair of the Japan Consortium for Arctic Environmental Research. Having an academic background in International Relations and interdisciplinary regional studies, his current research interest focuses on order, geopolitics and security in the Arctic. His latest publications include: “Cold winds in the north: Three perspectives on the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on security and international relations in the Arctic” (co-authored with P.S. Hilde and M. Petersson), Polar Science, Volume 41 (2024), 10105.
Rashmi Ramesh
is a doctoral candidate at the School of Conflict and Security Studies, National Institute of Advanced Studies, India, where she focuses on the geopolitics and governance in the Arctic. She holds a Master’s degree in Geopolitics and International Relations from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. Previously, Rashmi was a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland), and served as the Arctic passion Ambassador 2023–24. Her fields of research include Arctic geopolitics and governance, Asia’s interests in the Arctic, conflict and climate change, and India’s foreign policy.
Juha Saunavaara
is an associate professor at the Hokkaido University Arctic Research Center. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes covering a range of fields, including Arctic and Asian studies, history, geography, international relations, and tourism. His current research focuses on telecommunication and transport infrastructure in the Arctic, regional development, non-state actors’ international cooperation and sustainable tourism.
Akiho Shibata
is a professor of international law and the Director of the Polar Cooperation Research Centre (pcrc), Kobe University in Japan. His research interests cover international law relating to both the Arctic and the Antarctic with publications such as Emerging Legal Orders in the Arctic: The Role of Non-Arctic Actors (co-edited, Routledge, 2019) and ‘Ice sheet conservation and international discord: governing (potential) glacial geoengineering in Antarctica’, International Affairs, Vol. 101, No. 1 (2025) (with Patrick Flamm).
Hiroki Takakura
is a social anthropologist and professor at the Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Japan. His research interests cover human-animal relations, climate change, disaster resilience, ethnicity and the arctic human history including the ethnohistory of the Siberia and Northeast Asia. He is the author of Anthropology and Disaster in Japan: Cultural Contributions to Recovery after the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami (Routledge, 2023), Global Warming and Human – Nature Dimension in Northern Eurasia (co-edited, Springer, 2017), Arctic Pastoralist Sakha: Ethnography of Evolution and Microadaptation in Siberia (Trans Pacific Press, 2015). Currently he engages with the project on the Siberian indigenous immigrants related to the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Ana Belén López Tárraga
is a journalist specialized in issues related to territorial development and cross-border cooperation. She is currently completing her Ph.D. studies in social sciences, within the topic of territorial studies, in the Department of Geography at the University of Salamanca, where she is also a part-time lecturer. The European Arctic policy and its impact on the region at European, national and local scales has been the focus of her Ph.D. research. She enjoyed a fellowship as a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre (University of Lapland) in Fall 2022. She combines her academic work with his job as a journalist in the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Duero-Douro, focused on cross-border cooperation between Spain and Portugal.
Pavel Tkach
is a researcher at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland (Finland) and the Managing Director of the Arctic Youth Network (Canada). His expertise is concentrated in the areas of law and governance. He is currently overseeing five international projects that focus on climate governance, youth engagement and education in the Arctic, as well as tourism development. His academic interests encompass the international relations of non-Arctic States and the legal frameworks that regulate climate interventions and intellectual property rights.
Apostolos Tsiouvalas
is a researcher at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, and Senior Fellow at The Arctic Institute – Center for Circumpolar Security Studies, Washington D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from UiT and an LL.M. degree in Polar Law from the University of Akureyri, Iceland and an M.Phil. in Indigenous studies from UiT. He has previously worked at the K.G. Jebsen Center for the Law of the Sea and the Sami Law Research Group of UiT, the Stefánsson Arctic Institute and the pame Working Group of the Arctic Council. His current fields of research include the international law of the sea, legal geography, legal pluralism, critical legal theory, new materialism(s), and indigenous law/rights in the Arctic.
Laura Ulatowski
is a project officer at eit Manufacturing. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Economic Geography and has worked as Research Assistant at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. Her professional expertise lies in regional development, regional innovation strategies, and tourism, with a strong focus on fostering sustainable growth and innovation at the intersection of local and global challenges.
Marco Volpe
is a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Lapland. He is a visiting researcher in the Arctic International Relations Team at the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi and a Research Assistant for the Master’s degree Course in Arctic Studies at the University of Milan. His research focuses on China’s polar engagement from a Science Diplomacy angle and comprehends analysis of Chinese language-based literature. Recently he has become part of the Science Diplomacy Research Priority Team at the icarp iv. He holds a Master’s degree in Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Rome La Sapienza, a