Isabelle Guissard will be combining her new role as UArctic Vice-President Mobility together with her role as international coordinator for the mobility program north2north. She explains: “UArctic has been expanding a lot since its creation, especially during the past four years. The mobility within UArctic does not only concern the eight Arctic countries anymore, but also non-Arctic member institutions.

The development of UArctic within new areas will bring new possibilities in the field of mobility and it will be inspiring to be able to supervise this. One of the most visible changes during the past year has been the reengagement of Canada in north2north, bringing new possibilities for indigenous students from the Canadian Territories to go on exchange to another part of the Arctic. Having all the participating Arctic countries to finance north2north would be the ideal situation if we want to increase the total number of students participating in north2north.

The enlargement of north2north to the mobility of academic and administrative staff in countries such as Kingdom of Denmark, Norway and Canada is also crucial for the promotion of north2north among students. The inclusion of non-Arctic member institutions into north2north will also represent one of the working areas during the coming years”. Isabelle has been working with north2north during the past ten years, first as the north2north National Agency for Norway (until 2019) and then as the international coordinator of north2north.

Congratulations on behalf of the UArctic International Secretariat, Isabelle!