Student story: GLISFO

To start off this term, Tabea and I, together with UW program director Dr. Matthias Kokorsch, attended the GLISFO workshop in Faroe Islands. The workshop is organized by the Research Council of the Faroe Islands, the Icelandic Center for Research, Greenland Research Council, Nordisk Energiforskning & the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network, and funded by The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council.

The three-day workshop aimed to strengthen collaboration between Iceland, Faroe Island, and Greenland and foster knowledge exchange on common challenges, opportunities, and future research agendas in the West Nordics. It was a great opportunity for us to present our research for our master theses and get responses and ideas from other participants. In addition to the master theses, the workshop acted as a forum to find valuable contacts for the project “Green Energy meets Blue Food - Sustainable Coexistence in the Nordic Seas” and the project “Local knowledge in marine spatial planning: A just green transition in times of digital transformation and climate change”, which UW, the University of Highlands and Island, Nordregio, and we are currently involved in.

It was interesting to learn more about the various research topics in the West Nordics and to hear just how much we can learn from each other. Especially since Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland face many of the same issues and share many experiences regarding climate change, health, socio-economic characteristics, and history. Additionally, it was great to experience how excited the countries are in regards to facilitating more cooperation and communication and learning how many of their goals and hopes for the future are the same. I think this workshop was a great start for more future collaboration within the region and it was a great way to kick off the thesis writing process!

In addition to the workshop, we of course had some fun and had time to enjoy beautiful Torshavn too as our stay included a visit to the National Art Museum and a trip to the island Sandoy. In between the sessions, we also enjoyed the scenic views and made sure to say hi to some local sheep.

Rebecca Eriksson
Coastal Communties and Regional Developent master's student