Internal UiT CCA workshop: Exploring Climate Adaptation Across Disciplines at UiT

Yesterday, several UiT researchers came together to discuss climate adaptation from a range of disciplinary perspectives. The session brought together expertise from law (Lene Sandberg), geohazards (Christopher D'Amboise), and energy security (Clara Good).

Our research group was represented by Are Sydnes, who presented the Bered project, Kamalesh, who shared insights from his previous work on climate finance, Laurien de Korte, who presented her PhD research on municipal networks and local adaptation, and Maria Sydnes, who offered a perspective from organizational theory.

The discussions highlighted several pressing themes: how law and finance can strengthen decision-making tools for climate adaptation; how to address emerging hazards such as flash floods, which are difficult to predict and prepare for; and how local capacity-building, combined with integrating energy security, can enhance resilience—particularly in Arctic Norway.

This was the first session of its kind, and our research group plans to host such events twice a year. The aim is to build strong collaborative ties across disciplines at UiT and bring together diverse perspectives on climate change adaptation.

New paper: “Place Attachment and Climate-Related Hazards in Small Remote Communities in the Nordic Countries”

An Editorial synthesizing our project CliCNord were recently published under the title “Place Attachment and Climate-Related Hazards in Small Remote Communities in the Nordic Countries”.

Running from 2021 to 2024, a group of Nordic researchers, including members of our own research group, participated in research on how small, often remote rural communities across the Nordic region perceive and respond to climate-related hazards—ranging from storms, flash floods, landslides, coastal flooding, wildfires, cloudbursts, slush avalanches, to temperature extremes. In the recently published editorial, co-written by our members Laurien de Korte and Leikny Bakke Lie, you can read more about findings from each of the eight case studies, as well as some interesting cross-case studies investingating topics acoss the different cases. Read the editorial “Place Attachment and Climate-Related Hazards in Small Remote Communities in the Nordic Countries” here! 

For more information about the project "Climate Change Resilience in Small Communities in the Nordic Countries", visit the webpage CliCNord

The project received funding from the NordForsk Nordic Societal Security Programme under Grant Agreement No. 97229

On the Frontline of Natural Hazards: A Field Excursion to Kåfjord

This week, the two research groups Climate Change Adaptation and Secure Societies teamed up for an exciting and educational field excursion to the natural hazard-prone area of Kåfjord.

This week, Tromsø, UiT, and our Department of Technology of Safety welcomed the 2025 edition of the GLOBSEC Summer School. The Global Security (GLOBSEC) North–South Partnership is a collaboration between UiT and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, aiming at fostering educational experience through exchange programs. UiT's participation in the GLOBSEC-project is coordinated through our affiliated research group Secure Societies and led by our colleague Monika Gabriela Bartoszewicz.

When Monika reached out to us for a collaboration between our research groups for this years GLOBSEC summer school program, we could not resist the opportunity to show more of how natural hazard risk impact policies and livelihoods in this region. Our PhD student Leikny Bakke Lie thus got the opportunity to arrange her first field excursion for students! And judging by the fact that there were NO injuries (if we don’t count the mosquito-attacks), that no one were left behind in the wild, the good feedback from the local community in appreciation of our visit and interest in the area, and the huge smiles when we reached the icing on the cake – the stunning Gorsa Waterfall – we conclude that the excursion was a success!

It could, however, not have been done without the brilliant contributions of:

⭐ Karin Karlsen, Kåfjord kommune – for guiding us beneath the slow-moving Nordnes landslide and sharing insights on how the municipality is managing landslide risks and tsunami threats.
⭐ From NVE: Anders Bjordal (senior engineer) and Stein Torbjørn Larsen (supervisor) – for a very informative and engaging session at the new avalanche embankment in Samuelsberg.
⭐ Odd Erling Salo – for initiating contact with NVE and adding valuable local knowledge and context.
⭐ Odd Ansgar Dalvik, our Tide-driver – for not only getting us safely around but also sharing his personal childhood memories of the 1964 Samuelsberg landslide that hit their house and nearly swept his family’s car into the sea.

Thank you!

See also "Korleis handtere tryggingstruslar?"

Are Kristoffer Sydnes  –  Professor

Christer Henrik Pursiainen  –  Professor of Societal Security

Maria Sydnes  –  Associate professor

Bjarte Rød  –  Postdoctoral researcher

Leikny Bakke Lie  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Laurien de Korte  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Stian K. Kleiven  –  PhD-fellow

Lene Sandberg  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Kamleshan Pillay (Associate Member)  –  PhD, visiting researcher

Synnøve Dahl Løver (Associate Member)  –  Student