Speaking at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2025 on the Transformative Power of Legal Education in the Arctic!

On October 17, 2025, I had the privilege of speaking on a panel organized by the Polar Law Programme at the University of Akureyri, in collaboration with the Nansen Professorship in Arctic Studies. The panel was a thought-provoking event that explored the role of legal education amid increasing geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the Arctic. The panelists included Professor Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Nansen Professor Romain Chuffart from Akureyri University, Professor Dr. Bjarni Már from Iceland, and Ms. Kanagavalli Suryanarayanan from UiT Arctic University of Norway. The session explored how polar law is taught—and why it matters—in a rapidly changing Arctic region. With increasing geopolitical competition, overlapping legal regimes, and the growing importance of Indigenous rights, panelists reflected on how legal education can serve as both a mirror and a motor of Arctic governance.

My contribution highlighted the vital role of educators in shaping the region’s legal future. I emphasized that, as the Arctic becomes more complex—legally, environmentally, and politically—law schools must move beyond traditional frameworks to foster critical, justice-oriented perspectives among future legal scholars and policymakers. By pointing out that Arctic law is more an academic discipline than a traditional law study, my main point was that the way we teach law influences how future leaders will respond to emerging Arctic challenges. Our responsibility is not only to apply and interpret rules but also to question and transform them toward sustainability, peace, and equity. The discussion emphasized that legal education in the Arctic is no longer limited to certain rules and regulations; it is a dynamic space where principles guiding the region’s governance, development, and cooperation are debated, reimagined, and reconstructed in response to a rapidly changing infrastructure. The session ended with a shared understanding among panelists that, amid uncertainty and geopolitical tension, law and education together have the power to guide the Arctic toward a more just and sustainable future.