In the period from 25th of January to 29th of January of 2016 in the city of Tromso (Norway) within the frames of the annual international conference «Arctic Frontiers – 2016» took place the International Arctic student forum, in the work of which took part the students from Russia, Norway, Canada, Finland, Great Britain and the USA.
10 students of Bachelor and Master training programs joined Russian delegation. There are the winners of the contest which had been held by the Russian Geographical Society jointly with the Norwegian research company «Akvaplan Niva» amongst them. Besides, there were presented at the forum about 20 works in the form of posters of our children, who had become the finalists of the contest, but not the winners.
The interest to the work of the forum had been shown by the «adult» participants of the «Arctic frontiers – 2016» even before its official start, when the Adviser to the President of the Russian Geographical Society on international affairs Sergey Katikov made a report on the current activities of the Russian Geographical Society in the Arctic region during the opening ceremony of the conference, and the Chairman of the organizing committee of the «Arctic Frontiers» Salve Dahle told the audience about the forthcoming events of the conference.
In particular, the Minister of Petroleum and Energy of Norway Tord Lien took part in the work of the Arctic International Student Forum, he told the students about the Norwegian approach to the extraction of natural resources in the Arctic and answered their numerous questions. Besides, one of the members of panel jury of the forum was the deputy head of the Secretariat of the Arctic Council for Economic Bianca Johansson, who not only evaluated high the works of the children, but also expressed the need of carrying out such events on an ongoing basis.
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The work of Norwegian organizers of the forum should be mentioned as well, especially the work of the representatives of the research company «Akvaplan Niva», who were able to create comfortable, almost domestic conditions of stay and work of the Russian delegation to Tromso. Thus, our children were able not only to make their own presentations, but to work in international team with their peers from the leading western universities and the graduate students of the Arctic University of Tromso, to become full participants of meetings of the scientific section «Arctic frontiers», and to stay in the role of «an impartial jury» as well, judging the works of their colleagues, which were presented at the poster session.
The organizers did not walk away from the cultural component of stay of the Russian students in Tromso. Our children became the participants of the enthralling quest game, which introduced them to the history and present-day realities in the region, visited the polar research museum «Polaria» and the concert in the north cathedral «Eavesawscatedralen». Besides, they took part in the round «The visit to the aurora», during which they managed to watch one of the most beautiful natural «light shows» of Arctic and enjoy dishes of national Saami cuisine.
Just having come back to Moscow the members of the Russian students delegation expressed unanimous opinion on that fact that their participation in the International Arctic student forum allowed them to believe in themselves, and to understand that the level of training and knowledge of Russian students are not inferior to their foreign counterparts at all. The children confessed that the main result of their participation in the forum is establishing strong friendships with their peers and realizing that the Arctic – is our common home.
The photo is provided by the Adviser to the President of the Russian Geographical Society on international affairs Sergey Katikov