Dr. Robert Orttung is Research Director for the Sustainability Institute at the George Washington University and Research Professor of International Affairs at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Orttung is the lead PI for a new National Science Foundation project focused on the Arctic entitled Measuring Urban Sustainability in Transition. He is the editor of the Urban Sustainability in the Arctic: Measuring Progress in Circumpolar Cities (NY: Berghahn, 2020). In 2019 he edited Capital Cities and Urban Sustainability (London, Routledge). Orttung received a B.A. in Russian Studies from Stanford University and both a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Laruelle works on the notion of social sustainability of Russia’s Arctic cities by looking at their urban regimes, migration policies, the way local identities are built and negotiated, and how multiethnicity is managed. Her research is based on yearly fieldwork conducted in Russia’s main Arctic cities: Murmansk and the surrounding Kola Peninsula mining cities, Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, Naryan Mar, Vorkuta, Salekhard, Norilsk, Dudinka, Yakutsk, and Mirnyi. She has authored Russia’s Strategies in the Arctic and the Future of the Far North (M.E. Sharpe, 2013), edited New Mobilities and Social Changes in Russia’s Arctic Regions (Routledge, 2016), and has published in Polar Geography, Sibirica. The Journal of Siberian Studies, Arctic, The Polar Journal, Polar Record, Acta Borealia.

Nikolay (Kolia) Shiklomanov is a Professor of Geography at The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington DC, USA. His main area of interest is permafrost and its interactions with natural and human systems. His research includes long-term permafrost observations in the Circumpolar Arctic, Permafrost-related process studies, and the effect of permafrost on human activity and infrastructure. Since the early 1990s, Dr. Shiklomanov has been actively participating in fieldwork in the Alaskan and Russian Arctic. As an educator, he teaches courses in Physical Geography, Climatology, and Arctic Environments at GWU as well as international field summer courses in the Arctic.

Dr. Streletskiy holds a Ph.D. in Climatology from University of Delaware and a M.S. in Geography from Moscow State University. His research is focused on understanding diverse impacts of climate change on ecosystems, population and overall sustainability of the Arctic regions. Streletskiy is the Past President of the United States Permafrost Association and the Chair of Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost. He serves on editorial boards of Focus in Geography and Polar Geography. Dr. Streletskiy is Environment and Sustainability Science undergraduate advisor at GWU. He is teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in areas of geospatial techniques, physical geography, and climate change, with regional courses focused on the Arctic and Russia.

Dr. Vera Kuklina is a Research Professor at the Department of Geography at the George Washington University. Holds degree of Candidate of geographical sciences (equivalent of PhD) from V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences since 2003. Research interests include urbanization of indigenous people, traditional land use, socio-ecological systems, cultural geographies of infrastructure and remoteness. She also co-leads an ArtSLInK initiative, focused on convergence of science, arts and place-based local and Indigenous Knowledge systems. Vera Kuklina is the author of about seventy articles and a monograph Local communities in Multiethnic environment of South Siberia: cultural-geographical view (in Russian), Novosibirsk 2006. Among the recent publications there are papers in Environmental Research Letters, Polar Science, Polar Record, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Polar Geography, Geoforum, and Sustainability. 

Marya Rozanova-Smith, Ph.D., is a Research Professor at The George Washington University. In addition to her work in academia, she participated in a wide range of social projects. She was the founder and chairperson of the Center for Civil, Social, Scientific, and Cultural Initiatives “STRATEGIA” and served as a Galina Starovoitova Fellow for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at the Kennan Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Rozanova-Smith has been teaching the Arctic Affairs course at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs since 2018. Her current research interests include Arctic governance, urban sustainability, Indigenous urbanization, gender empowerment, and the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic. Dr. Rozanova-Smith is a Principal Investigator of the project “Understanding the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic (COVID-GEA)” supported by NSF.

Benjamin DiNapoli is an architect, researcher & designer, and is currently involved as a research consultant with the Arctic Design Group at the University of Virginia. His research focuses primarily on the intersections of architecture, urbanism, and contemporary life in the built environment. Prior to joining Arctic Design group, he was a designer at Bjarke Ingels Group (NY), SHoP Architects (NY), and currently practices at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (CHI). Benjamin holds a Master in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Stanislav Stas Ksenofontov is an indigenous Sakha social scientist from the Republic of Sakha, NE Siberia, Russia. He earned his PhD from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) where he conducted his research on the vulnerability of social-ecological systems of Arctic Sakha to global change drivers, namely climate change, land use change as well as socio-political transformations. Stas is a postdoctoral scholar at the ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa (USA) where he continues his research on the impacts of global change on Arctic social-ecological systems, particularly urbanization effects on Indigenous identities, Russian energy megaprojects impacts on ecosystems and traditional practices, climate change impacts on urban and Indigenous infrastructures. Besides, Dr. Ksenofontov's research interests include Asian interests in the Arctic, sustainability of Indigenous communities, Indigenous knowledge. Dr. Ksenofontov is an Indigenous collaborations project group leader of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and Fellowship Program Coordinator of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). 

Jim Powell is an interdisciplinary scientist and conducts research in several Alaskan and Arctic communities on adaptive capacity, and measures socio-economic impacts around climate change, COVID 19, and food security. Jim has worked with several Alaskan communities on sustainability indicators and planning. Currently, Jim serves on Juneau’s Sustainability Commission. Jim also teaches natural resources and local government classes in the UAS MPA program. His research is informed by 35 years in Alaska managing environmental and natural resource programs mostly spent at the Department of Environmental Conservation including Special Assistant to the Commissioner, a Division Director, and managed the Water Quality Standards Program. Jim received his PhD in Natural Resources and Sustainability Science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, an MPA from the University of Alaska Southeast, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Eisenhower College, Rochester Institute of Technology. Jim’s interest in local governance led him to run for public office and consequently served three terms on the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly including three years as Deputy Mayor. He balances his teaching and research with serving on nonprofit boards.  Jim lives in Juneau and is married to Beth Kerttula and has a very spoiled dog named Blue. 

Timothy Heleniak is a Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio, where he does policy focused research on population change, migration, and regional development in the Nordic countries, the EU, and the Arctic. He has a long list of publications, book chapters, and policy briefs on Arctic population issues. He currently has a grant from the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, titled Polar Peoples: Past, Present, and Future, which examines various aspects of population change in the Arctic. He is the Series Editor of the Routledge Research in Polar Regions. He was the Editor of the journal Polar Geography from 2011 to 2015. He previously worked at the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the World Bank, UNICEF, and George Washington University. He holds a PhD in Geography and an MBA in Finance from the University of Maryland (USA). 

Dr. Greg Poelzer is a Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the Co-Director with Dr. Bram Noble of a multi-million dollar SSHRC Partnership Grant (2019-2026), Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security (CASES), which spans 17 Indigenous and Northern communities across Canada, Alaska, Norway, and Sweden. He is Co-Lead, with Dr. Beth Rink, of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative III. Dr. Poelzer serves as an Advisor and Negotiator for SaskPower, working toward a global settlement with a major First Nation in northern Saskatchewan that will resolve historical issues and build new relationships going forward. A political scientist by training, his deep connections with industry, government, NGO’s and Indigenous communities in Canada and across the circumpolar states are successfully driving both initiatives.

Matthew Berman is Professor of Economics with the Institute of Social and Economic
Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His main research fields include economic
and social organization, institutional performance, and social-ecological systems, with an
emphasis on Arctic regions. The systems approach examines how people interact at different
scales ranging from households and families to global markets and governance structures to
shape individual and collective decisions affecting well-being. Matt has applied a systems
perspective to address a variety of research questions in Alaska and elsewhere, including
mobility as an indicator of community well-being, and adaptive capacity and resilience of
urban and rural communities experiencing effects of climate change. He teaches
undergraduate courses in energy economics and the economy of Alaska.

Professor of Geography and ARCTICenter Director at the University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Petrov is an economic and social geographer who specializes in Arctic economy, community well-being and human-environmental relations. His current research concerns sustainability in Arctic social-ecological systems, co-productive and convergent research methodologies, spatial organization and restructuring of Arctic economies, and community-industry relations. Dr. Petrov leads the Research Coordination Networks in Arctic Sustainability (Arctic-FROST) and Arctic Coastal Resilience (Arctic-COAST). He has published on a vast array of issues pertaining to Arctic urban and remote community adaptation to climate change and socioeconomic transitions. 

Charlotta Söderberg is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), with a PhD in Political Science from Umeå University (2011). Söderberg’s research is directed towards the integration of environmental issues within sector policy (Environmental Policy Integration), multi-level governance, policy learning and institutional analysis with an empirical focus on environmental policy in general and energy, climate and water policy in particular. She has participated in, and led, an extensive number of research projects, both within political science and multi-disciplinary projects. She regularly participates in international and national research conferences, she was recently appointed Coordinator of the new Arctic and Antarctic Centre at LTU, and is presently active within several national and international research projects related to just sustainability transition in the Arctic.