The Calotte Academy is an annual travelling symposium for a dialogue among members of the research community and students, and a wide range of other northern stakeholders. The Academy is structured to have a working session in each location with academic presentations and / or publics sessions with expert presentations.
The Calotte Academy started in 1991 in Inari, Finland and since that it has organized annually in the North an international forum and travelling seminar for a dialogue and debate. The idea is that the main themes of each annual Calotte Academy are important and acute themes first of all, from the point of view of the region, i.e. the European North as a part of both Europe and the Circumpolar North.

The principal idea behind the Calotte Academy is to emphasize and analyze the regional dynamics and development of the European North with many international and regional actors and their interests, several identities, international and regional cooperation and strong East-West connections in past. The location of Inari in the middle of the region strongly indicates this. The assumption was from the beginning that these connections mean more trans-boundary cooperation and will thus open new possibilities for northern regions and societies.

The main aim of each annual meeting encompasses both the current international and geopolitical situation of North Europe, and especially the regional dynamics of the European North as the core. Another main aim of the Calotte Academy is education, to educate both university and college students and representatives of different interest groups like journalists, with an emphasis on strategic thinking and more holistic understanding for planning and implementing regional, economic and human development in northern peripheries.

The Calotte Academy is envisioned as a loose network of Nordic and Russian academic and research institutions in the North. Since 2002 the Calotte Academy serves as a sub-forum for the Northern Research Forum (NRF) and its Open Assemblies.

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