About the lecture

Countries and institutions all over the world are looking more to the Arctic as the melting of the ice due to climate change opens up both new hopes of development and new dangers. While some are stressing the new business openings and others the risks of military tension, the single largest way that the Arctic affects the rest of the world remains the environment itself. All forms of life in the High North must struggle to adapt to new conditions, while the ice melting could cause massive problems of flooding and weather change elsewhere in the world. These are also central issues for Iceland, which sits in the centre of the European approaches by sea and air to the new High North arena.

Dr. Lassi Heininen is University Lecturer and Adjunct Professor (Docent) at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Finland. He visits Iceland regularly as a Visiting Professor at the University of Iceland and holds further posts as Adjunct Professor at the Frost Center for Canadian Studies, Trent University, Canada, and the Faculty of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland. He is also the chairman of the International Steering Committee for the Northern Research Forum. His research covers a wide range of issues in international relations, security and geopolitics, and European, Russian and Nordic studies.

The lecture will take place From 1200-1300 hours on Wednesday 17 March in Room 102, Háskólatorg at the University of Iceland

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