News

In October 2026, Armenia will host COP17, the UN’s biodiversity summit. Here, countries from around the world will negotiate how to reduce nature loss, strengthen conservation efforts and implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Armenia has set ambitious goals for the meeting, and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) will support the preparations through a multi-year project funded by Norad and led by Senior Researcher Pål Wilter Skedsmo.

Researchers from across the Nordic region met at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute on 9–10 December 2025 for an all-member workshop in the NordForsk-funded project Critical minerals in the Arctic: Challenges and perspectives for the Nordic countries (CRIMINA), following a series of preparatory project meetings held earlier this year.

We are pleased to welcome five new master’s students to Polhøgda this semester. Their topics range from China’s Arctic engagement and the role of non-Arctic observers in the Arctic Council to Russian sanctions evasion, seed preparedness in Norway and international seabed governance.

How should the Nordic countries relate to the EU, NATO and Russia as geopolitical tension increases in the Arctic? The question brought researchers, analysts and policymakers to this year’s Nansen Arctic Seminar at Polhøgda, the former home of Fridtjof Nansen.

The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) has been awarded NOK 10.5 million (€910,000) from the Research Council of Norway for the project Green Industry and Land-use Governance: Interests, Power and Institutions (INDUSTRYLAND). 

Sabotage, espionage, legal grey zones and great power rivalry have suddenly become part of Norway’s security landscape. How can Norway better protect itself against hybrid threats in its vast maritime areas? A new research project led by FNI Research Professors Øystein Jensen and Andreas Østhagen aims to find out.