UArctic’s regional centre for continental Europe, operated by the Malaurie Institute of Arctic Research Monaco-UVSQ (MIARC), held its kick-off meeting in Versailles, at Pavillon Panhard, Faculty of Science, of the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) on September 24, 2026.
(from left to right) : Monika Kędra, Lelde Švinka, Jānis Karušs, Martha Cerny, Peter Cerny, Erik Tammiksaar, Lauri Laanisto, Sylvain Briens, Volker Rachold, Kees Bastleijer, Birgit Sattler, Barbora Halašková, Gunnar Stefánsson, Jan Borm (photo © UArcticregional center for continental Europe)
15 participants from 9 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland) representing 11 institutions and organisations convened. UArctic leadership was represented online by its President Lars Kullerud, as well as Seceretary-General Outi Snellman, and, in person, by Prof. Gunnar Stefánsson, UArctic’s Vice-President Research. Several other institutions and organisations were represented online. The group met to discuss the functioning and scope of the regional centre created by UArctic in cooperation with MIARC to solicit new UArctic members from continental Europe and to develop joint projects in education, research and outreach, creating stronger ties between academic and cultural institutions and organisations with an Arctic interest in continental Europe and their Arctic partners. The group discussed questions of governance, joint project applications and the organisation of an online conference cycle with a first online presentation scheduled for December 2026. The next in-person meeting will take place in Austria in September 2027.
List of participants:
Kees Bastleijer, Arctic Center, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Jan Borm, UArctic Chair in Arctic Humanities, MIARC, UVSQ, France
Sylvain Briens, Sorbonne University, France
Martha Cerny, Museum for Contemporary Circumpolar Art, Bern, Switzerland
Peter Cerny, Museum for Contemporary Circumpolar Art, Bern, Switzerland
Barbora Halašková, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic, representing the Czech Arctic Science Consortium
Jānis Karušs, Geology Department, University of Latvia, Riga
Monika Kędra, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, representing the Polish Polar Consortium
Joanna Kodzik, MIARC, UVSQ, France
Lauri Laanisto, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Volker Rachold, German Arctic Office, AWI, Potsdam, Germany
Birgit Sattler, University of Innsbruck / Austrian Polar Research Institute
Gunnar Stefánsson, University of Iceland, Vice-President Research of UArctic
Lelde Švinka, PhD candidate, University of Latvia, Riga
Erki Tammiksaar, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Photo:
(from left to right) : Monika Kędra, Lelde Švinka, Jānis Karušs, Martha Cerny, Peter Cerny, Erik Tammiksaar, Lauri Laanisto, Sylvain Briens, Volker Rachold, Kees Bastleijer, Birgit Sattler, Barbora Halašková, Gunnar Stefánsson, Jan Borm (photo © UArcticregional center for continental Europe)
