Stuart Harris Shortlisted for 2023 Arctic Academic Action Award

Arctic Initiative Faculty Affiliate Stuart Harris has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2023 Frederik Paulsen Arctic Academic Action Award, which provides high-level recognition for innovative ideas that aspire to transform knowledge into action to help address the causes and impacts of climate change in the Arctic.

The UArctic Academic Advisory Board – the Award Evaluation Committee – has selected four candidates to be considered for the 2023 Award. The winner will be announced in October at the Arctic Circle Assembly.

The shortlisted nominees are:

• Mary Albert, Toku Oshima, Lene Kielsen Holm (posthumous), Christopher Polashenski, Weiyang (Fiona) Li, Hunter Snyder, Alyssa Pantaleo: Community-led Investments in Climate & Food Security: An Inclusive Model for Arctic Energy Transitions
• N. Stuart Harris: Temperature is a Vital Sign: Climate Change and Population Health in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic
• Scott Hosking, Tom Andersson, Ellen Bowler, James Byrne, Alden Conner and the team: IceNet: AI Arctic sea ice forecasts for people and wildlife
• Minik Thorleif Rosing: Glacial Rock Flour – a simple natural agent in mitigating the global polycrisis

Dr. Harris is working with the Maniilaq Association to create a program of health monitoring with colleagues in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska to quantify and qualify the impacts of climate change on human health using the lens of emergency medical care to provide evidence to impact health-informed decision making. He is based at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Department of Emergency Medicine and was nominated by Brittany Janis, Associate Director the Arctic Initiative.

The Frederik Paulsen Arctic Academic Action Award recognizes scientific and academic ideas that are action-oriented and hold potential for addressing the challenges and critical needs posed by climate change in the Arctic region. The prize comes with 100,000 euro of unrestricted funds, intended to help develop the ideas through outreach, engagement, and communication.

After a thorough review and evaluation, the UArctic Academic Advisory Board (Mimir), who serves as the Award Evaluation Committee, selected four nominated ideas to continue to the final round. The final evaluation includes online interviews where the shortlisted candidates get a chance to introduce their ideas in more detail to the Mimir representatives.

The four ideas selected for the final round of evaluation all show “great potential for improving the ability to deal with specific major issues raised by climate change. Based on variable combinations of scientific and vernacular knowledge, they propose actions that can have significant impacts by themselves, and to serve as transferable models for other regions facing similar issues,” commented Gérard Duhaime, evaluation committee member. 

Arctic Circle is the largest network of international dialogue and cooperation on the future of the Arctic and our planet. It is an open democratic platform with participation from governments, organizations, corporations, universities, think tanks, environmental associations, Indigenous communities, concerned citizens, and others. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan.

UArctic is a network of nearly 200 universities, colleges, research institutes, and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the Arctic. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and infrastructures that enable member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions. Through cooperation in education, research, and outreach UArctic enhances human capacity in the North, promotes viable communities and sustainable economies, and forges global partnerships.