Matthias Finger is the Director of the GlobalArctic network and a Research Professor at the Northern Arctic Federal University (NArFU) in Arkhangelsk, Russia. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Geneva. He has been an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University (New York), an Associate Professor at Columbia University (New York), a Professor of Management of Public Enterprises at the Swiss Federal Institute of Public Administration, and between 2002 and 2020 the Swiss Post Chair in Management of Network Industries at EPFL. He is today also a Professor Emeritus at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

Gunnar is the Nansen Professor for 2019-2021. He holds a PhD in International and Regional Studies from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and an MPhil degree in Peace and Conflict Transformation from the Centre for Peace Studies at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. He is employed at UiT the Arctic University of Norway as an Associate Professor in International Politics at the Department of Tourism and Northern Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education.

Dr. Lassi Heininen is Professor (emeritus) of Arctic Politics at University of Lapland (Finland),
Editor of Arctic Yearbook, Co-founder & Chair of Calotte Academy (traveling symposium),
Leader of UArctic’s TN on Geopolitics & Security. His research fields include IR, Geopolitics,
Security Studies, Environmental Politics, Northern European Studies, Arctic Studies. He lectures
at, and supervises PhD candidates from, Finnish & foreign universities, speaks regularly in
international conferences, and chairs the GlobalArctic Mission Council of the Arctic Circle.

He publishes in, and acts as reviewer for, international academic journals & publications. Among
his recent publications are The Arctic Yearbook 2022; “Climate Change and the Great Power
Rivalry in the Arctic” in Insight Turkey; ”The Age of Climate Change as a Challenge for States
and IR Theories” in Arctic Fever (Palgrave MacMillan);“The Post-Cold War Arctic” in Global
Arctic (Springer); Arctic Policies and Strategies – Analysis, Synthesis & Trends (with Everett,
Padrtova & Reissell, IIASA); Climate Change and Security. Searching for a Paradigm Shift
(with Exner-Pirot, Palgrave Pivot).