“Expect the ice to melt in the coming decades”
Jan Gunnar Winther, Director of the Polar Institute and member of the national Barents 2020 – project

”I am concerned with who will be the woman in the Barents Region of 2020"
Jarle Aarbakke, Rector of University of Tromsø and Chairman of the national Barents 2020 – project

These statements were made in the open discussions that took place during the presentation of the new research initiatives in the arctic areas made by the Research Council of Norway. There is an enormous range in the challenges posited and there are considerable degrees of local and global vulnerability involved. 

25% of the world’s total unexplored petroleum resources are estimated to exist in the arctic areas.  The end of the Cold War opened for new possibilities of economic cooperation and development in North Norway and in North-West Russia. The global clima changes have great effects in the North, influencing the eco-system and living-conditions.

The national responsibility of cooperation in research and teaching in the
Barents Region has been invested in the University.
The University collaborates actively with research communities all over the world on themes like indigenous and minority population problems, public health, marine resource management and bio-diversity. The University Hospital is in the forefront internationally in the field of telemedicine solutions.

The reinterpretations of the arctic areas and the national ”Barents 2020”-project are parts of ”the great dialogue” involving all of these themes and areas. This is an on-going dialogue that aims to be operative on all levels and lead to new ways of understanding reality, new forms of cooperation, challenging  the University and its circumpolar and global research networks.

University of Tromsø:
Students: 5763
Employees 1827,6
Tromsø University College
Students: 3000
Employees: 300
University Hospital of North Norway (UNN)
Employees: 4500