Who, where, when?
In mid-August 2025, 16 PhD students from the Nordics met in Oslo to explore the connection between critical infrastructure and climate change. They came from a range of backgrounds such as philosophy, engineering, political science, and natural sciences.
The students listened to lectures from both academic researchers and those working on the ground with critical infrastructure in the Arctic. In groups, they developed and presented their own policy briefs on select types of infrasctruture and hazards to develop solutions and plan for resilience. In addition, the students enjoyed some VR, a movie night in collaboration with NGF – the Norwegian Geophysical Society, and some fruit picking, curtesy of Mother Nature.
2024 Program
In the summer of 2024, 12 PhD students from the Nordics met in Oslo to explore the connection between critical infrastructure and climate change through the lenses of risk management, law, and governance.
In groups with professors from across the region, the students developed policy briefs in the week they spent together. After the summer school, the teams worked to develop research posters which were presented at the Arctic Frontiers 2025: Beyond Borders conference in January 2025.
What to Expect
The PhD summer school focused on developing scenario analyses, risk and resilience management strategies and climate change adaptation regarding extreme climate change-related hazards and their impacts on critical infrastructure. No prior knowledge on these specific topics was required. The summer school was conducted in English.
The summer school focused on a mix of theory and case studies for the first days and then involved interactive group work with the development and presentation of a policy brief as the culmination of the program.
Lectures spanned an array of topics from climate hazards and risks to preparedness to legal and rights perspectives to emergency preparedness and security in the Nordics. Through hands-on approaches, participants learnt to work with scenario analyses, policy briefs, and with interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants learnt from experts in academia and policymaking.
🗓️ The summer school ran from August 11th to 15th, 2025.
📍 The summer school was held in Oslo at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.
It was open to PhD students or candidates in Norway, Sweden and Finland inall disciplines.
