2nd Northern Research Forum Open Meeting
Northern Veche
Veliky Novgorod, Northwest Russia, September 19th to 22nd, 2002


The Northern Research Forum announces a call for participation in the
2nd
NRF Open Meeting, Northern Veche, to be held in Veliky Novgorod,
Northwest
Russia, on September 19th to 22nd, 2002.  For those interested in
attending,
please send a note before a deadline of May 31st to the NRF
secretariat
([log in to unmask]), Lassi Heininen, Chairman of the NRF Steering Committee
([log in to unmask]) or Andrei Golovnev, for the NRF of Russia
([log in to unmask]), briefly stating your participation interests.  You
will
receive an acknowledgement and, in early May, an information update
with a
fuller description of the 2nd NRF program and arrangements.

Young researchers and professionals - primarily graduate students and
those
who have recently passed their degrees - please note that you will be
considered for receiving travel funding from the NRF in order to
attend.  In
order to apply for this support, you must provide the NRF a one-page
resume
and a brief statement of interest.  Please describe, based on your
background, what you would like to bring to the 2nd NRF Open Meeting,
or
simply how your research and experience relate to the particular themes
or
projects which will be in focus during the 2nd Forum. You may also like
to
send us an abstract at this stage, especially if you would like to be
considered for giving a presentation during Veche, or Open Square Hour,
in
the 2nd Forum. Please send these written materials with email to
[log in to unmask]

Below you will see brief descriptions of what the NRF stands for and of
the
2nd NRF Open Meeting program, themes and formal arrangements.  For
further
information, please consult our web-site or write to a member of the
NRF
secretariat or Steering Committee (see www.nrf.is).

The purpose of the Northern Research Forum (NRF) is to promote
intensive
dialogue among members of the research community and a wide range of
other
northern stakeholders. This dialogue addresses the critical issues,
problems, and opportunities facing circumpolar peoples in the context
of
social and environmental changes and economic globalization. The Forum
provides an open meeting for policy-relevant discussion on the role of
research in addressing issues of sustainable development, community
viability, peace and security, social and environmental policy, and
the
impacts of global change. Developing the capacity to address these
issues is
central to the mandate of the University of the Arctic which has
incorporated the Forum as one of its key programmatic activities.

The NRF convenes an open meeting every second year, rotating among the
different northern countries in order to address sub-regional and
local
concerns as well as region-wide issues.  Participants at each session
of the
NRF include researchers, educators, politicians, business leaders,
civil
servants, community leaders, NGO representatives, resource users, and
managers. The Forum encourages participation by younger people and
those
with new and unconventional approaches.

Dr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the President of Iceland, launched the idea
of
the NRF in September 1998 on the occasion of his speech commemorating
the
official opening of the twentieth academic year of the University of
Lapland
in northern Finland. Subsequently, the University of Lapland  prepared
a
feasibility study regarding this initiative. The NRF began its work in
Iceland in October 1999 with the formation of a Steering Committee and
a
secretariat. The first Open Meeting of the NRF, North Meets North -
the
proceedings of which are now published as a book and on www.nrf.is -
took
place in Akureyri, Iceland and at the Icelandic president's residency
on
November 4th to 6th, 2000.

Northern Veche: The 2nd Open Meeting of the NRF
The second NRF Open Meeting  to take place in Veliky Novgorod, from the
19th
to the 22nd of September, 2002 will be hosted by the Novgorod Oblast
Duma
and the Novgorod Oblast Administration, and Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod
State
University.


Preliminary Program - Session themes and schedule


Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Arrivals
Ice-breaker

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Morning:  Opening Address and Ceremony

Plenary Session, Novgorod Oblast Administration Main Auditorium
Human Capital in the North
·       population movements
·       employment and  human capital  quality and quantity
·       traditional knowledge and applications of new technologies
·       education in the north
·       gender issues
·       people and environments at risk
·       transportation and communication

Lunch

Afternoon:

Plenary Session, Novgorod Oblast Administration Main Auditorium
Innovation in Northern Governance
·       the future of regional governance, regionalism and
regionalization
·       the voice of the arctic in global governance
·       sub-national governments in the north: comparative
perspectives
·       boundaries and borderlands
·       concepts of security
·       Northern Dimension policy

Square hour / Veche

Evening: Banquet Reception, Novgorod Oblast Administration Building

Friday, September 20, 2002

Day of Projects  Concurrent (parallel) sessions to be held in the
morning
and the afternoon at Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University

(1) Arctic Human Development Report
(2) Health and Well-being
(3) Higher Education in the North: Russia and the University of the
Arctic
(4) Coordination of Reindeer/Caribou Projects
(5) Novgorod as Part of  Northern Europe  History and Political
Culture
(6) Protected Areas and Human Activity in the North
(7) Northern Traveling Film Festival (whole day session)
(8) Northern Field-Schools

Evening: Conference Dinner

Saturday, September 21, 2002

Morning:

Plenary Session, Novgorod Oblast Administration Main Auditorium
Applying the Lessons of History
·       Varangians/Vikings and Novgorodians
·       East-West: the importance of historical crossing points for
current
relations
·       North-South: past experiences and the search for new
approaches
·       Core-Periphery: historical and current dynamic

Square hour/Veche

Lunch

Afternoon: Summary Session, Novgorod Oblast Administration Main
Auditorium

Sunday, September 22, 2002

Excursion tours
Departures

Monday, September 23, 2002

Departures


**************************
Dr Jon Haukur Ingimundarson
Sérfræðingur, Stofnun Vilhjálms Stefánssonar
Senior Scientist, Stefansson Arctic Institute
Nordurslod, IS-600 Akureyri, Iceland
Tel: (354) 463-0582(w), 463-0580(office),
      461-3841(h, answer machine), 862-0477(mobile)
Fax:(354) 463-0589, E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.svs.is , www.nrf.is , www.svs.is/caa