UNE North Director Holly Parker will lead a new UArctic Thematic Network – Bioregional Planning for Resilient Rural Communities. The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a network of universities, colleges, research institutes, and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and infrastructures that enable member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions.UArctic’s Thematic Networks foster issues-based cooperation within networks that are focused but flexible enough to respond quickly to topical Arctic issues. They form a natural framework for development of UArctic education and research providing an optimal structure for increasing the knowledge generation and sharing across the North.
Parker developed the network proposal with partners at the Agricultural University of Iceland and the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland. The Bioregional Planning for Resilient Rural Communities Network is an international network of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners committed to:
- understanding the role that bioregional and systems strategies can play in supporting rural Northern communities
- activating those strategies in an intentional, place-based way to promote resilience in the face of climate change and other disruptive events.
The UArctic Bioregional Planning for a Resilient Rural Communities thematic network will serve as an interdisciplinary platform by which institutions and local communities can leverage bioregional planning strategies and tool kits to support resilient rural communities in the North.
For more information check out the network’s webpage.