NAADSN and the Emerging Leaders Node are excited to announce details of our upcoming Emerging Leaders Week taking place virtually from Monday July 18th to Friday July 22nd. Join us for a dynamic week of student-led and student focused events. Check out more details below as well as the agenda and call for presenters for the Graduate Student Conference attached. Register here: https://forms.gle/J1FnxAxGgAqxqn7fA

Networking Night

Monday, July 18th 8:00-9:30pm EST

We are kicking off the Emerging Leaders Week with a fun night of networking! All are welcome (students, NAADSN members, network partners, and practitioners) to join to reunite with old friends and make new connections. This event will take place virtually on Gathertown - explore our virtual hang out zone with lots of areas to chat as a big group, walk around, break off into groups and even play games! Gathertown is a fun and creative space that is easy to navigate. For more information on the Gathertown platform visit: https://www.gather.town/ and for a demo of navigating Gathertown spaces check out https://app.gather.town/app/UVdhuVLOH3jYD2SZ/Live%20Walkthrough    

NATO Arctic Agenda Exercise

Tuesday, July 19th 1:30-3:30pm EST

This interactive exercise will be centered around the question: What would a NATO Arctic Agenda look like? The NATO 2022 Strategic Concept was adopted at the Madrid Summit, 29-30 June 2022. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, called it “the blueprint for the Alliance in a more dangerous and competitive world.” The Strategic Concept makes no mention of the Arctic, and one mention of the High North in reference to the Russian Federation’s “capability to disrupt Allied reinforcements and freedom of navigation across the North Atlantic” concluding that this “is a strategic challenge to the Alliance.” In April 2022 Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan wrote “While the need for a NATO High North Policy is evident, it is politically divisive within the Alliance, and by no means a short-term feat.” At the same time, the implications of climate change for NATO member states in the Arctic and beyond are increasingly relevant, with NATO's recently released Climate Change & Security Impact Assessment calling for a "fundamental transformation" of NATO's approach to defence and security. We welcome students to join in an exercise facilitated by NAADSN Lead, Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer, to discuss what an Arctic Agenda for NATO would look like. We will use breakout rooms for smaller group discussions and we look forward to an engaging event!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Andrew Bresnahan

Wednesday, July 20th 2:00-3:00pm EST

Dr. Andrew Bresnahan will provide a keynote address exploring the complexities of Arctic Security today, followed by a 15-20 minute Q&A period. Dr. Bresnahan is the Director of Circumpolar Affairs with NAADSN, a Special Advisor and Research Scientist at Polar Knowledge Canada (Government of Canada), and a postgraduate student in International Affairs and Strategic Studies at King’s College London. To learn more about Dr. Andrew Bresnahan, please see his bio here. Students, NAADSN members, network partners, and practitioners are welcome to join for the keynote addresses.

Graduate Student Conference

Thursday, July 21st 11:30am-3:30pm EST

Join us on Thursday for our Graduate Student Conference Day. We will be hosting three panels where graduate students will present their research in 10-minute presentations followed by a 15 minute Q&A period for the panel and a health break between panels. New and developing research projects are encouraged from all Graduate students whose work focuses on or intersects with North American and Arctic Defence and Security. Please circulate the call for presenters (attached) to your networks and any further questions regarding presenting work at the conference can be directed to emergingleadersnode@naadsn.ca. Everyone is encouraged to join in for the graduate student panels and ask questions!

Closing Keynote Speaker: Bridget Larocque 

Friday, July 22nd 1:00-2:00pm EST:

To wrap up the week, our closing Keynote Speaker event will feature Bridget Larocque. Bridget is a Network Co-Lead and Northern Advisory Board Chair with NAADSN in addition to serving as a policy advisor and researcher with the Arctic Athabaskan Council (ACC). To learn more about Bridget please find her bio here. Our final event will consist of an address by Bridget where we'll dissect the meaning and nature of Arctic Security and its implications in today's world from the perspective of a Northern Indigenous Resident. This will be followed by a 15-20 minute Q&A period where all attendees are encouraged to ask their questions. Everyone is welcome to participate in this event!  

Gathertown and Zoom links will be sent out to those who registered in the days before the events begin. To register for the event, please fill out this Google Form: https://forms.gle/J1FnxAxGgAqxqn7fA

If you have any questions about the Emerging Leaders Week, please do not hesitate to contact: emergingleadersnode@naadsn.ca