over the last 30 years, the Institute has worked with organizations around the world on issues ranging from constitutional and governance reform, energy, maritime transport, and climate planning, to intergenerational equality and financial stewardship.
Featured Projects
Arctic Indigenous Exchange Program
The Arctic Indigenous Exchange Program (AIEP) brings together groups of 12-15 Indigenous community members, leaders, and professionals, for exchanges across Canada, Greenland, and the United States (Alaska). The U.S. Department of State is the program sponsor. The goal is to explore areas of regional cooperation across the Arctic. AIEP aims to strengthen people-to-people relationships, advance cooperation, and foster greater cultural and commercial ties among Arctic Indigenous populations across a range of priority areas.
The Arctic Resilient Communities Youth Fellowship (ARCYF) is a one-year, paid fellowship designed to empower northern youth to advance responsible development and contribute to greater resilience and prosperity of their communities. The program envisions an Arctic future shaped by those most directly affected, by giving them the tools to help influence decision making.
For over 20 years, this Institute has administered the most comprehensive and balanced ANILCA training available. We are currently working to transition this training to an asynchronous delivery format. This move will significantly improve access and flexibility for participants, well into the foreseeable future.
The Arctic Indigenous Exchange Program (AIEP) will bring together approximately 50 Indigenous leaders, including business development professionals, government officials, and entrepreneurs from Canada, Greenland, and Alaska, for a multi-phase exchange program to explore areas of regional cooperation across the Arctic.
In accordance with Administrative Order 289, which established the Alaska Climate Change Strategy, the Climate Action for Alaska Leadership Team is charged with developing a plan of action for the Governor by September 1, 2018.
Since 2001 the Institute of the North has convened the Alaska Dialogue, a policy focused gathering where 60-120 Alaskans leaders gather for a 2 ½-day in-depth discussion of the key and often sensitive issues facing the state and our commons.
AlaskaNor is a multi-year study financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nordland County, aimed at unlocking ocean-based economic development opportunities in North Norway and Alaska.
The Institute of the North hosts a comprehensive training course on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980, which resulted in nearly 140 million acres becoming federal conservation system units, such as national parks and wildlife refuges.
The aim of the ArcBlue project is to contribute to both blue value creation and development of competence. It will also aim to promote both the exchange of knowledge and cooperation within the blue sectors of fisheries and aqua-/mariculture in the Arctic regions of Northern Norway, Alaska, and Greenland.
The Institute of the North’s 2015 Arctic Energy Summit built on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.
The Arctic Exchange brings a revolutionary concept in networking and business information delivery – one that is designed to meet the Arctic’s specific business objectives
The Institute of the North, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, and a myriad of other state and national organizations hosted the International Arctic Fisheries Symposium, in which 180 delegates from eight nations met in Anchorage.
The Arctic Maritime and Aviation Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (AMATII) will provide a platform for addressing critical needs in the Arctic’s aviation and maritime environment.
The Institute of the North has hosted productive and meaningful visits for Alaska’s leaders to neighboring Arctic states over the last five years with delegations visiting Norway, Iceland, Finland, Greenland, and to Chukotka.
Governor Walker launched the Alaska Arctic Council Host Committee in 2015 to provide hospitality and education during the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council and to highlight Alaska perspectives and priorities by showcasing the state’s people and potential.
The Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group has initiated work on an online Arctic Renewable Energy Atlas to provide solar, wind, geothermal, marine and hydrokinetic resource maps.
Through a series of online workshops, fellows will engage in inter-regional community-based research where they will navigate the intersection of Western science and Indigenous knowledge to address the impacts of climate change in Arctic communities.
The Institute of the North developed the Bering Strait Messenger Network between Alaska, U.S.A. and Chukotka, Russia to develop and strengthen effective communication systems.
The Institute of the North worked with Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat to organize a workshop in Utqiaġvik on behalf of the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)
The Institute of the North has hosted a suite of opportunities that enable young Alaskans to be educated about – and engaged in – their responsibilities to one another, their community, and the state.
Through this website, other publications, and classes, the Institute intends to help students and practitioners managing Alaska’s common property to better understand how that common property is governed.
We have developed two major learning tools, Alaska – A Land in Motion and Alaska in Maps – A Thematic Atlas. Both of which highlight the significance of geography in Alaska and encourage students of all ages to explore and understand the region.
The Hickel Day of the Arctic is organized annually by the Institute of the North to keep attention to Arctic issues and to recognize Hickel’s commitment to the region, including in 1964 to publish an article in Reader’s Digest titled The Day of the Arctic.
Alaska will be the focus of international attention for the next two years as visiting delegations from around the world participate actively in meetings as the opportunity for Alaskans to shape international discourse about the Arctic has never been greater.
We are inviting participation from across Alaska and the Arctic, individuals who are experts in their field and interested in problem-solving and international collaboration.
The Northern Regions Mining Summit, hosted by the Institute of the North in May 2014, addressed the social, cultural and economic impact and opportunity of mineral resource development for Northern peoples in Alaska, Canada and Greenland.
Unsustainable spending from the Permanent Fund’s Earnings Reserve threatens to undermine Alaska’s prosperity and the interests of all future generations. The Institute has long supported a constitutional amendment to be put before voters, which protects the Permanent Fund for the long term.
The Security and Defense program at the Institute of the North conducts research and educates policymakers on strategic issues relating to the defense that concern decision makers in Alaska and at the state and local level throughout the nation.
The We the People of Alaska program is modeled after the Center for Civic Education’s We the People program, funded until recently under the Education for Democracy Act to promote civic competence and responsibility across the nation.
The fifth annual Week of the Arctic features an exciting combination of Arctic Alaska outreach and learning with Anchorage festivities that focus on innovation, design, community and resilience.
You Own Alaska! captures the early hopes and visions of Alaska’s elders and pioneers, as well as the views and stories of today’s Alaskans who share a common love fore the Great Land and are carrying that vision forward.