On 1-2 November 2021, Professor Kamrul Hossain (Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre) and Medy Dervovic (ERASMUS+ trainee, Arctic Center) traveled to Kautokeino and Alta, Norway, for academic networking purposes. The visit aimed to develop future collaboration between the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law of the Arctic Center at the University of Lapland on one side and the International Saami Film Institute and the UiT Arctic University of Norway Alta Campus on the other side.

In Kautokeino, they first met Anders Oskal (Secretary-General of the Association of World Reindeer Herders (AWRH); Executive Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR)) who presented the Boaššu or Arctic Food Lab. Designed in Denmark, this innovative solution bridges Saami traditional lifestyles with state-of-the-art professional kitchen standards. This presentation was followed by discussions on current projects of the AWRH and ICR.

On the same day, Professor Kamrul Hossain and Medy Dervovic were invited by Liisa Holmberg (Film Commissioner, International Saami Film Institute; Vice-Lead, UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic indigenous Film) to visit the International Saami Film Institute in Kautokeino. Together, they explored potential collaborative areas in order to materialize development and research projects as short edited films to better visualize and disseminate research results and widen public awareness and understanding of Saami culture and issues.

On the following day, a meeting was organized at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Alta Campus. During this meeting, Professor Kamrul Hossain, Vice-Rector Sveinung Eikeland, Rune Sundelin (Section Manager), Veronica Haug (Head of the Department of Child Welfare and Social Work), Jan Erik Henriksen (Professor and Member of the Indigenous Voices Research Group), and Wenche M. Kjæmpenes (Associate Professor in Political Science) gave short presentations on their ongoing research activities expressing interests for future research initiatives. A brief brainstorming discussion followed the presentations to identify common areas for collaboration and shape the nature of their collaboration under the UArctic and the Arctic Five Universities’ framework. The meeting was effective and fruitful, resulting in an agreement on the need for building a network of scholars from these institutions for a possible future academic event, such as an academic workshop, to be potentially held either in Rovaniemi or in Alta in 2022.