Anders Oskal, the Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry launched the University of the Arctic (UArctic) thematic networks on behalf of the University of the Arctic in Bergen yesterday.

The launch was part of the opening day of the Arctic Summit Science Week (ASSW), a week long international Arctic science meeting being held in Bergen and the launch signals the launch of the UArctic's new global change curriculum. The meeting was attended by over 300 participants and the UArctic launch was the final presentation to the plenary meeting.

A wide range of topics were covered during the day, with climate change, species and human adaptation, management regimes and the resilience of Arctic peoples were chief among them. Knowledge questions - whose and for whom were raised, the importance recognising interconnected ecosysystems, the questions related to ocean cycles and circulations and the message that the Arctic is connected to the global system and that science is about people. Oskal introduced the key concepts of the new curriculum and development of the UArctic Thematic Networks and went on to speak about the development of one of the network, Adaptation to Global Change which will be a course developed from the materials and partners that have arisen from the EALÁT Network Consortium. This course will be developed by the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry with the Thule Institute at the University of Oulu.