Jessica M. Shadian

Dr. Jessica M. Shadian is President and CEO of Arctic360. Over the course of two decades, Shadian has lived and worked as a researcher, associate professor, and consultant throughout the European and North American Arctic. Dr. Shadian is widely published; her peer-reviewed books, articles, book chapters and other news commentary concentrate on the global politics of the Arctic, Arctic Indigenous governance and law, critical Arctic infrastructure innovation and investment, and Canadian Arctic security and diplomacy. Her expertise is regularly solicited by media organisations, governments, the private sector, academia, and think tanks. Shadian’s 2014 book: The Politics of Arctic Sovereignty: Oil, Ice, and Inuit Governance (Routledge) is the first in-depth history of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and Inuit sovereignty in global politics reaching back to pre-European discovery. Her consulting work began while living in the Norwegian Arctic as the co-creator and organizer of an Arctic Dialogue series that brought together state and local political and industry leaders, local and Indigenous communities, and academia to increase information sharing about Arctic resource development. Dr. Shadian holds a Ph.D. in Global Governance from the University of Delaware (2006) during which she wrote her doctoral dissertation at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), University of Cambridge, UK on an NSF award. She spent the following 5 years in Norway at the Barents Institute and then as a Senior Researcher at the High North Center for Business and Governance, Nord University, Bodø after which she was awarded an Associate Professor, Marie Curie COFUND Fellowship, at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Denmark. In June 2017, Shadian completed a two-year Nansen Professorship co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Akureyri, Iceland after which she turned to dedicate herself full-time to build Arctic360, Canada’s premier Arctic think tank. Arctic360 is a partnership with the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, Trinity College, and the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Jessica is also the President and CEO of Arctic360: Canada’s premier Arctic think tank. We are a non-partisan, registered not-for-profit organization with a majority Indigenous-led leadership team. We work with Indigenous corporations and Northern governments, the federal government, the private sector, Arctic leaders, like-minded neighbours, think tanks, and institutions around the circumpolar region and beyond. Our mission is to elevate the national conversation about Canada’s North and the Arctic region, and to provide an inclusive and coordinated platform for Canada to engage in Arctic discussions around the world (location: Toronto and Iqaluit). See link here for more information abotu Arctic360 https://arctic360.org/