When established in 2012, the Arctic Centre of Umeå University (Arcum) became the first cohesive center for Arctic research in Sweden. Since then, strategic networking on all levels has grown. Today, Arcum’s local network includes more than 250 researchers from all faculty areas. Nationally and internationally, Arcum collaborates with a large number of universities and research facilities and associates with organizations and networks such as University of the Arctic (UArctic), International Arctic Social Science Association (IASSA), International Congress of Circumpolar Health (ICCH) and China Nordic Arctic Research Centre (CNARC). Arcum strives towards multidisciplinarity and a broad definition of Arctic research. For example, a bibliometric analysis of the period 2012 – 2020 illustrates the progress in Arctic profiling and how Arcum’s local network has produced close to 1,600 peer-reviewed papers. The majority of these are related to science and medicine, but a fair share also representing the social sciences and humanities, mirroring an increasing interest in the human dimension of Arctic existence. We conclude that strategic networking has been an efficient tool for strengthening the Arctic profile and related research at Umeå University. The recent organizational reform and reorientation towards spin-offs and graduate research is likely to enhance this successful trend.
Artikeln är submittad på engelska men sedan översatt och publicerad på kinesiska.