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Arctic Forum: Food

Image: Susanne Jonsson

Food, transitions and traditional knowledges – finding new pathways towards resilient societies in the North

2 March | Umeå

 

The Arctic Forum on Food brings together researchers, policymakers, Indigenous knowledge holders, and innovators to explore two critical questions: How can we ensure sustainable, healthy and culturally grounded transitions in a rapidly changing world? And what role might food and Indigenous knowledges play in transitions?

Climate change, geopolitical tensions and environmental disruptions are reshaping how and what we eat. In the Arctic, these challenges are felt even more deeply — where food is not only sustenance, but also culture, identity and survival.

Welcome to Arctic Forum 2026! On the theme "Food, transitions and traditional knowledges", we meet to explore new ways towards resilient societies in the North by preparing and sharing meals with one another. 

Using food as a ticket to talk, think and imagine in new ways
At the forum, focus will be on two workshops where we prepare and share seasonal food together to support co-creation, deep listening and collaborative thinking. See details about the workshops listed below.

More than a discussion about food security
Take this opportunity to learn more about food, transitions and traditional knowledges. Meet our keynotes and join in on the discussion through workshops and joint meals. Together, we will consider how to safeguard traditional practices, strengthen local food sovereignty, reduce carbon footprints, and resist unsustainable industrial models that threaten vital food sources in the Arctic.

Registration

Registration form

Deadline: 13 February

The Forum is free of charge for participants. The only expences you might have are travels and accommodations in Umeå.

Program (will be updated)

2 March 2026

08:30 Registration
09:00 Keynotes
10:00 FIKA mingle
10:30 Workshops (part A)
12:00 LUNCH
13:00 Workshops (part B)
14:30 FIKA mingle
15:00 Keynotes
16:30 Wrap up and pause
17:00 Dinner
Soup, bread & Potluck Food Fair: bring samples of your products or favourite home-made and/or foraged foods to share, along with your tasty stories!

Keynotes

Dr. Adrianne Lickers Xavier

Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies, McMaster University, Canada

Doctor Adrianne Xavier's research interests include Indigenous food security, Indigenous land connections and rematriation, Indigenous food ways, and Indigenous ways of knowing. She teaches in the areas of Contemporary Indigenous Issues, Indigenous Food Security and Food Systems, Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Methodologies. Her community is the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, where she works to grow the understanding and capacity around food security and sovereignty. She is the newest lead of the Indigenous Mentorship Network for Ontario focusing on the support of students, faculty and Indigenous research in the broad spectrum of Indigenous Health.
More about Adrianne Xavier

Prof. Christina Storm Mienna 

Associate professor of Odontology at the Faculty of Medicine at Umeå university
Director of Várdduo - Centre for Sámi Research at Umeå university

Christina Storm Mienna has a longstanding experience in Sámi and Arctic research, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous health. She is a North Sámi scholar, born and raised in a Sámi family in Kiruna in Arctic Sweden, has a PhD in medicine, in Clinical oral physiology, and is a senior consultant dentist specialized in orofacial pain and TMJ disorders at Region Västerbotten. Storm Mienna is currently the scientific co-leader of an interdisciplinary project regarding health, and she is also the Swedish project leader for the Interreg Aurora Sápmi funded cross-border project, MÁHTUT – Sámi knowledge and practices in the era of the green transition. Storm Mienna has numerous special commissions in Sápmi and the Arctic. She serves as a board member of the Research committee at Sámi Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Use (SANKS) and the Research ethical committee at Sámi University of Applied studies in Norway. Additionally, she represents Sweden in the Arctic Council's SDWG Arctic Human Health Expert Group (AHHEG).  She is also deputy at the board of Sámi University of Applied Studies. She is the representative for Sweden in IASC Standing Committee on Indigenous Involvement appointed by the Swedish Research Council. Furthermore, she is a member in Nordforsk working group on guidelines for Indigenous research.
More about Christina Storm Mienna

Patricia Ellis, OAM

Business Enterprise Owner/Operator, Minga Aboriginal Cultural Services.

Patricia Ann Ellis, OAM, is a Brinja Yuin and Walbunja elder and cultural knowledge holder, recognised for her extensive contributions to the Indigenous community. Awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2023, she has received multiple accolades for Aboriginal cultural promotion, advocacy and leadership. Patricia runs Minga Aboriginal Cultural Services, offering cultural experiences and education. With 41 years at New South Wales' Technical and Further Education (TAFE NSW), she has significantly advanced Aboriginal language learning and cultural awareness.

Patricia's roles include leadership positions in local and national Aboriginal organisations, consultant to local, state and national government on Aboriginal issues, she chaired the Eurobodalla Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee, and was joint management coordinator of the handback of two National Parks to Aboriginal ownership.

Patricia is a published author, lifelong community advocate, proud mother and grandmother, held in the highest regard by Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals, organisations and public authorities as a cultural knowledge holder.
Patricia Ellis, on being awarded the OAM 
Minga Aboriginal Cultural Services

One more keynote from Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere reserve is to be confirmed.

Workshops

The forum will present two workshops, each running over two sessions. You can stay with one workshop to deepen the conversation over both parts, or mix and match to experience different themes and perspectives.

Workshop 1: Indigenous Leadership in Transitions

Danielle Wilde & Amanda Björnwall

How can transitions emerge through communities rather than be imposed on them, or happen to them? Join Indigenous leaders, knowledge holders, and decision-makers as we bake and break bread, exploring how ancestral knowledge can shape fair, resilient and more-than-human futures in the North.

Workshop 2: The Kitchen as Commons

Leena Naqvi + Xaviera Sánchez de la Barquera Estrada

This workshop explores the kitchen as a cultural commons — a shared space where making becomes an act of belonging, reciprocity and care. Through hands-on engagement with dough, you get to experience how collective making can nurture inclusion, resist othering and open up a space for diverse ways of knowing. Connect to ancestral rhythms and open new pathways for resilience and inclusion in the North

 

Accommodation

Arctic Forum has prebooked hotel rooms for the forum. You can book at either ELITE Hotel Mimer or Hotell Björken, and use the code "AFF2026" in your booking.

Link to booking at Hotel Mimer
To book at Hotell Björken, call +46(0)90-108700 or e-mail hotell.bjorken.se@sodexo.com

Registration fee

None. The forum is free of charge. The only expences you might have are travels and accommodations in Umeå.

 

Organisers

Professor Danielle Wilde, Arctic Six Chair, in collaboration with members of the UMU Sympoietic Research Collaboratory (SPC) for making with Food and Cultures: Leena Naqvi (PhD student), Amanda Björnwall (postdoctoral project assistant), and Xaviera Sánchez de la Barquera Estrada (doctoral student).

Wilde’s research group brings together design, food studies, health and social sciences, with environmental economics and resource management. Using artistic and co-creative methods, the group re-centres Intangible Cultural Heritage in systems, everyday practices, and governance—fostering Arctic Food Citizenship through empowerment, responsibility, and impact at personal, societal, and systemic levels

Danielle Wilde’s chairship investigates how Traditional Knowledges, food, and culture can be activated to (re)shape Environmental Citizenship—personal, societal and systemic agency; responsibility and impact—in the Circumpolar North.

 

The organisers have planned the Forum with funding and support from the Arctic Centre at Umeå University, the prioritised research area Northfood: Plant Science For Change, and the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere Reserve.

The forum is held within the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere Reserve, located in Sápmi, the traditional homeland of Sámi people. It is also a part of Umeå University’s program during Ubmejen Biejvieh, Sámi Cultural Week in Umeå.

Contact

Please e-mail arctic.centre@umu.se if you have any questions.

 

Calendar

Latest update: 2025-12-01