Arctic Forum: Food

2 March 2026

08:30 Registration
09:00 Keynotes
• Professor Christina Storm Mienna, Director Várdduo Centre for Sámi Research, Umeå University, Sápmi / Sweden
• Patricia Ellis, OAM, Brinja Yuin Elder, Yuin Country, Australia (presenting online)
10:00 FIKA mingle
10:30 Workshops (part A)
12:00 LUNCH
13:00 Workshops (part B)
14:30 FIKA mingle
15:00 Keynotes
• Angelika Schindler-Egl, Board member, Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere Reserve
• Dr Adrianne Lickers Xavier, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies, McMaster University, Canada
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!

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

Angelika Schindler-Egl

Angelika Schindler-Egl is a retired textile machinery engineer whose lifelong commitment to pollination, biodiversity and food security began during her secondary school years. What started as an early fascination with nature has grown into decades of voluntary engagement dedicated to understanding and strengthening the ecological processes that underpin our food systems.

Raised in the Alpine region, particularly in the Alps and the Dolomites, she observed the impacts of climate change — including disrupted phenology in plants and pollinators — long before such shifts became widely recognised in Scandinavia. These early experiences shaped her conviction that ecological systems can change rapidly and often silently. They also instilled a deep respect for nature’s rhythms and the need to document seasonal shifts carefully and act in time.

Today, Angelika serves as Development Strategist for the pollination network Pollinera för Mat – Pollinatörer för framtiden (“Pollinate for Food – Pollinate for the Future”). In this voluntary role, she focuses on pollination, method development and quality assurance. She leads efforts to document the phenology of host plants and pollinators, contributing data to national knowledge platforms including Artportalen (the Swedish Species Observation System) and the Swedish National Phenology Network. This work strengthens the evidence base supporting research, environmental management and local food resilience.

Angelika is also a Board Member of the Biosfärområde Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka, part of the global UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. Within the Biosphere Reserve, she and her field inventory team develop regionally adapted field methods, citizen science approaches and collaborative practices that help communities understand and support the species on which food production depends.

In addition, she is an active member of Naturskyddsföreningen Västerbotten, the regional branch of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

By combining field knowledge, systems thinking and practical tools, Angelika makes the role of pollinators in food systems visible, concrete and actionable — in northern Norrland as well as at national and international levels. Her work reminds us that small species carry large societal questions, and that the future of food begins with safeguarding the ecological processes that keep our living systems alive.

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