The Winter 2026 Arctic Task Force brought Jackson School students together to examine Arctic geopolitics, environmental change, and Indigenous rights amid shifting regional leadership in the Arctic Council. Through collaborative research and engagement with expert evaluators, students developed policy recommendations centered on Indigenous knowledge, self-determination, and international cooperation.
Michelle Koutnik, shares her experience as the Arctic Task Force Adviser.
The Winter 2026 Arctic Task Force was the seventh Arctic-focused Task Force offered by the Jackson School of International Studies since 2009. This year’s course began from the enduring recognition that environmental and social systems in the Arctic are inseparable, and that the rapid environmental changes underway carry profound consequences for the people who live there. In this Task Force, we looked at the current Arctic Council Chairship’s priorities in order to consider how Indigenous and international leadership can act on key issues in the Arctic. From 2025 to 2027, the Kingdom of Denmark holds the Chairship of the Arctic Council and has appointed Greenland as the Chair. This is a moment where the exceptionalism of the Arctic as a zone of peace is being challenged. This is a moment where Indigenous Rights are being challenged. Issues involving security, access, and use of the Arctic have contributed to rapid changes in Arctic geopolitics, all of which have been part of our learning this quarter. Now more than ever, it is critical that the Arctic Council continues as an “intergovernmental forum for cooperation.”
The structure of the course included that students each chose and researched their own chapter contributions, as well as self-organized in roles to manage the project, edit the chapters, and compile the final report. Our learning was supported by multiple guest speakers, in-class discussions, and through the UW Libraries. The recommendations developed by the students aimed to advance the current Chairship’s priorities in ways that center Indigenous Rights, self-determination, and Indigenous Knowledge alongside the urgent demands of environmental change and international cooperation. The students presented their recommendations to expert evaluators Miguel Roncero Martin who is an EU Civil Servant hosted by the UW Jackson School of International Studies under the EU Fellowship Program and Clinton Westman who is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan and a University of Washington Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies. We all greatly appreciated that the evaluators engaged with the students during the quarter and through the evaluation. The 11 students in the Winter 2026 Arctic Task Force very successfully worked as a team to conduct research, discuss, write, and present about their findings and recommendations on key issues facing the Arctic. It was my pleasure to share in this course with all of them!