** Registration open until April 1, 2025, 11:59PM Eastern Time **
September 2 to 17, 2025 - Greenland
CASES 2025 is a multi-cycle course that aims to provide an experiential training, allowing participants to interact with renowned researchers and experts in a trans-disciplinary perspective that combines a wide range of social sciences (anthropology, sociology, economics, geography, law) and the knowledge and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, as well as organizations, governments, and businesses involved in the region.
Course content will include presentations by WAGE mentors, meetings with representatives from the communities (Nuuk, Tasiilaq, Tiilerilaaq, Kulusuk), indigenous organizations, and relevant authorities. Students will contribute through active participation in discussions.
The major element, however, is the direct confrontation with the East Greenland realities and the possibilities of discussing these with regional and local administrators, fishermen and hunters as well as residents and other stakeholders. The lectures will emphasize relevant theoretical approaches, methodological issues, and the societal context.
It is thus important to increase awareness of the participants about the issues raised by the presence, role, modalities and consequences of complex inequalities and regional perspectives and furthermore, get an understanding of the issues specific to Greenland in relation to the theme and elicit student suggestions to improve living conditions and quality of life together.
The training school starts in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland and the main town in Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, but takes place in East Greenland with the overall theme “Complex inequalities and regional perspectives – East Greenland" with visits to the town Tasiilaq in East Greenland and two settlements, Tiilerilaaq and Kulusuk in the Tasiilaq district
WHO IS IT FOR ?
Up to 15 international undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will be selected to take part in the School. Target audience:
- Students affiliated with the WAGE Circumpolar Partnership or to a member of the WAGE Partnership
- Students with keen interest in the theme of the School.
ITINERARY
September 2 to 4 - Nuuk
- Visit the municipal administration focusing on the political and administrative organisation of the municipality including distribution of power related to political decisions and their implementation.
- A city walk and tour – including visiting national and local museums – of different perspectives regarding inequalities.
September 4 to 12 - Tasiilaq
- Visit of different institutions and organizations focusing on regional perspective on development - including hunting, fisheries, planning and tourism in Tasiilaq, the district (including the settlements) and East Greenland as well as the impacts on different regional aspects of inequality also focussing on how these inequalities are perceived and handled.
September 13 to 16 - Tiilerilaaq/Kulusuk
- The visit will focus on living conditions in the settlement and particularly on hunting, fishing, and tourism.
September 17 - Departure from Nuuk
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
- To understand the theoretical foundations of the formation and reproduction of inequalities.
- Acquire, through the case generated, the ability to understand and analyze inequalities based on knowledges and problem statements of the local partners of East Greenland, and to report on these learnings in oral and written production.
- Develop the ability to infer from learnings, observations, and discussions with the people and organizations encountered, proposals that would contribute to level out or solve locally defined problems arising from inequalities
LIST OF EXPERTS
(To be completed)
Mentors :
- MarieKathrine Poppel, Emerita, Department of Arctic Social Sciences & Economics, Ilisimatusarfik /University of Greenland
- Birger Poppel, Emeritus, Institute of Learning, Ilisimatusarfik /University of Greenland
- Gérard Duhaime, Full Professor, Department of sociology, Université Laval
- Davin Holen, Professor, Alaska Sea Grant, University of Alaska Fairbanks
PARTICIPATION FEES, PREPARATORY TRAINING AND CERTIFICATE ISSUED TO PARTICIPANTS
Participation fees
The participation is entirely free for students affiliated with the WAGE Circumpolar Partnership of a member of the WAGE Circumpolar Partnership, including travel costs.
Students not affiliated with the WAGE Circumpolar Partnership will have to pay their own travel expenses to and from Nuuk, Greenland.
Preparatory training
Students attending the School are required to take part in a preparatory training course. The preparatory training will be done remotely, and will consist of :
- June 2025 : 2 or 3 preparatory group meetings
- June, July and August 2025 : preparatory readings
Certificate issued to participants
The students participating in the school and that will obtain the pass mark on examinations will receive a Certificate of Achievement from Université Laval, for a course of 145 hours.
Students who wish to do so will be able to submit this certification for credit towards their program at their own University. Decision to award credits will depend on each of the program directorates concerned.
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
REGISTRATION IS OPEN UNTIL APRIL 1, 2025, 11:59PM Eastern Time
Those interested in participating in the School must provide the following documents:
Completed registration form :
CASES 2025 REGISTRATION FORM
In addition to filling out the form, the two following documents must be sent to info.wage@ulaval.ca
- Résumé (including your education, professional experience, and communications)
- Recommendation letter from your program or research supervisor (using the form provided here : Recommendation Letter form )
Selection Process
The selection committee will evaluate applications according to the following criteria:
- Relevance of the applicant’s field of research program to the School’s topic
- Applicant’s research ability
- Interest and capacity to work in community-based research, especially in collaborating with Indigenous communities or organization
The selection process will also consider the diversity of applicants’ disciplines and backgrounds. Individuals from all geographic regions, as well as underrepresented minorities, are encouraged to apply.
This school will be offered in English. Fluency in English is required.
All participants are expected to attend the entire session.
Individuals will be notified of the final selection by April 15, 2024.
For further information, please contact us at : info.wage@ulaval.ca
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CASES 2025 is organized by the Training Commission of the WAGE Circumpolar Partnership, in collaboration with Ilisimatusarfik, University of Greenland and University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The WAGE Circumpolar Partnership is supported with a partnership grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
CASES 2025 has also been made possible through the financial support of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
