The future of the Arctic: climate, conflict, and global impact
We welcome our Chancellor, Dr Fiona Hill, for the fifth Chancellor-in-Conversation event at the Waterside Building in Durham.
Dr Hill will be joined by an expert panel of leading University academics from our Faculty of Social Sciences to discuss the impact of the Arctic on our changing world.
Panel discussion
The Arctic is many things to many people. It is the sharp edge of climate change; an arena of heightened geopolitical competition; a frontier for combatting energy scarcity and transportation chokepoints and an awe-inspiring destination for adventure. For the four million people who live there, it is a homeland to be cherished, even amidst unprecedented transformation.
While solutions to many challenges are grounded in science, they can only succeed when also rooted in the realm of social sciences. Technological measures are effective only where there is societal acceptance. Major disruptions (such as climate change and AI) carry significant implications for our politics, economics and societies.
The Arctic is heating up - in more ways than one.
An expert panel
Joining Dr Hill for the panel discussion are: panel host, Professor Philip Steinberg, University of the Arctic Chair in Political Geography; Professor Chris Stokes (Department of Geography); Professor Olivia Woolley (Durham Law School); and Durham Energy Institute Executive Director Professor Simone Abram. Professor Martin Evans, Executive Dean (Social Sciences) will introduce the event.
Together, they will contextualise and explore the increasing importance of the Arctic, even to those living far from the Arctic Circle. Drawing on expertise in climate change, geopolitics, energy, tourism, and law; alongside Dr Hill’s unique insights in defence, foreign affairs, and security; they offer a multidisciplinary lens through which to understand its global impact. They will address key questions surrounding a region long considered peripheral in social and economic terms, but which is now increasingly central as climate change, security concerns, trade routes, and resource competition reshape its importance for local populations and the wider world.
Key topics will include:
The panel session will be recorded. It will be followed by an audience question and answer session that will not be recorded, and which will operate under the Chatham House Rule. Further information on this can be read here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule.
Our participants
Professor Martin Evans
Professor Martin Evans is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and is responsible for its strategic development. He has over 25 years’ experience in higher education, having begun his career at Durham. His research focuses on peatland and restoration, including impacts on flooding, pollution, and carbon cycling. He works with policymakers and practitioners on environmental challenges, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Society for Geomorphology.
Professor Philip Steinberg
Professor Philip Steinberg, UArctic Chair in Political Geography, has been at Durham since 2013. A leading scholar of ocean and Arctic governance, his research explores how social and political power is projected onto spaces that resist traditional territorial control. He has published widely on Arctic politics, maritime governance, and spatial theory, contributing to academic and policy debates on global environmental change. He currently leads the DurhamARCTIC interdisciplinary research and training centre and IBRU, Durham’s Centre for Borders Research.
Dr Fiona Hill
Dr Fiona Hill, who has served as Durham University’s Chancellor since June 2023, is an acclaimed foreign affairs specialist, author and former presidential advisor to George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She is an authority on Russian and European geopolitics and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a non-profit policy organisation based in Washington DC. She has served on the US National Intelligence Council, was a member of the US National Security Council and co-led the UK Government’s Strategic Defence Review 2025.
Professor Chris Stokes
Professor Chris Stokes joined the Department of Geography in 2007. His research focuses on glaciers and ice sheets, examining their interactions with the ocean-climate system and responses to global warming, and informing projections of sea-level rise. Recent work on ice sheet sensitivity to temperature targets has led to presentations to international audiences and policymakers, including at the Conference of the Parties (COP) and meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Professor Olivia Woolley
Olivia Woolley is a Professor in Biolaw at Durham Law School. She joined the University in 2020 following teaching positions at the Universities of Aberdeen and Groningen, and a career in legal practice. She specialises in energy law and environmental law. In her energy research she focuses on law relating to renewable energy with a particular specialism in offshore renewables. In her environmental research, she focuses on promoting ecological sustainability through law.
Professor Simone Abram
Professor Simone Abram is Executive Director of the Durham Energy Institute, Professor of Anthropology, and holder of the Ørsted Chair in Green Energy Systems. She has served as Chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and founded the Energy Anthropology Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. She is a member of the Norwegian Research Centre for Socially Inclusive Energy Transitions. Her extensive portfolio of interdisciplinary research spans energy systems, governance, and socio-technical energy futures.
Attendance information
If you wish to book for a group of seven people or more, please email conferenceadministration.service@durham.ac.uk.
Due to the popularity of the Chancellor-in-Conversation events, a waiting list will be in operation. If you are no longer able to attend, we ask that you cancel your booking to enable others to join.
Please be aware that there will be photography at the event, and the panel discussion will be filmed. If you do not wish to be included in images or footage produced, please indicate your preference when you book here, contact conferenceadministration.service@durham.ac.uk, or make yourself known to Event Durham staff at the event.
Getting to the Waterside Building
Further information on how to reach the Waterside Building is available at: https://www.durham.ac.uk/business/about/our-locations/.
This event is organised by Advancement, (DARO, Marketing & Communications), the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Event Durham. For more information, please contact Lucian Hudson, Executive Director, Communications & External Relations, and Professor-in-Practice (Leadership and Organisations):
