Meeting students. Cesilie Amundsen gives a presentation to school students.
Last week, the ArcSolution project hosted an engaging outreach event for elementary school pupils from Bodø. One of the key themes of ArcSolution is pollution in Arctic environments, and this visit provided a valuable opportunity to share our research results with a younger audience.
The pupils participated in an exciting two-part programme. First, they learned about the pollution research conducted at Nord University, with a particular focus on marine pollution in the Arctic. We discussed key sources of pollution, its environmental consequences, and ongoing efforts to prevent and reduce its impact (the work we do in WP2 and WP5). The session developed into an engaging dialogue, where the pupils contributed thoughtful reflections, creative ideas, and hopeful visions for the future.
In the second part of the programme, the pupils gained hands-on insight into how research is carried out in practice. They visited a student laboratory, where our colleague Cesilie Amundsen introduced them to the model organism zebrafish, used in the ArcSolution project to investigate the effects of environmental pollutants. This experience gave the pupils a concrete understanding of how scientific knowledge about the environment is generated.
Events like this are a win–win for both researchers and schools. For us, it is an opportunity to communicate our research to audiences beyond academia, including younger generations, and to reflect on how we explain complex topics in accessible ways. For the pupils, it offers a valuable glimpse into university life, scientific work, and the importance of research in addressing real-world challenges such as Arctic pollution.
Through initiatives like this, ArcSolution contributes not only to scientific knowledge, but also to awareness, education, and engagement around environmental challenges in the Arctic.