• Collaboration with the on-going W-STEM project (1.1.2019 – 31.12.2021) has resulted valuable synergies related to gender equality promotion in Higher Education reported in some extend in the Arctic Yearbook 2020 (Heikkinen et al. 2020). W-STEM project is funded under European Union ERASMUS+ Capacity-building in Higher Education Programme aiming at improving strategies and mechanisms of attraction, access and guidance of Women in STEM Higher Education programs in Latin America. University of Oulu contributes as a partner for the project execution.
• Arctic Yearbook 2020 was launched on November 11 consisting an article “Intersectional gender-responsibility in STEM: Co-creating sustainable Arctic knowledge production” by Heikkinen, Pihkala, Pääsky and Harmoinen. The whole AY2020 publication is available here. 
• IASC Social and Human Working Group (SH-WG) Meeting on 28 March 2020 aligned with ASSW 2020 Akureyri, Iceland was successfully arranged in Zoom. Collaboration possibilities with UArctic TN on Gender in Arctic knowledge production were viewed and could be further developed.
• UArctic north2north mobility grant was appointed to Firouz Gaini from University of The Faroe Islands for a one week visit at the University of Oulu. Due to covid-19 pandemic the visit was postponed to 2021.

Presentations and Talks:

• Reclaiming Equal Futures in Arctic Universities was the title of a paper that group of researchers from Gender in Arctic Five Universities  - Mervi Heikkinen (University of Oulu), Lena Abrahamsson (Luleå University of Technology) & Päivi Naskali (University of Lapland) - presented in Finnish Gender Studies conference that was arranged online on 12-13 of November 2020. 
• Shared Voices interview on November 10 with Mervi Heikkinen (University of Oulu), lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Gender in Arctic Knowledge Production is available here. 
• Sustainability and Intersectional gender responsible STS – considerations to epistemic contribution was a contribution that has a focus on indigenous involvement in knowledge production (Heikkinen and Pihkala, forthcoming). 2020 HDCA (Human Development ad Capability Association’s) conference was arranged online in New Zealand on August 30 to July 2 with a theme New Horizon’s – Sustainability and Justice.

Projects and Grants:

• Academic North project (31.8.2018 – 31.10.2020) focused on Advancing Cross-border Labor-based Mobility of Academically Educated People and Equal Recruiting Practices in the Arctic North. The final Summit 25-27 August 2020 gathered online presenters and participants to hear about the project’s results and recommendations for the future. Academic North Call for Action is the concluding document of Academic North -project and Academic North Summit event. Additionally “North is ON” social media campaign on LinkedIN and Facebook pages goes on - please take a look and contribute!
• • News article about the project results: Increased, intensified and insightful collaboration among the universities

Publications