Paper or panel abstracts are  invited under the following overarching themes:

  • Antarctic Science and Resources
  • The Changing Arctic Council
  • Human and Indigenous Rights; Education Policy; Self-Determination; Food Security
  • Monitoring and Observing Networks; Natural and Social Science Fieldwork
  • Ocean and Polar Governance
  • Trade and Economy

Individual topics may include, but are not limited to, legal, science and policy aspects of:

  • The Antarctic Treaty system
  • Human rights and justice in the Arctic
  • International, domestic and subnational legal and regulatory structures
  • Living and non-living resources
  • Non-Arctic actors
  • Polar and marine environments
  • Polar economies and industry
  • Terrestrial and marine management models and their interface


We invite participants to consider how polar science and scholarship can combine with the practice of law, broadly understood, to strengthen Arctic Peoples and Places.

How can lawyers and legal scholars interact with scientists and academics from other disciplines to the benefit of the Arctic? Can models of cooperation between scientists, scholars and lawyers from other geographic areas be adapted for the Arctic? What can lawyers and academics from all disciplines contribute to each other’s understanding on issues of common concern?

Interdisciplinary papers and panels are welcomed. Papers will be considered for publication in the Yearbook of Polar Law.

Please submit your abstracts and questions to Betsy Baker and Mara Kimmel. Abstracts are due 15 March 2015