Yulia Skrupskaya - about Arctic Opportunity Explorers

From October 2020 to January 2021 there was online Arctic Opportunity Explorers Programme run by Sustainia (a global sustainability consulting company, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark), HelloScience, and participating universities, with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. Research assistant of DeCAn Yulia Skrupskaya took part in this programme.

The Arctic Opportunity Explorer is a virtual learning programme arming students to solve intractable Arctic challenges in a digitised, globalised, and pandemic world:https://sustainiaworld.com/arctic-opportunity-explorers/ .The project purpose was to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arctic by empowering students to become competent in entrepreneurial sustainable development.

I had a chance to work in the international team with students from the UK (University of Edinburgh) and the USA (College of the Atlantic). We came out with the idea of Rewilding initiatives in Alaska as a nature-based solution to permafrost thaw and generated Arctic ReWild – a sustainable project helping to slow Arctic permafrost thaw, to enrich communities and to stop the destruction of infrastructure in the Arctic. “Rewilding is a form of environmental conservation and ecological restoration that has significant potential to increase biodiversity, create self-sustainable environments and mitigate climate change… by reintroducing lost animal species to natural environments.” We created a website and a financial model based on the assumptions about costs of development, maintenance, marketing, animals; profit and the number of clients for 3 years. The obtained metrics showed that the project would be financially viable. During the program we took part in a series of virtual workshops designed to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation, the topics included the risk-to-opportunity mindset and the abundance cycle framework.

Thanks to the Arctic Opportunity Explorers Programme I gained a unique professional experience in research analysis, creating sustainable business solutions and pitching it to a professional judging panel. We had a chance to put our academic knowledge and creative thinking to the test to solve real-world problems in the Arctic. Moreover, it was a great chance to meet with students from other countries and expand the network across Arctic borders. Publication: https://issuu.com/sustainia/docs/arcticopportunityexplorers

Being the winning team we received an opportunity to enter the incubation and business growth phase with the project partners.

I recommend this programme to those students who are interested in the future of the Arctic, sustainability and innovation. I would urge anyone to get involved with this incredible challenge, looking at both social and environmental issues whilst working on the all important UN Sustainble Development Goals.


Yulia Skrupskaya, research assistant in DeCAn