Frank Sejersen

CV

Research projects
2021-2023
Partnerships as driver for low-carbon transitions in urban food-systems (financed by Independent Research Fund Denmark)

2016-2020    
Nordic Centre of Excellence on Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities (project research partner) (financed by NordForsk)

2015-2019
Politics of Postcoloniality and Sustainability in the Arctic (project research partner) (financed by Velux Foundation)

2016-2017
Indigeneity in waiting: elusive rights and the power of hope (project research partner) (financed by Kone Foundation)

2009-2013   
Ice, Climate and Development in Greenland (financed by European Research Council)

2009-2009
Human agency and the anatomy of climate change adaptation strategies (financed by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen)

2006-2009
The urban Greenland (financed by the Danish Research Council)

1999-2002
Landscape perceptions, local knowledge and sustainable development in Greenland (financed by the Danish Environmental Agency and the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland)

1995-1999
Environmental Knowledge, Cultural Strategies and Development in Greenland and the Circumpolar North (financed by the Danish Research Councils (TUPOLAR-initiative))

1995-1998
Hunting of Marine Mammals: Cultural Aspects of Resource Management in Greenland (Ph.D. project financed by the Danish Research Council (SHF))

1994-1998
Hunting of Marine Mammals: Cultural Aspects of Ressource Management in the Circumpolar Regions (financed by Nordic Research Council (NOS-H))

Regional specialization:
Arctic with a special focus on Greenland. Anthropological fieldwork in Sisimiut, Maniitsoq and Nuuk 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007 og 2011.

Other academic qualifications

External examiner in anthropology at Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and University of Greenland.

Referee-assignments for the National Science Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, National Geographic Society, Current Anthropology, Human Ecology, Human Organization, AMBIO, Journal of Rural and Community Development, Polar Record, Ètudes Inuit Studies, Young, Danish Journal of Geography, Alaska Journal of Anthropology, the Arctic Human Development Report and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

Member of policy working group under International Arctic Science Commmitee (IASC) and former council member of the Int. Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA). Steering committee member of Sustainability Science Centre (University of Copenhagen) and Centre for Cultural Studies in Sustainability (Faculty of Humanities). Member of Climate Panel of University of Copenhagen (2007-2010). Member of the Committee for Greenlandic Mineral Resources to the Benefit of Society (2013-1014). Member of steering committee for Center for Applied Ecological Knowledge (2021-), Member of steering committee for Living Lab (Green Solution Center, UCPH). Member of Thematic Network on Sustainable Resources and Social responsibility Member of Critical Arctic Studies (UArctic), Politics and Power of Resilience (NOS-HS), Thinking through the Transnational (ToRS research cluster), Digital methods and citizen science (ToRS research cluster). Linked to Crown Princess Mary Center's Policy Fellowship Program

Ph.D. supervisor for Lill Rastad Bjørst "Arktiske diskurser og klimaforandringer i Grønland" (2008-2011), Valeria Guerrieri "The Transformative Power of the Pipeline. A Study on Arctic Energy Development" (2015-), Jesper Lee Jyderup "Partnerships as Driver for Low-Carbon Transitions in Urban Food Systems" (2021-2023)

Leadership:
Leader of degree programmes: Cross-cultural studies, Comparative cultural studies, Minority studies as well as Greenlandic and Arctic studies

Education and employment
2009-
Study programme coordinator for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

2003-
Associate professor at Greenlandic and Arctic Studies, University of Copenhagen

2002
Temporary lecturer at Eskimology and Arctic Studies, University of Copenhagen

1999-2002
Assistant professor with research project financed by The Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland and The Danish Environmental Agency, University of Copenhagen

1998-1999
Assistant research professor at Eskimology and Arctic Studies with research project financed by the Research Councils (TUPOLAR), University of Copenhagen

1995-1998
Ph.D. degree at Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen

1994
Visiting researcher at Eskimology and Arctic Studies with research project financed by the Nordic Research Council, University of Copenhagen

1987-1994
MA (research degree) at Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen

Current research

My current research project (together with Jesper Lee Jyderup) focuses on the cultural aspects and drivers of a decarbonization of Copenhagen’s food system. The project critically explores how sustainabilityoriented food entrepreneurs together with incumbent actors operate in what we coin as ‘transition-driven partnerships’ (TDP) aiming at innovating and accelerating the advancement of sustainable urban food systems. The research aim is to further sustainability transitions theory by drawing upon cross-cultural approaches and urban studies in order to develop theoretical concepts, analytical strategies and empirical insights that advances the understanding of TDPs and the transformative potentials of food entrepreneurs in urban transitions to low-carbon cities. Hence, the project employs an explorative mixed method approach to investigate how new green norms and food practices emerge in TDPs, and how TDPs manage to translate these green norms and practices into larger cultural systems such as an urban foodsystem.

Primary fields of research

Cultural studies of societal transformations in Greenland and Canada based on cross-cultural methods and theory inspired by political ecology and perspectives from environmental humanities. Eight fields of problems have my particular interest:

1. Sustainability transition (green transition) and urban food systems
2. Industrialization and extractive industries
3. Climate change and adaptation strategies
4. Use and management of natural resources (sustainability and biodiversity)
5. Indigenous peoples' rights and self-governance
6. The Arctic research history
7. Urbanisation and migration
8. Economic strategies, innovation, value creation and the growth imperative

Teaching

• Cross-cultural analysis
• Value creation, innovation and resource perceptions
• History of anthropological theory
• Qualitative methods
• Organizational theory
• Cultural analysis
• Industrialization
• Globalization
• Ethnicity
• Politics and economy
• Environmental management and knowledge regimes
• Traditional and contemporary cultural and social issues in the Arctic (eg social organization, exchange, economy and land rights).