Short presentation

Lill Rastad Bjørst is Associate Professor and PhD in Greenlandic and Arctic Studies (GAS)

The Arctic is at the center of international politics and climate change research. Thus, the Arctic region as it has been known since the end of the Cold War has altered. The changing climate (three to four times faster than anywhere else on the globe) and rising conflicts in the world also affect Arctic affairs. Meanwhile, the Arctic governance structures are being questioned, and Inuit across the Arctic echo the message “Nothing about us without us”, as highlighted in the Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement from 2022.  

Lill's research contribution focuses on two interrelated areas of research:

1. Inuit, culture, histories, identity, society, postcolonialism, Indigenous affairs, and Arctic international politics.
2. Climate change, sustainability, infrastructure, green transition, and extractive industries.

Lill is leading a work package in the Horizon Europe project LIQUIDICE, a big consortium with 18 partners, mostly based in hydrology, climate modeling, glaciology, and geology. The topic is glacier runoff and societal impacts, and case studies will be conducted in Greenland, Norway, Austria, and India. Her work in Kalaallit Nunaat - Greenland will include the study of climate change strategies and public participation in Greenland’s green energy transition. Furthermore, Lill is the Co-lead of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative (2024 -2026). The Fulbright Arctic Initiative (FAI) is part of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program where scholars work together to formulate policy recommendations - timely with the dialogues surfacing with the new chairship of the Arctic Council in 2025. Link: https://fulbrightscholars.org/arctic 

Before Lill came to ToRS, she has been principal investigator (PI) and work package leader (WPL) and have spearheaded the Arctic research profile at AAU as Head of CIRCLA; She have also acted as Research Coordinator of AAU Arctic, and recently as the Scientific Director of Green Societies (signature initiative at the SSH Faculty) with collaboration across six departments.

Projects

2026-2027. (GSC Fellowship) Minerals for a green transition: a good business case for Kalaallit Nunaat? UCPH Green Solutions Centre Fellowship

2025-2028 LIQUIDICE (LinkIng and QUantifying the Impacts of climate change on inlanDICE, snow cover, and permafrost on water resources and society in vulnerable regions). Budget UCPH DKK 2.953,169 (total budget EUR 7,498,531.25) (WPL)

2023-2026 (ongoing) Fulbright Arctic Initiative IV, Co-lead (PI) UCPH budget size DKK 278,832.00 (leading 20 Arctic scholars for two years. Budget in total DKK 5,297,808), https:/Fulbright-Arctic-Policy-Brief-2026.pdf

2020-2024 FACE-IT. Funded by H2020-EU.3.5.1. PI: Uni. Bremen, Germany. 14 international partners. Budget size AAU: DDK 1,942,104 (Total budget size: EUR 6,399,272.99) (WPL)

CV

Formal degrees

Dec. 2011 PhD (Humanities), Dep. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. Dissertation: "Arktiske diskurser og klimaforandringer i Grønland. Fire (post)humanistiske klimastudier". Post-graduate studies (Feb. 2007-Jun. 2011) financed by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (finished within the set deadline (nomeret tid)

Sept. 2005 Master of Arts (Cand. mag.), Culture and Communication, University of Southern Denmark.

Feb. 2002 Bachelor of Arts, Greenlandic and Arctic Studies, Uni. of Copenhagen. 

Academic positions

2023-2026 Co-lead Fulbright Arctic Initiative IV, (stimulate international research collaboration on different dimensions of Arctic security while increasing mutual understanding between people of the United States and member countries of the Arctic Council) (intellectual leadership, 20 Arctic scholars). 

2022-2025 Scientific Director of the SSH Signature Project Green Societies, (intellectual leadership, lead the project secretariat and the 100 members at The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

2019- Associate Professor, Dep. of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University 

2016-2019 Associate Professor, Dep. of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University

2016-2020 Research coordinator, AAU Arctic – a cross-faculty research platform (40 members)

2016-2023 Head of Research (forskningsgruppeleder), CIRCLA-Centre for Innovation and Research in Culture and Living in the Arctic, Culture and Learning, Aalborg University

2016-2020 Scientific Editor (fagredaktør), Man & Society, Monographs on Greenland, a book series at Museum Tusculanums Forlag. MoG has published scientific results from all fields of research in Greenland since 1879.

2012-2016 Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Global Studies (CGS), Aalborg University