Frigga Kruse

Junior research group leader (Arctic Historical Ecology) at the Institute of Ecosystem Research at Kiel University in Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1778-1010

Project duration: 2018-2023

Contact: fkruse@ecology.uni-kiel.de

Website: https://timelessarctic.org/

https://www.facebook.com/polarbearsays

Planned fieldwork periods on Svalbard: At present, my team and I are planning an interdisciplinary expedition to Edgeoya in August 2022. I will also be guiding and an expedition to Jan Mayen – fingers crossed!

Timeless Arctic. Commercial hunting in the reconstruction of human impact in Svalbard

I am a geologist (rocks), archaeologist (dead people), guide (tourists), and youth group leader (future leaders). My work on Svalbard has so far been an exciting and stimulating mix of mining history, industrial archaeology, environmental archaeology, historical ecology, expedition cruising, and science communication. Whatever I do, people in nature are at the centre of it. Some may call it socio-ecological systems. Although I very much like my research, the experience I gain through the things I am privileged to do and the stories this allows me to tell make up the heart and soul of the impact I am having. This is why I mention guiding in the Arctic and even my volunteer work in Germany in this context. People everywhere fit into my understanding of right-holders, stakeholders, end-users, you name it. In that sense, every science is a social science when communicated properly, and every polar scientist can and should contribute to a climate for change.