What SVALUR does

Last changed: 14 November 2023

What SVALUR does is to bring together detailed knowledge and experiences of people living, working and exploring different parts of Svalbard, using in-depth interviews, document analysis and web-based story mapping. We then compare this information with data from environmental monitoring and bring this together through new research methods.

We will communicate this shared knowledge to inhabitants and visitors to Svalbard, through interactive workshops, a stakeholder conference, participatory web-based story mapping, digital diaries, video accounts and holistic knowledge libraries/systems for locals and for tourist guides. Our project findings will not only document and give valuable, holistic insights into long-term environmental change, but also identify how current monitoring programmes can be made more relevant to people living in and visiting the Arctic. Increasing levels of short-term occupancy throughout the region mean that developing ways in which story-based understanding can complement scientific knowledge is more important than ever.