Montana State professor Elizabeth Rink named co-lead of NSF’s Fulbright Arctic Initiative

BOZEMAN - Montana State University professor Elizabeth Rink has been named the co-leader of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative, or FAI, a flagship science diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange program between the Arctic Nations.

The initiative brings together early and mid-career scholars in multiple disciplines from the Arctic Nations to address research and policy issues related to Arctic security, climate change and health.

Rink is a faculty member in MSU's Department of Human Development and Community Health in the College of Education, Health and Human Development who has worked in Arctic communities for nearly two decades. Along with Lill Rastad Bjørst, associate professor of Arctic studies at Aalborg University in Denmark, Rink will lead 20 scholars from seven countries. They'll spend 18 months exploring topics related to Arctic security, cooperation and partnerships, Arctic resources and shifting to more sustainable systems, and mental health and well-being.

Rink has worked as a researcher in Greenland for close to 20 years and has conducted research in Finland for the past decade. She was also a scholar in the second Fulbright Arctic Initiative group in 2018-2019 and co-led the third group from 2020-2023. Rink also received a Fulbright Specialist award in 2023 to the University of Oulu, Finland, where she collaborated with scholars at the Thule Institute to conduct research on the ethics of interdisciplinary science.

"To be selected to represent my country and MSU on behalf of the United States and the State Department is just a huge honor," Rink said.

The Fulbright Arctic Initiative furthers the larger U.S. Fulbright Program's mission to build connections among people from countries around the world.

The Fulbright Arctic IV project builds on the work of three previous groups of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative. Participants in this current, fourth group come from the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. They will attend monthly webinars, collaborate in interdisciplinary intercultural thematic groups, and attend in-person meetings and international exchange experiences between 2024 and 2026.

In addition to stimulating international research collaboration on different dimensions of Arctic security, climate change and health, the initiative aims to increase mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and member countries of the Arctic Council, Rink said. The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation in the Arctic.

She emphasized that a key part of the work is its interdisciplinary, collaborative nature. The scholars include scientists with diverse academic training; Indigenous and local knowledge holders; and practitioners working in various disciplines to address issues such as security, climate change and health.

For example, scholars working in the area of Arctic security address different concepts of security ranging from food security to land and resource management to militarization of the Arctic. They also address how these different concepts of security can be integrated to generate innovative research and meaningful policy recommendations to key Arctic stakeholders.

During the program, each U.S. scholar will visit another participating country and the non-U.S. scholars will visit the U.S. to conduct research and to serve as cultural and scientific ambassadors. In April 2026, the full group will convene in Washington, D.C., to present and discuss their research and policy recommendations to Arctic experts and diplomatic representatives of Arctic countries.

Tricia Seifert, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Development, called Rink "a renowned scholar in the area of community health, globally and locally.

"Her research in the Arctic, in which Indigenous and local knowledge holders are central to the project design and analysis, informs the important interdisciplinary work she continues to do with communities across the Fort Peck Reservation here in Montana," Seifert continued. "MSU students benefit from the incredible breadth of experience Dr. Rink brings to the classroom."

Rink noted that one of her goals for the work is to help showcase the value of interdisciplinary, intercultural work in the Arctic so that it continues into the future.

"Engaging in interdisciplinary scholarship in equitable partnership with communities is paramount to addressing the complex social and environmental challenges we face in the Arctic," Rink said. "It is important to educate, train and prepare future generations of researchers and policymakers and community members to work together in ways that honor multiple different perspectives and diverse knowledge systems."