Scotland is one of the Arctic region’s closest neighbours and has long history of connection. The Arctic Connections Policy Framework highlights the cultural, linguistic, technological and community links that Scotland shares with the Arctic states. It sets out where we can share expertise to meet common challenges.
“This framework aims to serve as a prospectus for even closer Scottish-Arctic cooperation”
Ministerial Forward to the Arctic Policy Framework
ScAN was awarded £10,000 from the Scottish Government’s Scottish Education Exchange Programme (SEEP) for our Strengthening Scottish Arctic Connections project in 2025. The aim of the SEEP project is to support collaborative actions within Scotland’s International Education Strategy.
This project aims to enhance the profile of Scotland as a new and active UArctic Regional Centre and enhance the national and international visibility and reputation of the Scottish Arctic Network and its member institutions, enabling us to showcase the richness and breadth of Scottish Arctic research. Watch this space for details of our ScAN Annual Conference and AGM on 5-6 March 2026, hosted by the University of St Andrews.
We will also use this funding for an Arctic Travel and Partnerships Fund to support researchers from across Scotland to participate actively in Arctic related events internationally, building their academic, policy and industrial networks and enhancing further the collaboration between Scotland and Arctic countries.
We would like to thank the Scottish Government and UArctic for their support.
To facilitate engagement with the Arctic Policy Framework , the Scottish Government set up the Arctic Connections Fund in July 2021. The Fund supported connections between Scottish organisations and communities collaborate with partners in the Arctic. The Arctic Connections Fund supported a wide range of Scottish entities, including universities, research institutes, community organisations, artists’ collectives, youth projects and enterprise projects.
12 projects were funded in 2021-2022. 10 projects were funded in 2022-2023, and a further 10 projects were supported in 2023-2024.
