Do new technologies make us safer?

The grant will fund the development of a international project to investigate Arctic security and community resilience by looking at the effects of the use and development of dual-use technologies in the region.

Dual-use technologies include a wide range of emerging technologies with civilian and military applications, from artificial intelligence and communication systems to biotechnology and satellite and space infrastructures. The question the project aims is answer is to what extent their proliferation makes Arctic communities more resilient?

Development and use of these technologies has been part of a wide range of important political and academic debates in recent years, focused on increasing geopolitical tensions and growing insecurity in the region. But these technologies have also been presented as offering new opportunities for economic development, societal security, and tackling issues related to environmental sustainability.

This new project will examine these tensions, drawing on different thinking on security and insecurity, combining military, environmental, social, and economic perspectives.

Adam Fishwick will lead the project working with Tom Barry, both at the University of Akureyri, and Katharina Glaab at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, with funding that aims to strengthen collaborations between Icelandic and Norwegian researchers.