As part of the University of the Arctic’s North2North program for faculty mobility, Dr. Patrick Maher was able to visit the MERE research group from March 12-16, 2018. Dr. Maher is an Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Cape Breton University, but also the Chair of the International Polar Tourism Research Network and lead of the University of the Arctic’s Thematic Network on Northern Tourism.
This visit was designed to strengthen the connections between SEBE (the Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics) and the latter network of UArctic; SEBE was officially added to the UArctic network’s webpage during Dr. Maher’s visit.
While at the MERE research group, Dr. Maher and colleagues, Professor Brooks Kaiser and Dr. Chris Horbel, discussed how to move forward on a number of existing joint research projects, but also laid the groundwork for another: an application to the joint committee for Nordic research councils in the humanities and social sciences (NOS-HS). Dr. Maher’s visit was quite timely as he was able to reach out to new collaborators in Norway and Iceland for that application – due the following week.
Apart from his time spent with the MERE research group in Esbjerg, Dr. Maher was also able to discuss bilateral exchange agreements with SDU’s International Office there. He was also able to take a trip to Kolding and engage in research discussions with a cohort of students in the MA in International Tourism and Leisure Management, thanks to a connection with Professor Janne Liburd. Kolding was a city Dr. Maher knew from his past as a Rotary International exchange student there in 1994, but at that time the beautifully designed and sustainably built SDU campus building was not present.
Overall, Dr. Maher’s visit allowed for the continuation of some ongoing projects, but also the ability to dream up future collaboration; some of which begins with a DASHE and Nordregio-funded workshop aboard the Hurtigruten this month in Northern Norway, and future workshops in Iceland (2019) and the Faroe Islands (2020) with UArctic funding as well.
Mereconomics 