The polar regions have always been close to my heart. I am passionate about making scientific results more accessible for everyone and integrating them better with decision-making at all levels. Working closely with partners, I am looking for solutions to complex challenges that climate change and increasing pollution create in the environment and impact people who live in these regions.

One of my main working areas at GRID-Arendal is marine plastic pollution: understanding the sources and finding solutions to reduce pollution in the Arctic. I believe in the power of youth, and I am involved with the University of Arctic Thematic Network on Arctic Plastic Pollution. I have also had the privilege to work with other Arctic and Nordic research education networks in the past.

I also continue assessing the drastic changes occurring in the cryosphere such as glaciers, snow cover and ice sheets in the Arctic, Antarctica and in Hindu Kush Himalaya - often called the Third Pole - and how these changes impact and interact with diverse groups of people and the environment. The results will be disseminated to improve decision-making and to help build resilience and reduce risks.

Before joining GRID-Arendal, I coordinated Cryosphere Initiative of the International Centre of Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Nepal and serving the entire Hindu Kush Himalayan region. I have worked as a scientist at the University of Oslo and the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, Finland. My MSc research focused on Baltic sea ice, and for my PhD I studied the so-called “Antarctic blue ice areas” to provide paleoclimate information.