A rare trip to Oslo – mid-pandemic
With regulations easing up over the summer, there was suddently an opening in the regulations for SINTEF and we were allowed to travel inland to meetings or workshops. I had at this point not been on a flight since February 2020 – and given my history of flying, this is a very long time! It was eerie being on the flight though. Masks were mandatory – which was not the norm in Trondheim. The flight was quiet. Very quiet. The lounge wasnt open. The coffee shops werent even open. The Microfibre project – funded by the Norwegian Reserach Council – wanted me to facilitate a future scenarios and policy action…
Annual Meeting – GoJelly! in Piran, Slovenia
What an amazing week in Slovenia! I sometimes pinch myself at how lucky I am to get to work on such exciting projects with a fantastic group of people from not only all over Europe – but also from within my own organization and my town! I had never been to Slovenia before – and did not know much about the country – but it has a very small coast line but a big personality! It is on the Adriatic sea, north of Croatia, south of Austria, and across the pond from Italy – and it was so quaint and sweet a place. We got there the day before, and…
Time is coming to an end for my Fulbright year in Texas
Incredibly enough, ten months of our time here in Texas is almost upon us, and after 11 months, we go on a 1 month roadtrip before we fly back to Norway to restart our “normal” life. Has the year been what i expected? Yes – just more! I expected to get a lot of work done on articles, working with my colleague Elizabeth Nyman closely, and we have done so. We have worked on a lot of articles and so far this year, I have five published works (one book chapter and four articles), and I also have two Revise and Resubmits in the work, as well as one that…
BBNJ treaty negotiations
The second Intergovernmental Conferene (IGCII) started on March 25th and lasted until April 5th 2019 in New York City. I once again was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the negotiations as an observer, and along with my colleagues Elizabeth Nyman, Elizabeth Mendenhall and Elizabeth De Santo, we spent two weeks gathering data, interviewing participants, developing a database of delegate and NGO/IGO interventions, and writing on articles together. It was exhaustive – as per usual – but also every rewarding in terms of not only data gathering but also in terms of experience with following negotiations, and learning more about the informal rules of the game – as…
ISA conference in Toronto, Canada
The International Studies Association held its annual meeting in Toronto, Canada this year – from the 26th – 30th of March 2019. It was a fun experience as always – and I presented two papers together with my colleague here at Texas A&M University at Galveston, Assistant Professor Elizabeth Nyman. I have gone to this conference for 12 years though, since 2007 – and only missed it twice in these years. It is therefore by .far my favorite conference and I love going there – and I have so many great memories of going there and presenting with the Oceans and Fish people that always .go there as well. This…
Getting ready for the 2nd round of BBNJ negotiations in NYC
My ISA colleagues and I are planning to attend the second round of negotiations on biodiversity protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) under UNCLOS in March-April 2019 – and the planning has started. These are the same women that I have now published in the Washington Posts MonkeyCage as well as in Marine Policy with – we informally call ourselves Rachel and the three Elizabeths 🙂 We are all members of the International Studies Association (ISA), which is an NGO accredited to the ECOSOC. This association allows for the distribution of grounds passes for their members, and they can have their members registered as observers to certain UN meetings…
TEDx style talk – how to prepare
I was recently invited to be one of the plenary speakers of the Fulbright annual conference in Puebla, Mexico, having a TEDx style talk – which immediately got me nervous since – well – I love TED talks *imposter-syndrom-kick-in* So first thing first – get a book on TED talks! I figure – I can watch as many TED talks possible but it probably helps to read (reading helps everything – I am a book-a-holic and read probably way too much fantasy and future dystopia and young adult novels for my own good, but it is a good escape from the realities of climate change and microplastic pollution and ocean…
Off to New York City, the UN and international negotiations
Part of my job while here in the US is to follow the negotiations of the upcoming treaty on biodiversity protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction, with a special focus (for me) on plastics and the Arctic, with the Arctic ocean being an emerging ocean as the ice is melting and more of it is becoming navigable. The negotiations are taking place for two years in New York City, twice per year, and there was an organizational meeting in April that my friend and colleague Elizabeth Nyman from Texas A&M University at Galveston – where I am affiliated – works, in the Maritime Studies program. The first meeting proper was…
Welcome to Houston
And here we are – we have arrived finally in Houston after flying via Amsterdam – and we are so excited! The kids were great – and I am so proud of them! My brother picked us up at the airport and my mom and dad were at the apartment, having packed out our stuff that we shipped and gone shopping for the basics (you forget how much basic stuff you have really – like a plunger, garlic press, potato peeler – not to mention towels and wash cloths). The apartment is stunning – much nicer than I can even start to explain – but I have added some photos…
Countdown to TX is on!
YES – we got our tickets to the US now – we are leaving on the 16th of August – myself and the three youngest children. As you know, my husband is not coming until Christmas and our oldest son is not moving with us (he is visiting us ever single vacation – so four trips in the year we are gone). The kids have been asking and asking for long it is left until we leave – so we decided to make a countdown calendar – and low and behold – the kids finished it and the countdown is on! We found out that there were 60 days left…
