David Braun for National Geographic News interviews Joan Nymand Larsen, the President of  IASSA at the Seventh International Congress or Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS VII) in Akureyri, Iceland.

Welcoming address at ICASS VII by Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Minister for the Environment in Iceland.

We urge those who are planning to participate in ICASS VII to register now for the conference AND to book accommodation:  http://iassa.org/registration.

Registration fee

• The full conference registration fee is 57000 ISK (approx. 345 EUR).
• Student registration fee is 26500 ISK (approx. 161 EUR).

Included in the conference fee

• Five day conference in the University of Akureyri
• Conference materials and proceedings.
• Bus transport to and from the University of Akureyri Conference Hall and the center of town, in the morning and the afternoon
• Refreshments in the morning and the afternoon (coffee breaks)
• Three lunches (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)
• Get-together on Wednesday evening
• ICASS Banquet at Hof Cultural Center on Friday night

IASSA membership

Please, remember that you have to be a member in IASSA before you register for the conference. Pay your membership here.  If you have questions regarding your membership, please write to Lara Olafsdottir, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please note that the ICASS VII Programme: Preliminary Schedule of Sessions is now available under Programme to the left.

Please note that the arrangements and placing of poster sessions/presentations as well as side events and special meetings have yet to be included in the  ICASS program/preliminary schedule of sessions. Information on these events will be posted and  explained shortly.

Due to changed arrival times of flights on 21 June we have changed the afternoon departure of the  guided bus tour from Keflavík International Airport to Akureyri. Instead of leaving at 16:00 the bus will leave from Keflavík International Airport at 17:00. We hope this will enable more of you to join on the afternoon bus.

The IASSA secretariat announces that it has taken a little longer to arrange the congress sessions and send out abstract acceptance letters. We received over 500 presentation proposals, and the number of sessions proposed are being reduced from the initial number of 70 to around 45. Nearly all invitation letters will have been sent out in the first part of next week, but we want you to know that nearly all submitted abstracts will be found a placement in one good session or another. We apologise to those who must wait beyond today for receiving an official letter of acceptance.

Also, letters regarding funding requests will be sent to applicants next week.

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ICASS VII Congress Convenor

The IASSA secretariat hereby announces that by March 14^th nearly all persons who have submitted abstracts to ICASS VII will have received a confirmation of their paper having been accepted into an ICASS VII session (or sessions). In most cases abstract submitters are, or will be, contacted by an organizer of a particular session and invited to be on his or her program. Please trust that such an invitation from a session organizer will be accepted by the IASSA secretariat as official acceptance of a paper or poster presentation during ICASS VII in Akureyri on June 22-26.

Furthermore, during the week beginning March 14^th, the IASSA secretariat will be sending to abstract submitters a signed letter of invitation to participate in ICASS VII. These letters will be sent out for the purpose of further formalizing peoples’ participation in the ICASS program. In case you urgently need a letter of acceptance right away, please write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .    

Special note:  Those who sent their abstracts to the IASSA secretariat after January 31^st may not receive confirmation from a session organizer of their abstract being accepted until late during the month of March. The same applies to some who submitted an abstract together with very unclear or broad notions concerning the session placement of their abstract. Trust however that the IASSA secretariat staff will make faithful attempts to find a suitable session for all abstracts received.

Registration for ICASS VII has opened! 

Please click on Registration to the left, from there you will be directed to the online registration site, administered by Akureyri Travel.

Before you organise your travel to Akureyri, please notice the special offer of guided bus tours from Keflavik International Airport to Akureyri on June 21^st. These tours can be booked when you register for the conference. The other option is to book a flight from Reykjavík to Akureyri. 

Remember that you have to be a member of IASSA before you register for the conference. To become a member, click here.  

See also other useful information on the Akureyri Travel Registration site.