 Federal Minister of Education and Research, Germany

Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Germany

Minister for Higher Education, Industry and Innovation, Iceland

External Affairs Secretary, Scottish Government

Albert II, Prince of Monaco is the Sovereign Prince of Monaco and current head of the Princely House of Grimaldi. An Olympian, having competed in the bobsleigh at a number of Games in his youth, Prince Albert is also noted for his philanthropic engagements. He has a longstanding interest in the Arctic and Polar regions: in 2009, he became the first incumbent head of state to have visited both Poles, and has also visited Svalbard, Norway, and 26 scientific outposts in Antarctica. Prince Albert continues to support environmentalist and conservationist causes across the world, and in 2006 founded the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation which has, in turn, donated millions of Euros to environmental causes.

Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research

Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius is a polar and deep-sea researcher and director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research. She studied Biology and Oceanography in Hamburg and San Diego and received her doctorate in deep-sea microbiology in 1996. Antje Boetius has participated in over 50 expeditions on international research vessels. She has received a number of renowned national and international awards. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and was granted the Communicator Award by the Stifterverband and the German Research Council in 2018 as well as the German Environmental Award.

President of Iceland 1996-2016, Chairman of Arctic Circle

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson served as President of Iceland for twenty years, 1996-2016; elected five times in nationwide elections. Previously, he was Minister of Finance, Member of Parliament, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the first Professor of Political Science at the University of Iceland. He now serves as Chairman of Arctic Circle, which he founded in 2013 with various Arctic partners. The Arctic Circle Assembly held in Iceland every October has become the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. Arctic Circle also organizes specialized Forums in other countries; so far, in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Before and after his presidency, President Grímsson has worked closely with members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate as well as with many key members of governments in European countries. For decades, he has been an active participant in the global climate dialogue and during his Presidency and in recent years initiated and promoted clean energy projects in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and the Americas; especially using Icelandic achievements and technologies as a model. He was the Chairman of a commission established by IRENA on the new geopolitics emerging from global renewable energy transformation. Grímsson served on the Advisory Board of Sustainable Energy for All, created by the United Nations and the World Bank. In addition to devoting his post-presidential efforts to the three areas of climate, the Arctic and clean energy, Grímsson is also involved in international cooperation on the oceans and the evolution of sustainable use of marine resources.

President Grímsson has received many international awards, including the Nehru Award for International Understanding, presented to him by the President of India.

View photos and listen to speeches and panels from the Berlin Forum! 

Glimpse into Berlin Forum Sessions!

More than 100 speakers in over 30 Sessions participated in the Arctic Circle Berlin Forum.

The Berlin Forum was organized in association with:

"Since 2006, this one-time pumping station on the Spree has been host to wide-ranging performances, transforming the entire building and its grounds into a stage. Evening concerts in unusual settings astonish audiences, the studios provide an open invitation to experience installations, and the open deck offers listening sessions in the early evening sun with a view of the water."

Radialsystem Culture and Event Centre, Berlin

The Arctic at Crossroads
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The Arctic Circle Berlin Forum

View photos and listen to speeches and panels from the Berlin Forum!

Berlin Forum Program

The Berlin Forum was organized in association with:

Location: Radialsystem

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