Russia - Bilateral Cooperation on Sami Related Research with Institutions in North-West Russia

According to a strategic plan for 2005-2009 the NSI's research shall be conducted in the overall-Sami perspective that means taking into account Sami research and needs in all the countries, where the Sami live. The NSI has plans to involve Sami related r esearch conducted in Russia into Sami research in general, through collaboration with the following Russian academic and other institutions: Murmansk State Pedagogical University (Murmansk), Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Science (Apatity), Murmansk Regional Museum (Murmansk), Association of the Murmansk Region Sami (Lovozero, Kola Peninsula), Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Science (Moscow), and Institute of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Scien ce (St. Petersburg). The NSI visited some of the above mentioned institutions in June 2006 and discussed strategies of collaboration. The NSI has taken responsibility for the following activities, which shall be conducted next year 2007: a joint research seminar in Kautokeino where Russian and the NSI's scholars shall meet and discuss development of joint research projects and joint publications. The NSI has offered its research series Diedut as a means of publication of the presentations held at the join t seminar to be arranged next spring in Kautokeino. According to the preliminary plan, the second meeting of the research partners from Russia and the NSI shall be held in Russia by the end of the year 2007. Building of a bilateral cooperation on Sami res earch between the NSI and research institutions in North-West Russia is a concrete step on realization of the NSI's strategic plan.