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Team Member

Alina Bykova

NAADSN Research Fellow

Alina Bykova is a PhD candidate in history at Stanford University and a senior associate and the editor-in-chief at The Arctic Institute. Her research looks at transnational Soviet and Arctic environmental history with a focus on resource extraction and the Cold War. Her PhD dissertation, titled, “Extraction Islands: environment, politics and security on Svalbard, 1850s to present,” examines hunting, fishing, coal mining, scientific research, and tourism as extractive activities on the archipelago.

Alina earned her masters in European and Russian Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto in 2019. Her master’s thesis was about the rise and fall of Soviet mining settlements on Svalbard. Prior to her work in academia, she completed a Bachelor of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University and worked as a breaking news reporter at the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper.

2024, “NATO has always been an Arctic Alliance.” The Arctic Institute, May 28

2023, “Svalbard: past, present, future” report for The Arctic Institute and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, June 27

2021, “The Two Arctics: Soviet Environmental Experiences and Socialist Realism in the Far North.” The Arctic Institute, December 14.

2021, “A year after Arctic fuel spill, Norilsk Nickel continues to ignore Indigenous critics.” The Independent Barents Observer, May 29

2020, “Permafrost Thaw in a Warming WorldThe Arctic Institute, October 1

2019 The Changing Nature of Russia’s Arctic Presence: A case study of PyramidenThe Arctic Institute, December 9