Apostolos Tsiouvalas

Apostolos Tsiouvalas is a Research Associate at The Arctic Institute. He is the editor-in-chief of the Institute’s weekly publication, The Arctic This Week. His main research interests revolve around legal anthropology, new materialism(s), legal pluralism, indigenous rights and environmental law in the Arctic.

Apostolos works as a Research Fellow and PhD candidate at the Norwegian Center for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS) of the University of Tromsø, Norway. The primary objective of his doctoral project is to reassess the concept of ‘sovereignty’ as a fundamental pillar of law of the sea and Western philosophical thinking and address how indigenous and coastal narratives that are not grounded on sovereignty may inform humanity’s normative approach to the more-than-human marine world. In addition to his research tasks, his position encompasses teaching and supervising duties.

Apostolos holds an LL.M. degree in Polar Law from the University of Akureyri in Iceland, an MPhil degree in the field of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies from the University of Tromsø, Norway, and a BA degree in Law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has also undertaken 12 months exchange mobility at the University of Trier in Germany in 2014 and at the University of Tromsø in 2018.

Apostolos first joined The Arctic Institute in 2019 as a Research Intern for AlaskaNor project, working on assessing the status quo and opportunities within Fisheries and Aquaculture in Alaska. Previously, he carried out an internship at the Law Faculty of the University of Tromsø, providing research assistance to the former K.G. Jebsen Center for the Law of the Sea and the Sami Law Research Group. During the summer of 2018, Apostolos also undertook twin internships with the Stefánsson Arctic Institute, a leading Arctic research body in Iceland, and the PAME Working Group of the Arctic Council, engaging in the projects ‘Sustainable Economies in the Arctic’ and ‘Arctic Marine Strategic Plan’. After his move to Norway, his collaboration with the Stefánsson Arctic Institute continued remotely, including fieldwork for the project ‘Arctic Youth and Sustainable Future’.

To date, Apostolos has shared his research outcomes in several academic workshops and conferences dedicated to Arctic research, including the Danish Atlantic Youth Seminar 2018: Security and Resilience in the Arctic, the Polar Law Symposium of 2017, and the 2018 and 2020 Model Arctic Council. He has also chaired a breakout session at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík in 2017 and participated in the organizing committee of the most recent Polar Law Symposium in Tromsø. Amongst his publications on Arctic issues, Apostolos has published book chapters in the 11th and 12th Yearbooks of Polar Law.

Apostolos’ passion for the Arctic extends beyond his research goals, as he an outdoors enthusiast who has worked as fjord, northern lights and museum guide and photographer in Northern Norway.