With one part of her family placed in the windy west of Norway and the other within the Arctic Circle, Ragnhild Leganger has become immune to bad weather, but also interested in the political interplay on local and international level.

“I have a track record of choosing to live in cities notorious for gloomy weather – Bergen, Edinburgh, and Brussels – and maybe because of my family relations to smaller places, I have always had an interest in the interaction between local and international politics,” says Ragnhild.

Ragnhild Leganger completed her master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh.

 

During her bachelor’s studies, Ragnhild wrote about Scottish secessionism in light of Brexit, which eventually brought her to Edinburgh for a master’s degree with focus on Arctic security in light of climate change. She later jumped to an internship in brussels for a regional office, again touching on the interplay of local and transnational politics. Ragnhild will mostly be working on the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETPartnership), where Nordic Energy Research acts as call management.

“European partnerships can be hard to grasp- and in the case of the CETPartnership it is adminsitrated from many different units in Europe where we here at Nordic Energy research are mainly responsible for the annual calls and fair evaulation of research poposals. The most exciting part about the job is to navigate different national and regional research and development interest- and through transnational cooperation faciliated a clean energy transition.”

Small and large scale responsibilities

The practical responsibilities Ragnhild has at Nordic Energy Research tie in with the overall responsibilities recognized by the Nordic countries.

“While learning about the political aspects of climate change, there is a certain irony to it all. For example, how the melting of the Arctic ice gives access to the same commodity that causes it to melt in the first place – fossil fuels. Or how a system built on consumption, if it continues, will have nothing left to consume. It’s evident that to break out of the golden straitjacket that we now find ourselves in, we need to create new energy regimes in line with what’s feasible in each country. As Nordic countries, we have a particular geopolitical responsibility in the Arctic but also a general moral responsibility, I believe. As stable and wealthy countries we should mitigate climate change to the best of our ability for future generations. I can think of no better place to be than at Nordic Energy Research to explore how we create those pathways to new clean energy regimes,” says Ragnhild.

  • Name: Ragnhild Leganger
  • Nationality: Norwegian
  • Education: BSc in Comparative Politics from the University of Bergen and MSc in International and European Politics
  • Leisure: Cross-country skiing, baking, and podcasts